# Duotone Color Grade

> Deep indigo shadows blend continuously into warm coral highlights through a controlled two-color tonal map.

[Web page](https://aistylebook.com/image/duotone-color-grade/)

## About this style

Duotone replaces natural hues with two chosen colors and blends continuously between shadows and highlights. A consistent luminance structure preserves the forms while giving a complex photograph a compact, distinctive color identity.

This digital duotone treatment maps values between chosen colors rather than necessarily simulating two printed inks.

Blue shadows blending into pale apricot highlights can preserve texture while replacing natural color.

### How the style changes different subjects

- **Portrait**: Tone-based color mapping replaces skin and clothing hues while preserving features through light and shadow.

- **Landscape**: Brightness remaps scenery into a new palette while retaining its tonal depth.

- **Object**: Color no longer identifies material; contour, highlight and shadow carry recognition.

**Subjects**: Choose tonally rich portraits, buildings, mountains or smooth objects that do not rely on specific colors for identification.

## Visual keywords

duotone · indigo shadows · coral highlights · continuous tones · luminance mapping · limited palette

## Names and related terms

Two-color tonal map · Two-tone color treatment

## Style examples

- [Portrait](https://img.aistylebook.com/ascii-artworks/duotone-color-grade-people.png?v=faafbb5875dcfc7c)

- [Landscape](https://img.aistylebook.com/ascii-artworks/duotone-color-grade-landscape.png?v=5e2318441b10d0c6)

- [Object](https://img.aistylebook.com/ascii-artworks/duotone-color-grade-objects.png?v=115ed517486967e8)

## Reusable style prompt

```text
Remap the entire tonal range into a strict duotone palette with deep indigo at the darkest values and warm coral at the brightest values. Intermediate luminance blends smoothly between those two endpoints, preserving clear contours, tonal hierarchy and fine image detail. Remove residual natural hues. The result should read as an intentional continuous-tone two-ink color treatment, without halftone dots, hard posterization steps or additional rainbow colors.
```

## Photo creation and prompts

Photo generation requires an account and credits; the cost is shown before generation.

[Create with this style](https://aistylebook.com/photo.html?style=34031&lang=en#studio)

## Related styles

- [Gradient Map Color](https://aistylebook.com/image/gradient-map-color/): Keeps luminance-based mapping while extending two endpoints into a multicolor gradient.

- [Posterized Color Bands](https://aistylebook.com/image/posterized-color-bands/): Also simplifies color structure, replacing continuous transitions with distinct flat bands.

- [Cyanotype Print](https://aistylebook.com/image/cyanotype-print/): Creates a simpler image identity through Prussian blue and paper white.

## References

- [Adobe: Duotone effects with gradient mapping](https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud/photography/discover/duotone-effect.html)