Save On Printing Cost With Two Inks
by: Blur Loterina
If you’re familiar with black and white photos on magazines, you might be confused whether it is really a black and white image. Sometimes you’ll notice that the color is closer to brown or pale yellow.
There’s an easy way to create this effect, the duotone process.
Duotone, from the word duo, means two colors. This is often used in making monochromatic print. It is done by adding a color tint to black and white images. Black ink and gray ink are used to smooth out or allocate different color to specific part, and increase tonal range from lightest to darkest.
Duotone also covers monotone, tritone and quadtone. Monotone, from the word mono, refers to images that have only one color. Tritone images are those that use three colors. Images that contain four colors are known as the quadtone. Tritone and quadtone images primarily use the Overprint Colors button. This will allow you to control the interaction of your ink.
To access Duotone, go to image, then to Mode, and select Duotone. If you are using RGB or CMYK, you will have set your workspace to grayscale first. To do so, select Image, go to Mode and choose Grayscale.
Next, select Image, then Mode, and then Duotone. A dialog box will appear. It is where you have to select the colors you want.
Open the Color Picker by clicking on the color swatch. Then, click on the Custom button. A pop-up menu will open. Select the type of ink and choose the color.
If you want to modify your work, just re-open your Duotone dialog box. To do this, go to Image, select Mode, and then choose Duotone.
Most commonly used duotone combination includes black and yellow, black and medium-blue, black and cyan, and black and brown.
Duotone are often used to make black and white images richer. Try to compare grayscale and duotone images. You will notice that the color will change. Photoshop does not just add the accent color; it also changes the hue of all the pixels.
When you go through the details, you’ll find that there is only one channel, even if you’re using two colors. This is so because Photoshop uses Duotone curve. To access Curve, go to Image, select Mode, choose Duotone. The Duotone Curve button is located on the left of the color swatch. Click on the box of the ink that you want to edit.
If you want to adjust the color through Photoshop’s Curve Adjustment, just select Image > Adjust > Curves. You can now change the tonal value by clicking and dragging on the line or by entering numbers on the field.
Do not limit your combination to black and gray, use any two different colors.
About The Author
Blur Loterina
You may wonder why I write articles. Besides from the fact that it’s my job, I used to write short stories when I was younger. I think it would be helpful if I said I’m a big fan of Zach de la Rocha and Rage Against the Machine. This would explain my own views about a lot of things. Their songs were about national issues, politics and human rights. They support the American Indian Movement and Che Guevara, the face you see on t-shirts. Not that it concerns me. I only like their music and idealism.
I like to read anything that contains words in the old English form, though I can’t understand it. You know, the King James Version of the Bible with words like thou, thy, thine, wilst, etc. The words used are different. The construction of the sentence is different, too, which makes sentences sound artistic. I also like gothic metal, a music genre, because most of the lyrics contain such words. It is not only the words that fascinate me; it’s the hidden meaning it contains. It’s like an abstract painting; you don’t get the real picture until you see through it.
I’m not an artist, I’m not a poet. I just love writing anything I want. I wasn’t born a genius, I just want to know and understand something I don’t. I like to find the difference between similar things. It’s like counting birthmarks on each identical twin.
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