Black and White Toning download instructions

File Type: Adobe Photoshop^® Hue/Saturation adjustment

File Extension: *.ahu
Purpose: Colorize a black and white image to simulate traditional black and white darkroom toning. The zip file contains 15 different tones at five different intensities for a total of 75 tones. The intensities, from weakest to strongest, are light, medium, dark, heavy and max.

Click the Download button. If a file download or file save dialog box does not display, right click the Download button instead and select Save Target As. Follow your web browser's instructions for saving this file onto your computer. Make sure you remember where you save it. The file name is tz-bw-tone.zip. After downloading, if prompted to Open the file or Close the download dialog box, close the dialog box. Using your unzip software, unzip the file. It does not matter where the extracted files are stored. It is not necessary to store them in the Photoshop programs or plug-in folder. After unzipping the files, if you rename them, do not change the extension. Leave it .ahu.

To apply a particular tone to a black and white image.

Figure 1. Hue/Saturation Dialog Box

Create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer by clicking Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation.
Name the adjustment layer and click OK. Any name can be used, but the name Black and White Tone may be useful.
Click the Load button on the Hue/Saturation dialog box.
Browse till you find the desired file. The default name is tz-bw-tone-*.ahu. There will be 75 such files. Only one can be used. Find the file of the desired tone, such as Sepia, and then select the file of the desired intensity, such as Medium. Examples of each of the tones is in Figure 3.
Highlight the file and click Load. The Hue/Saturation dialog box should look something like Figure 1.
The Edit drop down box is locked on Master in order to colorize the image. Changing the Hue slider will change the base tone. Changing the Saturation slider will change the strength of the tone. If saturation is increased too much, there is a risk that the tone will fall out of your printer's color gamut.
If you want to change the tone or intensity, click Load again and select a new file. The new settings will overlay the previous.
When finished, click OK to close the Hue/Saturation dialog box.
Change the layer's blending mode to Color. This will prevent the adjustment from changing the tonal relationships in the image.
If the adjustment layer is not already the top layer in the Layers palette, click and drag it to the topmost position. See Figure 2.

Figure 2. Layers Palette

Figure 3. Pinhole Example

You can emulate a pinhole photograph by following these simple instructions. Apply a Sepia tone to the image as described on this page. Above the Sepia tone layer, create a new layer by clicking the Create a new layer icon Create new layer in the Layers palette. Make sure the new layer is above the Sepia tone Hue/Saturation adjustment layer. Type the letter d to set the default foreground/background colors and type the letter x until black is the foreground color Black Foreground . Using the paint bucket tool , fill the new layer with black. Type the letter e to activate the Eraser tool , right click the Eraser tool to open the brushes palette. Select a round brush with a 75% hardness. Using the Master Diameter text box in the brushes palette, enlarge the brush until the entire image fits just inside the brushes outline circle. Place the circle slightly off center and click to erase most of the black paint to create a soft edged vignette, as seen in Figure 3. Creating the vignette slightly off center adds realism to the image since pinhole cameras are not made with the same precision as todays cameras. Soft round brushes can be found on the Downloads page.

Question. The sepia tone produced by the Hue/Saturation adjustment does not look like the sepia I am used to seeing.

Answer. There is not, nor was there ever, an exact definition of sepia. The sepia tone achieved in the traditional darkroom depended on the chemicals used, how they were mixed and how long the print was allowed to tone. Try some of the other tones, such as Kallitype or Palladium, to see if they are closer to your idea of sepia.

Question. I am trying to create a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer in order to apply the black and white tone, but Photoshop has this option grayed out. Why?

Answer. The image may be in true grayscale mode. In Photoshop, click Image > Mode and see which mode is checked. If in grayscale mode, the image must be converted to a color model, such as RGB, in order to store and display color.

Question. I am trying to print my toned black and white image, but the tone does not print correctly.

Answer. When a black and white image is toned, color has been added to the image. If the printer only has gray and black ink, it will not be able to print color. The printer must have color inks. If saturation was changed, the black and white tone may be out of gamut for the printer-paper-ink combination. Try a less intense tone, such as light or medium.

Question. Why does the tone of the image change when the Hue/Saturation adjustment is applied?

Answer. Make sure the blending mode of the Hue/Saturation adjustment layer is Color. If it is Normal, the adjustment can affect the image's tones. Changing the blending mode to Color will prevent this.

Question. Why does the hue value in the Hue/Saturation dialog box sometimes vary for the same black and white tone? For example, the hue values for warm platinum are: light is 35, medium is 37 and dark is 39.

Answer. A given hue will respond differently to a saturation adjustment. If the saturation adjustment is large enough, either a very low value or a very high value, the actual hue will change. To offset this shift in hue caused by the different saturation values for light, medium, dark, heavy and max, the hue value itself was changed to bring the black and white tone back closer to the intended hue.

Question. Why is the saturation value in the Hue/Saturation dialog box sometimes different for different black and white tones but the same intensity? For example, the saturation values for medium Copper is 6 and for medium Palladium it is 10.

Answer. Similar to the previous answer, different hues respond to saturation adjustments differently. The intention is to keep the intensities visually, not numerically, the same across all black and white tones.

Question. What is CRT Green?

Answer. It is definitely not a traditional black and white tone. I added it for fun. This tone is based on the green color used by old mainframe CRT computer terminals, most notably the IBM 3270 terminal. This color green was made famous by the Matrix movies.