Even though it’s known as “black and white photography,” balanced grays are what make monochrome images striking or flat. Today, MacPhun released Tonality 1.2 ($18) and Tonality Pro 1.2 ($70), tools designed specifically for making the best possible black and white images from color photos. Both versions work with popular photo library management tools, newly including the Mac version of Apple Photos. The Pro version now plugs into Adobe’s new Lightroom CC, and adds RAW support for both new cameras and Lightroom.
Like MacPhun’s excellent noise-removing app Noiseless, Tonality uses a super-simple interface to let you preview potential changes to your images. The window’s bottom initially scrolls across 13 “Basic” presets, ranging from the intelligent “Adaptive Exposure” to the simpler “Underexposed;” 10 different categories collectively contain 150 different presets. Each preset effect starts at maximum, but can be muted using a single slider. Power users can access a right-side pane with controls for exposure, contrast, clarity, structure/micro-structure, color and tone filters, split-toning, glow, blur, vignette, and grain. Additionally, masking tools and a gradient filter let you alter specific areas of your images while leaving others untouched. The differences are so dramatic that you’ll never feel satisfied with a one-step “apply B&W filter” button again.
Tonality is currently being offered at an introductory price of $13 through the Mac App Store, with Tonality Pro at $60 through the company’s web site. Additional photo galleries of the app in action are below…
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- “More Details” makes every pixel pop
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- “Smooth” softens the image
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- “Adaptive Exposure” does a really good job of optimizing the shot’s highs, lows, and mids
Preset usage examples are above, with more shots of the manual controls and layers below.
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- A slider atop each preset lets you adjust the effect
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- Take manual control with the right-side pane’s split-toning
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- The right-side pane also gives you access to layers and lets you create presets
This gallery of images shows how various black and white effects can radically impact the look of an image with only a few easy clicks.
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- Park Güell, “Smooth”
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- Park Güell, “Paper Sketch”
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- Park Güell, “More Details”
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- Park Güell, “High Contrast”
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- Park Güell, “Barcelona” filter
Tonality and Tonality Pro are killer tools, and certainly worth checking out if you appreciate the beauty of monochromatic photography.
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Not sure what you mean by “works with Apple Photos on MAC”. I just updated 1.2.0 and it cannot open photos from OS X Apple Photos library. Not it is integrated inside Photos. I have to export photo from Photos, save it to disk, load into Tonality, ….. blah blah blah. Horrible User Experience on MAC. Sorry.
Hi Jirka – check out this video talking about new features of Tonality: https://youtu.be/aYRH79sn27k. You’ll see that you have to navigate to Photos via the File > Open dialog. Kevin (from Macphun).
Ah, I see ….. Ok, I can open the picture. But it is very far from where I expected to see it. If the Tonality on iCloud is the first choice, than Photos should be the second. Not sure if it is possible, but that should be it. Another point – this is not what I call “integrated with Photos”. This shows how to open pictures from Photos. Everything else (so I can share it with my other devices, or with family) is manual (and tedious process).
Weird, it is different for everyone else. Will you email at support@macphun.com and we’ll help you to make things right. Thanks…
I would like an answer on my post below. As mentioned I already mailed y twice and still no answer :-(
Can anyone compare this software to Nik Collecction’s Silver Efex Pro 2?
The problem with all of their photo apps even when you start of with a raw file is that after editing and you tell it to export to photo or direct to photoshop the resolution is only 72 Pixels/inch. That’s not good enough for printing. I asked them twice by email regarding the low output resolution and I have got no response. The app suite is great and you can easily make stunning photos that looks good on your screen.