Duotone Image Generator
Apply a two-color duotone effect to any photo — pick shadow and highlight colors or use presets, adjust intensity, download PNG/JPG. Free, in-browser.
About the Duotone Image Generator
Duotone — mapping a photo's shadows to one color and highlights to another — is the bold poster look popularized by Spotify's artwork and countless album covers and event flyers. This generator applies a true duotone: each pixel's luminance is remapped onto a gradient between your two chosen colors, not just a tint overlaid on the photo.
Start from six curated presets (classic blue, purple pop, sunset, forest, noir, crimson) or pick any two colors with the shadow and highlight pickers. An intensity slider blends the effect with the original colors for softer, split-toned results, and the live preview updates as you experiment.
Processing is per-pixel on an HTML canvas, fully in your browser — the photo is never uploaded. Portraits and images with strong contrast produce the most striking results; the final download renders at the original resolution.
How to Use the Duotone Image Generator
- 1Upload a photo — high-contrast images work best.
- 2Pick a preset or choose your own shadow and highlight colors.
- 3Adjust the intensity slider if you want some original color to show through.
- 4Download the duotone image as JPG or PNG.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a duotone effect?
A duotone reproduces an image using exactly two colors: dark areas take the shadow color, bright areas take the highlight color, and midtones blend between them. It originated in two-ink printing and is now a major digital design trend.
How is duotone different from just tinting a photo?
A tint overlays one color on everything, muddying highlights. True duotone (what this tool does) first reads each pixel's brightness, then maps it onto a two-color gradient — giving far richer contrast and that distinctive poster look.
Which colors work best for duotone?
High-contrast pairs: a dark, saturated shadow color with a bright highlight. Dark blue with cyan, deep purple with pink, or near-black with a vivid accent are reliable combinations — all available as presets here.
Can I make the effect subtler?
Yes — lower the intensity slider. At 50% the duotone blends half-and-half with the original colors, giving a fashionable split-tone film look instead of the full poster effect.
Is my photo uploaded for processing?
No. The per-pixel color mapping runs in your browser with the canvas API — the image never leaves your device.