In art, design and photography, tone is related to how much light or dark there is in a composition.
In photography, you will work with highlights (where the light is the strongest) and with shades (where is darker); you will use tone to create:
Illusion of Form / Shapes
Claude Monet created a dramatic scene (could be sunset or sunrise), where you can barely see the shape of the parliament.
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George Seurat used different tones with different light intensity around the main subject, you can can create the ilussion of a form.
This way, the changing tones create the illusion of light hitting an object, moving like from a 2D to a 3D painting:
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Abrecht Durer used black, white and brown to illustrate the different nuances of the fur, as well as for creating direct shade:
Creating atmosphere
Low and high value in tones.
Value is used to show how light (high value) or how dark (low value) a tone is.
You can compare it somehow to an overexposed or underexposed picture.
Contrast
Claude Monet created contrast by using a specific colour palette:
Paying attention to the moment of the day, you can create the desired contrast - for example, in the afternoon, shooting directly in the sun, you will get the harshest shadow.
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Creating depth and distance
This concept is related to depth of field; here is a progressive tone used to gradually change from a light tone in the foreground to a dark tone in the background.
When using this technique, you will be in charge creating the focal point, to catch the veiwer’s attention!
