The short answer
Why use Duotone?
Posters, album covers and brand banners use duotone to make unrelated photos look like one set. In an editor that takes a gradient map; here you pick two colors and see the result live.
There are three settings. Shadow color starts at #1d2b53 (navy), Highlight color at #ffcf5c (warm yellow), and Amount at 100. Each pixel's brightness is measured with the usual luminance weights, then the output is mixed from the two colors in that proportion. An Amount below 100 blends the result back with the original.
Duotone keeps its contrast only if your two colors differ a lot in brightness. Two mid-tone colors, such as red and green, give a flat picture where shapes vanish. Use one dark and one light color. Low-contrast photos also benefit from a pass through Contrast first.
Grayscale is the same idea with black and white as the two colors. Sepia Tone is a fixed brown version. Color Grading tints shadows and highlights but keeps the original colors underneath. Highlighter colors only the midtones. To make a set of photos match, keep the same two hex values for every picture.
Where Duotone fits
Speaker cards
Give every conference speaker photo the same two event colors for matching promo cards.
Playlist covers
Make a series of playlist covers in one two-color style from different photos.
Report covers
Recolor a photo in a company's navy and gold for the front of an annual report.
Start to finish
How to use Duotone
- 01Tap Choose image and pick a photo with clear light and dark areas.
- 02Set Shadow color and Highlight color, which start at navy #1d2b53 and yellow #ffcf5c, and keep Amount at 100 for a full duotone.
- 03Tap Apply changes, check that shapes still separate, then tap Download result.
What to expect from Duotone
| Check | What it means here |
|---|---|
| Supported input | JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF, BMP, SVG and browser-supported AVIF images |
| Main controls | Amount slider, plus a color picker for effects that need one |
| Output | A PNG image with the effect applied |
| Working limit | 50 MB and 50 megapixels per image |
Duotone tips
- Pick a shadow color that is clearly darker than the highlight, or detail flattens.
- Copy the hex codes from your brand guide into both color boxes.
- Amount 60 to 80 lets a little original color show through.
- Swap the two colors for an inverted, negative-style duotone.
Duotone FAQ
Something missing? Ask us.
How are the two colors mixed?
Can I keep some of the original colors?
Does Duotone upload my file?
Is Duotone free to use?
Why did Duotone fail or look wrong?
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