Teal and Orange
A grading style that pushes shadows toward teal and highlights and skin toward orange. Digital intermediate workflows from around 2000, beginning with O Brother, Where Art Thou?, made it easy, and it dominated 2000s blockbuster posters and films.
Spot it
- 01Teal shadows
- 02Orange skin and highlights
- 03Cool-warm complementary contrast
Why it happens
Orange and teal sit opposite on the color wheel, so skin tones stand out sharply against cool backgrounds when grading pushes shadows one way and highlights the other.
Recreate it in Pixio
Image edit prompt“Grade this image in a blockbuster teal-and-orange look: shadows and backgrounds pushed to deep cyan-teal, highlights and skin tones pushed to warm amber-orange, slightly crushed blacks, rich contrast and a cinematic desaturated middle. Keep the complementary split clear and the grade smooth. Keep the original subject and composition.”