Split Toning in One Sentence
Split toning adds a shadow tint and a highlight tint with smooth blending, giving your photos a polished color grade (think teal shadows + warm highlights) — without changing your image’s resolution or uploading anything.
When to Use Split Toning
Split toning is ideal when you want a cohesive “look” rather than a technical correction:
- Cinematic grades (cool shadows, warm highlights)
- Golden hour warmth without over-saturating everything
- Moody shadows with subtle color separation
- Consistency across a set of images (brand, social posts, thumbnails)
Great for:
- portraits (subtle warm highlights)
- travel / street photos (cinematic contrast + color)
- product photos (gentle mood styling)
- blog headers / Pinterest graphics
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Recommended Workflow
1. Pick your shadow + highlight colors
Start simple:
- Shadows: cool (teal / blue)
- Highlights: warm (amber / orange)
2. Set saturation gently
Split toning is most convincing when it’s subtle:
- Shadows saturation: 15–45%
- Highlights saturation: 15–45%
3. Tune Balance
Balance decides where the “split” happens:
- Toward Shadows → more of the image gets the shadow tone
- Toward Highlights → more of the image gets the highlight tone
4. Soften the blend with Transition
If the grade looks harsh, increase Transition.
- Lower = sharper separation
- Higher = smoother, more natural roll-off
5. Preserve Luma + Mix
- Keep Preserve Luma on for natural results
- Use Mix to blend the grade back if it looks too strong
Controls Explained
Shadow Color + Shadow Saturation
Adds a tint primarily to darker parts of the image.
- Lower saturation = subtle, premium look
- Higher saturation = stylized / bold grading
Highlight Color + Highlight Saturation
Adds a tint primarily to bright parts of the image.
- Warm highlights often look natural on skin and sunlight
- Cool highlights can create an icy / futuristic vibe
Balance
Shifts the midpoint between shadows and highlights.
- Move left (shadows) for darker, moodier grades
- Move right (highlights) for brighter, warmer grades
Transition
Controls how smoothly shadows and highlights blend through midtones.
- Higher transition is safer for portraits and gradients
- Lower transition can look graphic and stylized
Preserve Luma
Keeps brightness closer to the original while tinting.
- Recommended for realistic grading
- Turn off only if you want the color grade to also push perceived brightness a bit
Mix
Blends the split-toned result with the original.
- 70–95% is usually the sweet spot
- Use Mix as your “naturalness” knob
Surprise Me ✨
Surprise Me generates tasteful split-toning looks like:
- teal shadows + warm highlights (cinematic)
- cool shadows only (clean, modern)
- warm highlights only (golden-hour glow)
- subtle film grade (low saturation, soft transition)
- “from image” tones (it can sample dominant hues from darker vs brighter areas for cohesive overlays)
It adds small randomness so results don’t feel repetitive.
Quick Recipes (Copy These)
1. Classic cinematic (teal & orange)
- Shadows: teal/cyan
- Highlights: warm amber
- Saturation: 25–45% both
- Balance: slightly toward highlights
- Transition: medium/high
- Preserve Luma: on
- Mix: 70–95%
2. Subtle film grade
- Shadows: cool blue/teal
- Highlights: soft warm (not too orange)
- Saturation: 8–25%
- Transition: high
- Mix: 60–85%
3. Warm portrait highlights
- Shadows: neutral/cool (very low saturation)
- Highlights: warm peach/amber
- Highlight saturation: 20–40%
- Balance: toward highlights
- Transition: high
- Preserve Luma: on
4. Moody night look
- Shadows: deep blue/purple
- Highlights: muted warm
- Shadow saturation: 25–55%
- Balance: toward shadows
- Transition: medium
- Mix: 65–90%
5. Brand consistency (subtle tint)
- Shadows: your brand color (low saturation)
- Highlights: a lighter brand tone
- Saturation: 10–25%
- Transition: high
- Mix: 60–85%
Best Practices
Keep saturation lower than you think
Split toning looks most professional when it’s subtle.
Use Transition for smoothness
If you see harsh midtone separation or banding-like transitions, increase Transition.
Preserve luma for realism
If the grade makes the image feel like exposure changed, turn on Preserve Luma.
Mix is your safety net
If the “look” is right but too strong, reduce Mix instead of changing all your sliders.
Common Problems and Fixes
“It looks too colorful / fake.”
- Lower shadow/highlight saturation
- Increase Transition
- Reduce Mix
“Midtones look weird.”
- Increase Transition (smoother blend)
- Nudge Balance slightly
“Highlights look dirty or tinted too much.”
- Reduce highlight saturation
- Shift Balance slightly toward shadows
“Skin tones look off.”
- Keep warm highlights subtle
- Use higher Transition
- Keep Preserve Luma on
- Lower Mix
How It Works
Split toning is applied by tinting shadows and highlights differently:
- Compute a brightness estimate per pixel (luma)
- Build two masks:
- a shadow mask (stronger in dark tones)
- a highlight mask (stronger in bright tones) Balance shifts the pivot; Transition softens the blend
- Apply your chosen shadow/highlight hues with their saturations
- Optionally preserve brightness (Preserve Luma)
- Blend with the original using Mix
Preview renders with a size cap for speed, while Download exports at full resolution in the original format.
