New(?) way of toning photos--general thoughts and advice welcome

[tmclough]

I've come up with a new (to me anyway) way to tone B&W photos. It involves making the highlights one color, and the shadows a different color. Here is my first test case:


I'm looking for people's general thoughts about this technique, as well as any specifics re: this picture in general. Here are some specific questions I have, but feel free to add any other info you wish to give.

1. Would a different original photo have worked better? If so, what sort of photo would be better, or would there be a way to reshoot this photo to make it better?

2. What do you think of the particular tones used? Would another combination work better? Or would any combination work (or not)?

3. What do you think of the idea in general? Good, bad, indifferent? Does it have potential with the right photos and colors?

4. Is this something new, or have I simply reinvented a technique that has a name? The latter wouldn't surprise me, as almost everything I've ever "invented" has been created before, and by lots of other people.

Like I said above, feel free to add any other info you care to give.

 

[DLeeT]

I'll let others with more experience in the genre comment on the specifics, but I like the effect. Lee

 

[Braineack]

it's called split toning.

 

[Ysarex]

It's called split toning and it dates back to both darkroom practice when we achieved the result chemically and offset printing when we achieved the result with different inks. If you look at the controls in Lightroom you'll find there's one for split toning. In your photo I would suggest a lighter touch.

Joe

 

[Designer]

In general, I don't like it. Perhaps different subject matter would show the benefits of doing this, but IMO your technique has not improved this shot.

 

[Derrel]

I've been working on a small, thin, circular device with a shaft stuck through the center and then bent into a U-shape with a flat sheet steel plate mounting bracket above the round dealy device...it's pretty cool...I think I shall name it the sheel. I put four sheels under a wooden box filled with firewood last week, and it slid across the garage floor like MAGIC!!!!!!!

lol... just yanking your chain...

Adobe's Lightroom software allows users to adjust their highlights and shadows this way with some very easy to use sliders. This idea, of making the shadows cool, and the highlights warmer, is something the Impressionist painters did a lot of; it sort of works the way natural light works; areas struck by the sun's rays are "warm"; areas that represent shaded or shadowy areas are "colder" in color tone. So, you have discovered something that is actually VERY practical and is very much a respected, acknowledged technique!

You have not discovered "transportation" as a whole...but you have discovered one way to put wheels on a box!!!

 

[tmclough]

I see a couple of responses that say that you can do this in Adobe Lightroom. However, I don't do Windows; I do Linux. Does anyone know if there is an easier way to do it using software found in most Linux distros? Easier, that is, than the manual labor approach using GIMP 2.8+ and layer groups?

 

[Scatterbrained]

Does Gimp have gradient mapping? I prefer to use gradient maps to color grade my images in Ps. If Gimp has a gradient map function that would be easy to use.