You can achieve the dual tone effect by shooting with two different colored lights or post-processing the image to add the desired colors. If you already have a portrait that would look better with dual tone lightning, you can use your smartphone to add the effect. Let’s show you how to create a dual tone effect for your portraits using Snapseed.
How to Add Dual Tone Effect to Your Portraits Using Snapseed
The dual tone effect works best with a black and white portrait. So, before starting, you must convert your image to black and white and remove any unwanted elements from the background.
Convert Your Image to Black and White
Here’s how to convert your image to black and white using Snapseed.
Open Snapseed and import your image by tapping anywhere on the screen. 2 Images Close Go to Tools > Crop. Crop your portrait with the free aspect ratio selected, so you don’t have any unwanted elements in the photo. Hit the tick mark once you are satisfied. 2 Images Close Open Tools > Black and white. Select the Neutral Style and adjust the Brightness and Contrast of your image to highlight the facial expressions. Tap on the tick mark to confirm your edit. 3 Images Close Next, go to Tools > Tune image and adjust the Brightness, Contrast, Ambiance, Highlights, and Shadows of your image to make the facial lighting even. 2 Images Close Open Tools > Curves and either bring the left pointer all the way up to make the image white or bring the right pointer all the way down to make the image black. For our example, it is better to make the background white. Tap on the tick mark to save the edit. 2 Images Close Go to Edit stack, open View edits, tap on the last layer, i. e. Curves, and select the Stack brush. 3 Images Close Selectively paint over the background area you want to remove with the brush strength set to 100. Zoom into your image, change the brush strength to 0, and revert any parts you don’t want to be removed. For instance, retaining the hair details and shirt outline in our sample picture would be best. 2 Images Close
The above steps would allow you to add the dual tone effect to your image effectively. If you find removing the background challenging, try one of these smartphone apps that will remove the background for you.
Create the Dual Tone Effect
Follow the below steps to create the dual tone lighting effect for your portrait.
Go to Tools > Curves and bring the left slider up to make the image white. Tap the tick mark to save the edit. 2 Images Close Open Curves again and select a color channel. For instance, if you want a red color, bring down the right pointer for the Blue and Green channels until you achieve your desired color. Hit the tick mark to save. 3 Images Close Select Export and again Export to save the image. 2 Images Close Go to the Edit Stack, open View edits, and tap on the last layer, i. e. Curves. Select the third option to adjust the curves layer. Tinker with the different curves to create the second color. For instance, if you want a blue color, bring down the Red and Green color curves. 2 Images Close Save the image by tapping Export > Export. 2 Images Close Now, go back to Edit stack > View edits, and delete the last two curve layers. You won’t need them anymore. 3 Images Close Go to Tools > Double Exposure and tap on Open Image. Select one of the color images you have created and set the Style to Overlay. Adjust the Opacity if necessary. 3 Images Close Go to Edit stack > View edits > Double Exposure and open the Stack brush. Zoom out of the image by pinching in. Set the brush strength to 100 units and start painting from the outside of the image. Perform vertical strokes slowly for an even distribution of color. Zoom in slightly and set the brush strength to 0. Gradually remove the extra color from the opposite side of the image by performing the same vertical strokes. Stop when only half of the image has color. 3 Images Close Set the brush to 25 units and gradually paint over hair or other parts that should not be illuminated brightly. Tap on the tick mark when you are satisfied with the edit. Go to Tools > Double Exposure and tap on Open Image. Select the second color image you have created and set the Style to Overlay. Adjust the Opacity if necessary. 2 Images Close Go to Edit stack > View edits > Double Exposure and open the Stack brush. Now, zoom out and repeat the painting process from the opposite side. Slowly and neatly clean any unwanted area and tap the tick mark when you are satisfied with your edit. 2 Images Close
That’s it. You have successfully created a dual tone effect for your portrait using Snapseed. The most prominently used features in this method are Curves and Double Exposure. You can learn more about these tools in our Snapseed double exposure guide.
Limitations and Additional Tips
You can always add some finishing touches to your portraits in Snapseed using tools like HDR-scape, Glamour Glow, and so on. We recommend adding a Vignette layer and Glamour Glow to your image since they work best with black and white or dual tone filters.
Meanwhile, you can add your finished dual tone image in Double Exposure and try various Styles to see if it improves your image.
The only limitation with using Snapseed for creating a dual tone effect is less control over masking. Using the Stack brush to mask your edits works fine. However, it does not give you complete control over painting selectively according to the natural light source. In addition, you get limited layer styles to pick up the best color exposure compared to the variety of blending properties in Photoshop.
You can overcome these obstacles by tinkering with other tools in Snapseed, like Curves, the Selective tool, and so on.
Add Drama to Your Portraits With a Dual Tone Effect
The dual tone effect is widely used among photo editors and creatives to provide visual depth and symbolic meaning to the subject of a portrait. If you want to create a dual tone effect before capturing your portrait, it is best to use natural lighting. However, adding the effect to your photos in post-processing is also efficient and gives you a bit more creative control.
You can use Snapseed to create a dual tone effect from the comfort of your smartphone. It seems like a lot of steps, but it’s quicker and easier than you think.
