The 52 week photography project: a bit of editing magic

Week eleven's challenge in the 52-week photography project was a photo editing challenge, rather than a picture-taking challenge. The editing technique is called split toning. The first step is to turn a color photograph into a black and white photograph. That can be done on the computer. I use photo gallery in Windows to get that accomplished. Then I used photoshop to adjust the tones in the highlights first and then in the shadows. 

Originally toning was used to turn black and white photographs into sepia photographs. The reason for that was preservation. Sepia photographs lasted longer because of the chemicals that were used in the process of developing the film.

Today, toning is used to make a picture feel warmer or cooler. It changes the feel of the picture and can bring the photograph to life. Below are a few pictures that I split toned.

In this, the two toned approach creates a gray background. The flowers stand out because the background is muted.

snow scene, with very muted colors.

large strawberry in pink

Still life with bear

Here are the original photographs: