Two inks. One photo.
Map photo luminance to a two-color gradient. Eight presets — Spotify, sunset, sea & sky, mono, moss, punk, riso, editorial — or pick your own shadow and highlight. Tune contrast. Nothing uploads. For brand systems, grab a proper app.
Mixing the inks…
Mixing the inks…
Six places duotone lands harder than full color
- 01 for spotify-vibe
A navy/pink playlist cover
The Spotify playlist cover aesthetic is a duotone — usually a deep blue mapped to a hot pink. Pick the Spotify preset, drop a portrait, hit download. Drop straight into a playlist or a band's social. Recognizable on sight.
- 02 for posters
A two-color band poster from a single photo
Show flyers don't need photo realism — they need contrast and identity. Punk preset (ink shadow, terracotta highlight) on a portrait gives you a flyer-ready hero. Print on cream stock, type the band name in big serif over the top.
- 03 for editorial
A magazine-style portrait treatment
Editorial portraits often go duotone for a 'considered' feel — navy/cream or moss/butter. The original photo's tonal information stays; the colors get unified into the magazine's palette. Pair with a serif headline.
- 04 for branding
A team headshot gallery in your brand colors
Team headshots from 14 different rooms with 14 different lights look like a unified team after duotone. Apply your brand's two colors as shadow/highlight; suddenly every face is part of the same visual system.
- 05 for moodboard
Pinterest pins that look paid
Mood-board pins with consistent duotone treatment get repinned more — they read as 'a curated set' instead of 'random photos'. Run all your reference shots through the same preset; suddenly your board feels like a designer's, not a hobbyist's.
- 06 for art
A riso-feel portrait without a riso machine
Risograph machines print one color at a time on absorbent paper, producing a textural two-color look. Riso preset (terracotta on cream) approximates that with fewer steps. Pair with the Halftone tool for the full risograph illusion.
Frequently asked
Does the photo upload anywhere? +
No. The duotone mapping runs pixel-by-pixel in your browser. Your photo never touches our servers — we don't run an image pipeline at all.
How does duotone differ from B&W? +
B&W maps every pixel to a grey based on luminance. Duotone maps every pixel to a *colored* value based on luminance, where the darkest pixels become your shadow color and the lightest become your highlight color. Same tonal structure as B&W, but with chromatic identity.
What contrast does the slider change? +
It bends the gamma curve of the luminance-to-color mapping. Lower contrast pulls midtones toward the shadow color (image looks darker, more shadow-heavy). Higher contrast pulls midtones toward the highlight color (image looks brighter, more highlight-heavy). Use lower for 'moody', higher for 'punchy'.
Can I match my brand colors exactly? +
Yes — the color pickers accept any hex code. For best duotone results, pick a dark-ish shadow color (under #555 luminance) and a light-ish highlight color (above #BBB luminance). Mid-tone shadow and mid-tone highlight will produce a flat, posterized result.
Why does my portrait look strange? +
Faces have specific tonal expectations — skin should sit between shadow and highlight. If your highlight is super-saturated (hot pink, lime), faces can look alien. Try the Editorial or Mono presets first to see clean output, then nudge from there.
How big is the export? +
Same dimensions as your source photo. JPG at 92% quality. For social-ready sizes, run through Crop & Resize afterward.
now what?
A few finishes after a two-colour map
next →
Halftone Effect
Layer halftone dots over the duotone for a riso-comic feel.
Opennext →
Film Grain
Dust the flat tones with Tri-X grain for analog texture.
Opennext →
Add Text to Photo
Caption it in a colour from the duotone palette.
Opennext →
Pinterest Pin Maker
Use the duotone as the hero of a Pinterest pin.
Opennext →
Social Banner
Crop wide for a LinkedIn or X header.
Opennext →
Drop Shadow
Float the duotone over paper for a poster mockup.
OpenOther free tools nearby
Background Remover
Cut the background out of any photo in one click.
OpenBackground Replace
Drop your subject onto paper, gradient, or your own backdrop photo.
OpenText Behind Subject
Drop a word behind your subject, magazine-cover style.
OpenPhoto Filters
Nine presets, one photo — vintage to cinematic.
OpenFilm Grain
Tri-X, Kodak Gold, Lomo — pick a roll, see the grain.
OpenHalftone Effect
Comic dots, risograph red, punk-zine textures.
OpenPencil Sketch
Photo to graphite drawing in two clicks.
OpenTilt-Shift Effect
Make real cities look like tabletop dioramas.
OpenLight Leak
Sunset, lomo red, golden hour — bleed light into corners.
OpenRGB Glitch
VHS bands, anaglyph 3D, CRT scanlines, chromatic aberration.
OpenASCII Art
Convert any photo to typed characters.
OpenPhoto Negative
Pure invert, cyanotype, blueprint, X-ray, darkroom, sepia negative.
OpenPhoto Mosaic
Photo as tiles with grout-color gaps.
OpenAdjust
Brightness, contrast, saturation, hue, blur — seven sliders.
OpenPolaroid Maker
Any photo, wrapped in paper with a handwritten caption.
OpenPhoto Strip Maker
Four photos, B&W mode, handwritten caption.
OpenDiptych Maker
Two photos, side-by-side or stacked.
OpenPhoto Mat & Border
Paper mat for prints, journals, framed walls.
OpenShape Crop
Circle, heart, star, arch — pick a cookie cutter.
OpenVintage Postcard
Greetings caption, faux stamp, postmark, paper texture.
OpenDrop Shadow
Float a photo over paper for portfolios and mockups.
OpenPinterest Pin Maker
Drop a photo, type a title, pick a layout. 1000×1500 native.
OpenSocial Banner
X, LinkedIn, or YouTube cover with title overlay.
OpenAdd Text to Photo
Handwritten captions, magazine headers, or a quick scribble.
OpenWashi Tape Overlay
Stick paper-mood tape onto any photo.
OpenVintage Date Stamp
LED red, Kodak yellow, camcorder amber.
OpenPhoto Watermark
Corner sign-off or full diagonal tile.
OpenSticker Overlay
Hearts, stars, flowers, smileys, paper tags, HELLO labels.
OpenCrop & Resize
Square for IG, 9:16 for stories, 2:3 for Pinterest.
OpenFlip & Rotate
Mirror a selfie, un-tilt a scan, turn a sideways shot upright.
OpenHEIC to JPG / PNG
iPhone photos that open on everything.
OpenBlur & Pixelate
Hide faces, plates, addresses — drag a patch over the spot.
OpenEXIF Stripper
Remove GPS, camera info, timestamps before posting.
OpenImage Compressor
Smaller JPG, WebP, or PNG — same look, less file.
OpenColor Palette
Pull 5 hex codes out of any photo.
OpenQR Code Generator
Print-ready QR for menus, invites, journals, vCards.
OpenColor Replace
Eyedropper a color in your photo, swap it for another.
Open Make proper layouts
in a proper app.
One duotone photo is a piece. When you want a brand kit — duotone applied across 50 photos with consistent type, layout, and spacing — a real design app handles it cleanly.