In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to add tone to a black and white photograph to create a more professional look. This method works well for close up portait photos but isn't really suitable for landscape shots.

I am using Photoshop CS4 for this tutorial but the same effects can be applied using Photoshop Elements.

1. Open up the photograph you want to use in Photoshop.

2. If the image isn't black and white already then change it to black and white by clicking on the black and white option in photoshop.




3. Now we need to add a colour balance adjustment layer. To do this go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Colour Balance > OK.
A new layer will appear in your layers panel. 

4. You will see a Color Balance panel has appeared with three tone options to change. We're going to modify this to alter the colour balance of the shadows and highlights so you get a slight colour tint. 

First of all select the Highlights button and change the settings to what I have shown in the image to the right.

This will add a warm tint.

5. Next select the Shadows button and once again change the settings to what I have shown in the image to the left here.

This will add a cool tint.

You can play around with these a bit more if you would like to create a slightly different effect from what you have currently achieved. 

Next select the Hue/ Saturation tool and modify the Hue and Saturation until you are happy with the results. 

Finally you can also adjust the contrast and brightness slightly until you are happy with the results.

Below you can see our final result!

Here you can see the comparison from the original colour photograph, the black and white and finally our edited image with the tonal manipulation:

I hope this tutorial has been useful for you! 

For todays post I decided to try something a little different! I've created a short video tutorial showing you how easy it is to create a brush pattern using any image you have.

This is the first video tutorial I have created so I apologise in advance for the 'erms' and the slightly bored tone to my voice at points - I wasn't bored honest! I did find it quite a challenge to talk my way through what I was doing and slowing my editing pace down from normal but hope it makes sense and that you learn something new from it!

Watch this space ... if I am brave enough I will make more!