Unless you have been formally educated in color chances are you may not fully understand the difference between Tints, Tones and Shades.

I’ll never forget learning this principle during one of my first art classes way back in high school.  The teacher handed us 3 bottles of paint. 1 Red. 1 Black. and 1 White. She further instructed us that we would be creating a monochromatic painting.
 

I was concerned. The teacher had been known to be eccentric, but how could I possibly create a wrok of art with just these 3 colors?

It was that assignment that taught me the value of tints, tones and shades.If this terminology seems foreign to you keep reading.

Tints. A “tint” of a color is made by mixing the color with white.  Thinking back to our example, if we mix Red with a little while the resulting color, pink, is a “tint of red.”

Shade.  Shades are easy to remember because of the darker elements involved.  A shade is created by mixing black with a color.  Black mixed into red results in “burgundy” which is a “shade of red”.

Tones.  Perhaps the tone is the hardest mixing element to remember.  A tone is created by add “gray” to a color.  When mixed with red, the resulting color will fall somewhere between pink and burgundy depending on the shade of the gray.

With these mixtures you can create a monochromatic piece of art. Let’s define “monochromatic”. Monochromatic refers to a piece of art this created usually only one base color.

How do these principles apply to computer-based graphics? I’m glad you asked. No doubt you’ve stumbled across the setting in Photoshop to change your photo or work to “monotone”.

This setting is creating your “tints, tones and shades” for you, but knowing the foundational keys in front of you.

The dividing line between successful designers and amateurs that use Photoshop is knowing the “principles” behind what the software is doing.

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