Photographic Toning Maps in Photoshop

Gradient maps have been around for a long time in Photoshop and many photographers have come to rely on them as a quick and powerful way of converting colour images into mono, toned and even split toned photos.

There’s really only one problem with Gradient Maps and that’s the limited range of effects that can be achieved with the default settings. That means you’ll need to spend time and energy creating a variety of maps and whist that’s not too hard to do (see the video for details) users of Photoshop CS6 have a great alternative.

One of the hidden gems of Photoshop CS6 is the all new Photographic Toning Gradients. These have been designed by the engineers at Adobe to recreate the toning of tradition photographic effects. Things like sepia, selenium and even spit toning is now one click away.

The photo above gives you an idea of all 38 Photo effects that are ready for you to enjoy. In the video below I’ll show you exactly how to find them, apply them and even modify them.