While it’s advertised as a black and white tool, using layers along with the selective color options, you can create some unique images that might otherwise be tedious work in an image editing application. The level of control over color choice is more limited but it works nicely if you have a specific color you’re trying to isolate. It did well with the grasses in this image, but in another image I had difficulty getting a natural blue in the sky.

But, the main focus here is black and white, and in this area Tonality excels. The film emulations are well done, and the options to adjust micro structure and grain are excellent.

When you’re all done with the main adjustments, there are panels with textures and frames that can be applied to the image. 

If you’re working on a file over multiple sessions, the plug-in version is a bit less useful than the stand-alone. Files saved in Tonality Pro are in a proprietary format that isn’t recognized by Lightroom or Photoshop. You’ll need to export the file to have a TIFF, PSD, or JPG (or a number of other formats). Because Tonality lets you work with layers, I was hoping that the layered file would be saved when choosing TIFF or PSD (Photoshop format), but the export process flattens the image to a single layer.

If you’re opening the file from within Lightroom or Aperture, the easiest way to save is by choosing Apply. This will export the file with your Tonality adjustments back to your catalog in whatever file format you selected originally. If you’re using the standalone version of Tonality, you’ll need to choose Export to image from the File menu to apply changes to a file that can be used in other applications or on the web. There are also options to open the file in other applications, such as Photoshop or Macphun’s other apps like Intensify and Photo Studio FX.

Tonality also includes a nice option to share your creations directly to Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, email, and messaging.

Your Comments