A New System… Free of Charge!

Over the last several months I have been working tirelessly on the Color Zone System which was recently released last month.  It grants you the ability to select certain colors in your photograph and control them in ways you may never have imagined before.

This is unlike the HSL adjustments in many programs as it allows you to affect the Highlights, Midtones, and Shadows independently.  Basically, I am in love with the way the Digital Zone System and the Color Zone System work together.

While I was working on this system I started to develop another, The Tonal Grading System.  I know what you are thinking, What the heck is that?  Have you ever watched a movie or television show and seen that the colors were manipulated to fit a mood.

Look at the movies 300, or Three Kings.  These movies have been Tonal Graded (sometimes called Color Graded) to give the scene a certain feel.  These Grading techniques can make a scene feel anxious, calm, nostalgic, etc.

This is really a basic concept and nothing more than a clever way of using a Gradient Map.  The Gradient Map looks at your photo and gives various areas a certain value on the gradient scale.  Usually, we use this for something like rendering a great Black and White photo.  However, if you change the colors of the gradient map in various locations combined with a drop in Opacity and a blend mode change, you can create some amazing effects!

That is where the Tonal Grading system comes in.  It is about 40 minutes of training that will have you making effective moods in your images in no time.  One of the things I love about this system is how well it integrates with its siblings, the Digital Zone System and Color Zone System!

Blake Rudis
f.64 Academy and f.64 Elite are the brainchildren of Blake Rudis. While he is a landscape photographer, he is most passionate about post-processing images in Photoshop and mentoring others.

For Blake, it's all about the art and process synergy. He dives deep into complex topics and makes them easy to understand through his outside-the-box thinking so that you can use these tricks in your workflow today!
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