Basic split toning questions

[media kat]

I took some photos of a toy with a backlight that put some red light on the subject. I tried out split toning and added some red to the highlights and blue to the shadows. I like the look of it, though I am not entirely clear on what it is doing to the image. Is this doing the same thing that a curve would be doing if I added blue to the shadows and red to the highlights with the curve? Do you typically follow certain types of color harmonies, like complementary colors for the spit tonight, or do you just go with what looks good?

Thanks for any info.

[Lauca · Accepted solution]

Split toning is just adding a colored mask on top of your photo. The hue and saturation of the mask can be adjusted.

Note that a saturation 0 means the mask has no color at all (invisible).

There are 2 settings : one for the Highligts and one fo the shadows. The limit between Highlight and Shadows can be adjusted with the Balance Cursor. So it's totally different than the curve.

The way to use it is up to you !