The Ultimate Guide to Duotones, Tritones & Quadtones

To help you recreate each look shown in this guide, we’ve included the exact Duotone curves used for every example.

For each image below, we exported the Photoshop duotone curve(s) as an .ado file. All curves are bundled together in a small download (about 12 KB) you can grab here or download the individual curve you need below. Download it, unzip it, and you’ll have a folder of curves ready to use.

How to use the curves in Photoshop

1. Download the curves bundle and unzip it.
2. Open your image in Photoshop and convert it to Grayscale if needed.
3. Go to Image > Mode > Duotone.
4. In the Duotone dialog, click Load…
5. Choose the .ado curve you want, and Photoshop will apply the exact settings from the example.

A couple quick tips

• These curves affect how each ink/channel builds across highlights, midtones, and shadows, so your results will vary a bit depending on the image and the paper it’s printed on.
• If you’re planning to print, it’s worth doing a quick proof (or test print) to confirm contrast and shadow detail.

Choose an option Base Image curve1-bmcblue1 curve2-bmcblue2 curve3-bmcblue3 curve4-bmcblue4 curve5-magentabl1 curve6-magentabl2 curve7-magentabl3 curve8-magentabl4 curve9-brown478bl1 curve10-brown478bl2 curve11-brown478bl3 curve12-brown478bl4 curve13-burgundy75bl1 curve14-burgundy75bl2 curve15-burgundy75bl3 curve16-burgundy75bl4 curve17-cyanbl1 curve18-cyanbl2 curve19-cyanbl3 curve20-cyanbl4 curve21-coolgray7bl1 curve22-coolgray7bl2 curve23-coolgray7bl3 curve24-coolgray7bl4 curvecover-bmcblue2 curvecover-CoolGray7bl2

Download this curve (.ado)