That’s actually a very fair question, and I think the confusion comes from how 3-way toning is often demonstrated online. Many examples are pushed far too aggressively, so instead of guiding the eye emotionally, the image starts looking “processed.”
Good 3-way toning is usually something you feel before you consciously notice it.
Traditional split toning only separates shadows and highlights. That can work beautifully, but real-world images usually have important information living in the midtones — especially skin, foliage, fabric, wood, architecture, atmosphere, etc. The midtones are often where the emotional “body” of the image exists.
That’s why colorists use low/mid/high wheels separately. I don’t want to link to some side by side examples without first explaining some theory, if you don’t mind. Firstly, my background in color grading comes from recent years of using DaVinci Resolve and studying color science independently. I am in no way a master colorist. Although I completed the color grade training from Black Magic Design, passed the test, and color grade for the studio I work for…it doesn’t certify as an authority as someone who has been a colorist for decades. I will try to provide some technical theory, but I’m sure many of you are far more qualified to explain what I’m saying significantly better. So, take what I say below with a grain of salt.
Now, with that out of the way, let’s take a look at a simple split tone scenario and compare it to a 3-way tone grade:
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Warm highlights + cool shadows alone can create a cinematic contrast.
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But if the midtones are left untouched, skin can become disconnected or muddy.
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With 3-way toning, you can:
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keep shadows slightly teal,
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keep highlights warm/golden,
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while subtly nudging midtones toward peach, amber, magenta, olive, etc.
That tiny midtone control is often the difference between:
Take a look at the two following photos. Once the photos were normalized (balancing exposure and tones), I applied a simple split-tone grade: orange/gold to the highlights and teal/bluish to the shadows. It doesn’t look bad…but…
…if I have access to the midtones, now I can add peach to the midtones which makes the photo look much more impactful. It also motivates targeted exposure changes to the subject. See image the below:
Ironically, many of the most eye-catching photos people love are already using this approach — they just don’t realize it because the grading is subtle.
Some classic examples where 3-way toning is heavily relied upon:
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high-end wedding photography,
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luxury fashion editorials,
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Hollywood teal/orange looks,
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pastel commercial grading,
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moody automotive photography,
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modern film emulation workflows,
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Kodak/Portra-inspired color rendering,
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blockbuster cinematography where skin separation is critical.
The “pastel” look people love is also often impossible to achieve elegantly with simple split toning alone. This was my biggest struggle using DXO. I could not achieve the pastel look and had to go back to Capture One, because that softer luxury look usually involves:
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lifting and slightly cooling shadows,
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warming highlights,
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delicately desaturating or hue-shifting midtones,
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controlling luminance independently across tonal regions.
That’s where 3-way toning becomes incredibly powerful.
Furthermore, when done correctly, 3-way toning is often almost invisible. The viewer doesn’t think “Wow, cool color effect.” Instead, they think:
That emotional response is usually the goal. So I’d actually argue that the best examples of 3-way toning are the ones where you don’t immediately notice the grading itself — only the mood, depth, and separation it creates.
One last example, is with food. Teal in the shadows, gold in the highs:
Now compare to a 3-way tone, Again, teal in the shadows, reddish-gold in the mids, and yellow/champagne in the highs:
I’d rather eat the one on the bottom. It looks more expensive. They both look great, subjectively, but the one on the top looks like the strawberries may taste a little bitter and bland compared to the ones below.
Sorry for the long novel, but I hope this helps to not just see the difference, but to understand the difference. Hence, why I am asking for 3-way color grading tools directly in PhotoLab. (Neither of my examples was done with DXO)
) but if you’re not a fan of 3-split toning then you don’t have to use it. There are functions in PhotoLab I seldom ever touch, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s not worth having them.