# Split toning



## ksmattfish (Nov 26, 2003)

Anyone done any split toning?  

Know a site with good info on or examples of split toning?


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## Mitica100 (Nov 26, 2003)

ksmattfish said:
			
		

> Know a site with good info on or examples of split toning?



http://www.handcolor.com/studio/traditional/toning/splitoningproc.htm

Hope this helps...


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## havoc (Dec 14, 2003)

Motcon did a small tutorial on split tonning on the site a couple months back, if interested it should be alittle farther back in the darkroom section.


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## ksmattfish (Dec 14, 2003)

Yeah, I found that handcolor.com site.  It is a pretty good page.  I read Will's article (excellent) in the "How To" section.  I think of the technique that Will described as selective toning, but that may not be the right term.  Selective toning is awesome too; check out this guy www.philborges.com

What I'm talking about is toning in one kind of toner, washing and then toning in the other toner.  One toner hits the shadows, and the other gets the highlights, but it's across the entire image.  Selective toning is using two or more toners, but using only one toner in a specific area.  I guess Will was split toning the hair area.

I understand generally how to split tone and selective tone.  I was just wondering if anyone else had tried it.  It seems like a technique that could vary widely from photographer to photographer, and I want to see what other folks are up to.[/b]


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## motcon (Dec 17, 2003)

ksmattfish said:
			
		

> I read Will's article (excellent) in the "How To" section.  I think of the technique that Will described as selective toning, but that may not be the right term.  [/b]



it's all the same, bro. you can't selective tone unless you can split tone. how can this be? well.....


selenium. it grabs the entire print starting with the shadows first. sepia grabs the highlights first. blue grabs the entire print. so does copper and brown. the key is to remember which does what first, the proceed. i didn't do selective toning, i merely 'protected' the my highlights from the selenium (b/c it will grab them) so i could tone them in sepia. 

i LOVE sepia and blue splits....look for some from me soon; autumn is the best season for them.

good to see you, Matt.


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## ksmattfish (Dec 17, 2003)

Ahhh, the selective toning techniques I was describing uses frisket or rubber cement to actually prevent toning in some areas of the image.

The rubber cement is applied to the areas to be protected, the exposed areas are toned.  Then the rubber cement is removed.  New cement is applied to the toned areas, and the previously protected areas are toned with a different toner.

Once again, I may be splitting hairs with the terminology, but to me the look and results are very much different.


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## terri (Dec 17, 2003)

This is a photo I took of my son with his Stratocaster.   It's an example of what I was taught was meant by "selective toning", although I am only doing half of what is being described above.   I used a 1:1 ratio of rubber cement and thinner (Bestine, I think?) to mask the guitar, its highlights and the silver hardware, and the rest of it went into the sepia.   

But that's only using one kind of toner with the sole aim of keeping the rest of the image pure.   I would have to agree with Matt; there are different ways of saying the same thing, but in this case selective toning was only one step.


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## Mitica100 (Dec 17, 2003)

That's a great picture, Terri.  It reminds me of my youth...  :cry:


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## motcon (Dec 17, 2003)

ksmattfish said:
			
		

> Ahhh, the selective toning techniques I was describing uses frisket or rubber cement to actually prevent toning in some areas of the image.
> 
> The rubber cement is applied to the areas to be protected, the exposed areas are toned.  Then the rubber cement is removed.  New cement is applied to the toned areas, and the previously protected areas are toned with a different toner.
> 
> Once again, I may be splitting hairs with the terminology, but to me the look and results are very much different.



the only reason i masked the highlights is because selenium will eventually take over the entire print; a point at which is difficult to determine. the problem with that happening is that you can't bleach nor can you split tone a print that has been fully selenium toned. i _could've_ selenium toned with no mask and pulled it at, say 10 seconds, then did the sepia split, but given time, temp, dilution, exhaustion variables, i masked. 

am i making any sense? i've had the flu.....


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## ksmattfish (Dec 17, 2003)

motcon said:
			
		

> i LOVE sepia and blue splits....look for some from me soon; autumn is the best season for them.



This is the info I'm looking for.  What kinds of toners look good together, etc...


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## carlita (Dec 18, 2003)

this is off-topic so i apologize but...  i didn't know terri had a son!  :shock:   weird!


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## terri (Dec 18, 2003)

Ha!   Cause he's your typical anti-social teenager, who barely sat still for this shot and pretty much sits in his room and plays the guitar or listens to Jimi Hendrix play the guitar....there just ain't much to say about him these days, outside of that, Carli!        But he's mine.    :love: 

ok, enough thread hijacking....sorry.    :blulsh2:


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## motcon (Dec 18, 2003)

this book i own:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0240804570/002-7643443-2730404?v=glance[/ame]


some great toning sections in it.

this book i have yet to buy, but shall very soon:

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0817454659/ref=pd_sim_books_1/002-7643443-2730404?v=glance&s=books[/ame]


i recall replying to a toning topic on here some time ago. i'll do a search for it.


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## manda (Dec 19, 2003)

hi Will


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## motcon (Dec 19, 2003)

manda said:
			
		

> hi Will



hi Amanda.


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## Soulreaver (Oct 2, 2004)

I learned sepia and selenium toning last week, pretty amazing the effect on the pics.
But we didn't use blue toning, guess I will have to search the stores.

Let me ask a few things :
1 - I do a bleach in the pic b4 toning, either sepia or selenium.Is that how you do it too?If so, and you are split toning, do you make two bleachs?
2 - If you tone without protecting some areas you will get a good effect?
3 - I dont know what rubber cement is...   

tks


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## ksmattfish (Oct 2, 2004)

I only bleach before sepia toning.  I selenium tone without bleach. 

 When I've split toned with sepia and selinum in the past I bleached first, but not all the way (leave some silver for the selenium).  Then I sepia toned, and then selenium.  The bleach and the sepia affects the highlights and the selenium gets the shadows that are left.

I consider what I described above split toning.  I consider toning only specific parts of the photo selective toning, which could be single or split toning also.  It just depends on the photo if any particular toning technique will enhance the image.

I don't know how to describ rubber cement.  It is a very common household adhesive; you should be able to get it almost anywhere.  There is a more expensive product called artist's friskette that is similar, and can be used for selective toning.  I prefer the cheap rubber cement.


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## Soulreaver (Oct 3, 2004)

Looks like fun.
I will try it next class, see if I can get a good result.Any hints about what kind of pics work best?

Should I start with sepia too if I intend to split sepia and blue toner ?

tks


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## Jamie R (Oct 18, 2004)

There are several books I have on split-toning.  It fell out of favour with me because I kept on screwing up my prints.  Sepia is the only one I feel I have mastered with any confidence.  It's also less toxic.  Of course, all of you guys who are used to using toxically carcinogenic  selenium will say I'm a wimp 

I quite fancy split-toning gold and copper, although after working to produce the full tonal range of a print, I feel awful when I watch it all disappear in the bleach, knowing that if I'm 5 seconds late, I'll have lost what I had spent the whole night working on in no time.   

Got some way to go I guess.


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