Sepia Tone

DP
Posted By
Dave Pitzer
Sep 21, 2006
Views
711
Replies
6
Status
Closed
I have a black & white portrait (jpg file) that I want to make look like an old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone.

Since it’s a black & white file, the "Color Balance" option under "Image" is
greyed-out. (I have Photoshop 5.5)

Thanks,

Dave P.

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TB
Tony Blair
Sep 21, 2006
"Dave Pitzer" wrote in message
I have a black & white portrait (jpg file) that I want to make look like an old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone.
Since it’s a black & white file, the "Color Balance" option under "Image" is
greyed-out. (I have Photoshop 5.5)

Thanks,

Dave P.
You need to change the image mode to RGB
N
NotMe
Sep 22, 2006
"Harry Limey" wrote in
news:4512fe5b$0$3583$:

"Dave Pitzer" wrote in message
I have a black & white portrait (jpg file) that I want to make look like an
old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone.
Since it’s a black & white file, the "Color Balance" option under "Image" is
greyed-out. (I have Photoshop 5.5)

Thanks,

Dave P.
You need to change the image mode to RGB
Then do Hue/Saturation…turn on Colorize and Preview… set Hue to -30 and Satuation to 30. Of course you can
play a this point…

HTH
R
robertredwoodgroups
Sep 22, 2006
Dave Pitzer wrote:
I have a black & white portrait (jpg file) that I want to make look like an old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone. Dave P.
Harry Limey wrote:
Then do Hue/Saturation…turn on Colorize and Preview… set Hue to -30 and Satuation to 30. Of course you can
play a this point…

Once you’ve turned the image to RGB color mode, and followed Harry’s instructions about colorizing, you’ll have a pretty good Sepia effect. It will still look slightly flat though, unlike a real aging Sepia print.

To see the difference, scroll to the bottom of this page, and on the left there is a real sepia print, and on the right, what the Photoshop generated version would look like.

http://www.easyelements.com/what-is-sepia.html

If you want to give it slightly more ‘body’ like the image on the left, then try adding a new layer, and filling it with the Clouds filter, or the Intensified Clouds filter (Accessed by holding Alt when you click the Clouds Filter menu option). You’ll want put two very similar colours in your palette beforehand, sampled from the Sepia image, so it looks similar to parchment.

Then change the opacity of the Clouds layer to really low, probably less than 10%, so it is really subtle. You can even play with the Levels control a little if the clouds havn’t got enough depth. That should give you the kind of varied look that implies age, and not just a computer generated ‘perfect’ image.

Hope that helps!

Robert Redwood
www.easyelements.com
Photoshop Elements Expert Advice
S
Sam
Sep 22, 2006
Harry Limey wrote:

"Dave Pitzer" wrote in message

I have a black & white portrait (jpg file) that I want to make look like an old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone.
Since it’s a black & white file, the "Color Balance" option under "Image" is
greyed-out. (I have Photoshop 5.5)

Thanks,

Dave P.

You need to change the image mode to RGB

And there should be an action script in PS 5.5 which you just push the button.
J
jrzyguy
Sep 23, 2006
i dont think v 5.5 has this feature… but it later versions you can use the "styles" window…that has a built in sepia style that puts a color overlay on your photo which you can always tweek to your liking. I dont think that the styles window is available in 5.5 tho….but how about color overlay? if so use the rgb value of 225/211/179 with HSB at 42/20/88

not sure if this will help…but i thought i would try.

peace
jj

old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone.
Since it’s a black & white file, the "Color Balance" option under "Image" is
greyed-out. (I have Photoshop 5.5)

Thanks,

Dave P.
You need to change the image mode to RGB
K
KatWoman
Sep 23, 2006
"Robert Redwood – www.easyelements.com"
wrote in message
Dave Pitzer wrote:
I have a black & white portrait (jpg file) that I want to make look like an
old photo. How can I give it that old-fashion sepia tone. Dave P.
Harry Limey wrote:
Then do Hue/Saturation…turn on Colorize and Preview… set Hue to -30 and Satuation to 30. Of course you can
play a this point…

Once you’ve turned the image to RGB color mode, and followed Harry’s instructions about colorizing, you’ll have a pretty good Sepia effect. It will still look slightly flat though, unlike a real aging Sepia print.

To see the difference, scroll to the bottom of this page, and on the left there is a real sepia print, and on the right, what the Photoshop generated version would look like.

http://www.easyelements.com/what-is-sepia.html

If you want to give it slightly more ‘body’ like the image on the left, then try adding a new layer, and filling it with the Clouds filter, or the Intensified Clouds filter (Accessed by holding Alt when you click the Clouds Filter menu option). You’ll want put two very similar colours in your palette beforehand, sampled from the Sepia image, so it looks similar to parchment.

Then change the opacity of the Clouds layer to really low, probably less than 10%, so it is really subtle. You can even play with the Levels control a little if the clouds havn’t got enough depth. That should give you the kind of varied look that implies age, and not just a computer generated ‘perfect’ image.

Hope that helps!
play with the duotone feature for sepia that looks more like darkroom prints

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