Split toning adds different color tints to the shadows and highlights of an image. It’s one of the most powerful mood-setting tools in Lightroom, and it works on both color and black and white images.

The principle is simple: warm highlights and cool shadows (or vice versa) create a color contrast that adds dimension and atmosphere to any image.

Understanding the Color Grading Panel

Lightroom’s Color Grading panel (formerly called Split Toning) gives you three color wheels:

  • Shadows: Adds a color tint to the darkest tones
  • Midtones: Adds a color tint to the middle tones
  • Highlights: Adds a color tint to the brightest tones

Each wheel has two controls:

  • Hue (the position around the wheel): Which color to add
  • Saturation (the distance from center): How strong the tint is

Plus a Balance slider that controls where the transition between shadow toning and highlight toning occurs.

The Classic Combinations

Warm Highlights / Cool Shadows

The most universally pleasing combination. It mimics the way natural light works — warm sunlight in the bright areas, cool blue in the shadows.

  • Highlights: Hue 40-50 (golden/amber), Saturation 15-25
  • Shadows: Hue 200-220 (blue), Saturation 10-20

This works on landscapes, portraits, street photography, and virtually anything with a mix of light and shadow.

Cool Highlights / Warm Shadows

The opposite creates an ethereal, unusual mood. Less natural but visually striking.

  • Highlights: Hue 190-210 (cyan/blue), Saturation 10-15
  • Shadows: Hue 30-45 (amber/orange), Saturation 15-20

This combination works well for moody portraits, winter scenes, and dark, atmospheric images.

Monochromatic Toning

Using the same hue family in both shadows and highlights, but at different saturation levels, creates a cohesive, tinted look.

  • Warm monochrome (sepia-like): Both set to hue 35-45, shadows at saturation 15, highlights at saturation 8
  • Cool monochrome: Both set to hue 200-220, shadows at saturation 12, highlights at saturation 6

This is particularly effective for black and white images where you want a classic darkroom-printed feel.

Complementary Colors

Choosing shadow and highlight colors from opposite sides of the color wheel creates maximum color contrast:

  • Teal shadows (hue 185) + Orange highlights (hue 35)
  • Purple shadows (hue 280) + Yellow highlights (hue 50)
  • Blue shadows (hue 220) + Gold highlights (hue 45)

These bold combinations work best at low saturation (10-20). Higher saturation turns them garish.

The Balance Slider

The Balance slider (-100 to +100) shifts the transition point between shadow toning and highlight toning.

  • Negative values push the highlight color further into the shadows, giving the highlight tone more dominance
  • Positive values push the shadow color further into the highlights, giving the shadow tone more dominance
  • Zero splits at the midpoint

Adjust this based on the image. If your image is mostly dark (low-key), you’ll see more shadow toning by default — shift the balance negative to introduce more highlight tone. If the image is mostly bright (high-key), shift positive.

Using Midtones

The midtone wheel is often overlooked. It adds a tint to the middle tones independently of shadows and highlights.

Practical uses:

  • Add a subtle skin-tone warmth without affecting dark or bright areas
  • Create a three-way color grade (cool shadows, warm midtones, neutral highlights)
  • Add a green or teal tint to midtones for a cinematic look

Keep midtone saturation very low (5-12). The midtones occupy the largest portion of most images, so even a small tint has a big visual impact.

Split Toning for Black and White

Split toning is especially effective on black and white images because there are no existing colors to compete with your tints.

Classic B&W split tone: Warm highlights (hue 45, saturation 12) with cool shadows (hue 215, saturation 8). This mimics the selenium-toned prints of the darkroom era and adds a richness that pure monochrome lacks.

The Subtlety Principle

The most common split toning mistake is using too much saturation. At saturation 40+, the tinting becomes obvious and distracting. At saturation 10-20, it’s felt rather than seen — it influences the mood without the viewer consciously registering colored tints.

The goal is to change how the image feels, not how it obviously looks. When someone asks “did you add blue to the shadows?” you’ve probably gone too far. When they say “this image feels moody” without knowing why, you’ve nailed it.

Starting Point Recipe

For a versatile, subtle split tone that works on most images:

  • Shadows: Hue 210, Saturation 12
  • Midtones: Hue 40, Saturation 5
  • Highlights: Hue 45, Saturation 10
  • Balance: 0

Apply this as a preset and adjust per image. It adds warmth to the light and cool depth to the shadows — a universally flattering combination that enhances without overwhelming.