Duotone/Quadtone

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I played around with it in PS and was not impressed with it. Looking for more information about exactly what it is for? I don't think of it as a general editing technique especially since you have to convert to 8 bit :(.

[Ken Lee]

http://www.kennethleegallery.com/images/tech/MonaLisa.png http://www.kennethleegallery.com/images/forum/toning.jpg

You might find this article helpful: Photoshop Fill Layer: Easy, Non-Destructive, 16 bits per Channel (http://www.kennethleegallery.com/html/tech/bronze.php)

You can do the same thing in GIMP, using the GIMP Colorize Tool (http://www.kennethleegallery.com/html/tech/bronzeGIMP.php)

Any tone you like.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Cool, thanks. I was having a discussion with a friend who swears by the duotone ps function and was complaining that methods like this such as a gradient fill layer per ps was not a tru duo tone. I don't know enough about duotone to say one way or the other.

[Sasquatchian]

Duotones, tritones and quad tones or more are really designed for offset lithography where you want a toned black and white (usually) and you only want to print on two or three plates. It's a great tool for that application but has little use for inkjet printing. For offset, the problem is that there is no really accurate way to proof your result and what you get on press may not match your screen. What it does allow you to do is to choose any of the PMS color inks to use and alter the plate curves for each one to achieve your final goal.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Interesting. As some really like it and others don't.

[Corran]

Every scan you see me post is duotoned in PS. I have an Action I created. This gives me a subtle warm tone but keeps whites white - just like I prefer in the darkroom when toning images.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Is it using the the ps duotone feature or something you created?

[Corran]

Yes the Photoshop duotone.

[Pieter]

Duotones in offset lithography can produce fantastic results, especially double black and black/gray duotones. That also goes for tritones and quad tones. It is a process that really should be proofed by the printer, approved by the photographer and matched on press.

[Sasquatchian]

"This gives me a subtle warm tone but keeps whites white - just like I prefer in the darkroom when toning images."

You don't need duotones to do that but it might be easier for you if your Curves skills aren't where they need to be. What people need to realize about duotone is that you're now working with 8 bpc grayscale images and what you see in Photoshop is really just an approximation of what Photoshop thinks your plates are going to print like on press - an approximate soft proof of multiple grayscale channels that represent how a specific (usually) PMS ink is being laid down.

[Corran]

What I think the discussion about lithography/plates is missing is just the simplicity of duotoning and also the idea of online presentation.

I have printed duotoned images before but I don't do digital printing much anymore. I use duotoning for online display. I would bet most using duotones aren't using them for print purposes at home.

My Action simply converts the image to greyscale and 8-bit, duotone using my preferred curves, then convert to RGB to save that color and tone, and finish with a curve tweak to get contrast back to "normal" from my original as the duotoned image is usually slightly different. This is my standard finishing treatment for images to display.

I am perfectly able to use all of the typical PS tools otherwise, but this is easy and quick to make it do what I want on any image. My basic editing time on one image is 10-15 minutes, including dust spotting, d&b, and toning.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Cool. I am playing with it now and different methods to achieve. I print digitally and eventually will have my darkroom set up and can start printing old school. Most of what I have read for people using duotone, etc is not at all for what it was originally intended for. Thanks for the info.