How to Create a Duotone Effect in Affinity Photo

In today’s tutorial, we will create a duotone effect in Affinity Photo. In photography, a duotone effect is used to bring out the highlights and the middle tones of an image by using two contrasting colors. The duotone effect involves recoloring grayscale images. The dark colors of the image are replaced with one color. Then, the light colors of the image are replaced with another color. This effect started in the print industry, but it can be seen in a lot of things such as websites and apps. In fact, Spotify used the duotone effect and made it have a resurgence. 

Before you get started, go to the following links and download the image and the font used in this tutorial:

• Woman wearing boxing gloves
• Facon Font

Step 1

First, go to File > Open and select the image of the woman wearing the boxing glove.

Step 2

Next, go to the Adjustment Panel and click Black & White adjustment.

Step 3

Then, go to the Adjustment Panel again and select the Gradient Map adjustment.

Step 4

Now, select the Green color stop in the middle. Then click Delete.

Step 5

With the Gradient Map adjustment still open, select Reverse to change the position of the Red and Blue color stops.

Step 6

Select the Blue color stop. Then, click the Blue color to change it. You can give it a color of your choosing. For this tutorial, the Blue color is changed to the following color code R: 194 G: 43 B: 206.

Step 7

Now, select the Red color stop and give it a color of your choosing. For this tutorial, the Red color is changed to the following color code R: 239 G: 168 B: 105.

Congratulations, this tutorial is complete! You’ve created a duotone effect in Affinity Photo. If you liked this tutorial, check out this tutorial on how to create a gold effect in Affinity Photo.

Bonus Steps

Step 1

First, go to the Layers Panel. Then, select all three layers (select one layer, then hold CTRL and select the other two layers). Right-click on your selection and select Merge Visible. This will combine the original image and the adjustment layers together to form a single pixel layer with all of the properties from those layers.

Step 2

Go to the poster mockup link. Download the Underground Pillar Poster Mockup.

Step 3

When you click Download, another tab will open. Click the Download button on this page, and the file will download.

Step 4

Once the file finishes downloading, locate the file. Right-click on the folder and select Extract All.

Step 5

Open the folder and right click on the Underground Pillar file. Select Open With > Affinity Photo.

Step 6

When the mockup file opens, go back to the duotone picture. In the Layers Panel, copy the pixel layer we merged.

Step 7

Go to the mockup. In the Layers Panel, past the duotone image. After pasting the image, drag it inside of the curve layer.

Step 8

In the Layers Panel, go to the curve layer and delete the layer labeled Place Poster Here.

Step 9

Now, select the duotone image and resize it to fit inside of the curve layer in the mockup scene.

Note: Go to the Transform Panel and turn on the Lock Aspect Ratio. Then, resize your image. This will keep the proportions of the image in place.

Step 10

After that, go to the Tools Panel and select the Artistic Text tool.

Step 11

Type the word Warrior. Go to the Font Family and select the Facon font. Then, set the size of the font to 47 pt.

Step 12

In the Layers Panel, select the text layer and drag it inside of the curve layer above the duotone image.

Step 13

With the text layer still selected, go to the Swatches Panel and set the color of the font to #B438B0.