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How can I get an effect like the blue in this image?

Evanescence band promo shot

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    \$\begingroup\$ Hi, and welcome to Stack Exchange. I think you might get better results if you could explain what you've tried and show how that wasn't working. \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Dec 10, 2012 at 21:24
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    \$\begingroup\$ I won't question your musical taste. :) \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Dec 10, 2012 at 21:25
  • \$\begingroup\$ That's not blue light, it's blue shadow -- like a cyanotype. \$\endgroup\$
    – Caleb
    Dec 10, 2012 at 21:47

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Here's the Photoshop (CS6) formula I used...

  1. Black and white layer with "High Contrast Red Filter" selected.

  2. Color balance filter. You have to play with this a bit, but:

    • Shadows strong to Cyan (I had -75), moderate to Magenta (-30), Moderate to blue (+25)
    • Midtones moderate to Red and Green (+30) and stronger to blue (+55)
    • Highlights light to Cyan (-15), moderate to magenta (-35), and strong to yellow (-62)

  3. Brightness/Contrast layer with an increase in brightness and reduction in contrast. Play around to get desired effect.

  4. Curves cross process selection and adjusted opacity to taste using the luminosity blend mode. Experiment with the blend mode, you may find better options depending on the image.

The overall work is split toning, but with some added pieces in to it. Not a perfect match for what you did, various subjects and surfaces will matter here, but here's the result I got to with a little work:

enter image description here

Play around a lot more with the settings layer order and use masking to get even closer to the output, especially on the skin.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ As a side note... This looked better (and closer) in 16 bit color. I'm not really a fan of JPEG. Oh well. \$\endgroup\$
    – Joanne C
    Dec 11, 2012 at 3:38
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You could try split toning (There are plenty of examples here)

This is a good article about the technique, and includes links to other sites which show describe the best approaches in the main photo-editing applications (Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, ...)

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Another keyword to search for when looking for tutorials would be "duotone". Photoshop has this as a color mode, not sure about other applications. \$\endgroup\$
    – David Rouse
    Dec 11, 2012 at 19:18
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(instructions here for CS4)

Start with a fairly contrasty mono (or the whotes don't show through), this works well with non-destructive processes.

  1. Go to Layer -> New Fill Layer -> Solid colour
  2. Pick your name and colour (say light blue / cyan) and the whole image should get covered up.
  3. Right-click the new layer, go to Blending Options
  4. Set the blend mode to colour
  5. Look at the the 'Underlying layer' section at the bottom
  6. Hold ALT and drag the left half of the triangle to the middle
  7. Repeat with the right half of the black triangle

...and adjust to taste.

Edit:- here's the pic I was going to post. Could probably do with being a bit lighter in the mono conversion but hopefully it gives you the idea - full whites are white, blacks are black, midtones are tinted.

Willow - quick & dirty version using the above technique

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  • \$\begingroup\$ You've got enough rep now — 11 is all it takes. For the record, once you get to 200 on any one site, that will give you 100 to start on new sites. \$\endgroup\$
    – mattdm
    Dec 14, 2012 at 1:52

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