Duotones, Tritones, and Quadtones

To add a bit of interest to your photographs and make them visually appealing as well as having a reoccurring theme, you can translate your photographs into duotones, tritones, or quadtones. Duotone is an image composed of only two colors, usually black and a spot color. Tritones have black and two spot colors. Quadtones have black and 3 spot colors.

1.) Open a photograph in Photoshop

2.) Make sure the photograph is in black and white first.

3.) Then choose Image - Mode - Duotones

4.) The first ink color will be black, you can add the second ink color to be your choice.

5.) To do tritones and quadtones, select them from the menu and add more ink colors.

Example 1

Original Image

Black and White

Duotone : Black and Cyan spot color

Tritone : Black, Cyan and Green Spot Color

Quadtone : Black, Cyan, Green, and Red Spot Color

Example 2

Original Image

Black and White

Duotone : Black and Red Spot Color

Tritone : Black, Red, and Lavender Spot Color

Quadtone : Black, Red, Lavender, and Blue Spot Color