sepia tone
Sepia tone refers to the coloring of a black and white photographic print that has been toned with a sepia toner to simulate the faded brownish color of some early photographs. This process can be simulated using a computer and digital photo-editing software.
History
Beginning in the 1880s, sepia was produced by adding a pigment made from the Sepia cuttlefish, found in the English channel[Sepia officinalis, the Common Cuttlefish, http://www.thecephalopodpage.org/Soffic.php] to the positive print of a photograph. The chemical process involved converts any remaining metallic silver to a sulphide which is much more resistant to breakdown over time. This is why many old photographs are sepia toned—those are the ones that have survived until today.
Although sepia toning began as a printing method, today it is seen as a genre, much like black and white photography.
Digital sepia tones
Sepia can be produced in many digital cameras and camcorders, or it can be produced in the digital darkroom.
Software, such as Photoshop or The GIMP, offers control over the sepia achieved (there is no single color known as “sepia”—the term covers a range of yellow and brown mixtures). Simpler photo-editing software usually has an option to sepia tone an image in one step.
More sophisticated software tends to implement sepia tones using the duotone feature.
 Adobe recommends setting Hue = 27 and Saturation = 21 and checking the Colorize box in the Hue/Saturation filter in Photoshop
Examples
The sample photographs below show the process of digitally removing color from a photograph, then converting the black and white image to sepia-tone.
Image:Neighborhood watch color.jpg|Color image
Image:Neighborhood watch grayscale.jpg|Grayscale image
Image:Neighborhood watch sepia.jpg|Sepia-toned image
The following are real examples of the three types:
Image:Freak Out, Oblivion, night.jpg|Color photograph
Image:Titanic-lifeboat.gif|Black-and-white photograph
Image:Photograph.sept1895.arp.750pix.jpg|Sepia toning
Sepia tones in pop culture
Sepia-toned images are associated with period photography of the 1800s and "that old-time feel". Many photographs of the American Old West were recorded in sepia tones, particularly Edward Weston's photos of Carmel.
The Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz were in sepia tone, until Technicolor takes over in the land of Oz. Wings of Desire, by Wim Wenders, is filmed in sepia mostly, to depict that the movie protagonists, invisible angels, lack the usual human senses; when the angels are not present, the movie is shown in full colour. Jaws The Revenge integrates footage from the first film in the series, which is sepia-toned to indicate that they are flashbacks.
The Penny Arcade webcomic characters Twisp and Catsby appear mainly in sepia-toned comic strips.
Jack Johnson's song "Better Together" references Sepia Tone in the line, "Like a shoebox of photographs with sepia tone loving".
In , Grandpa Simpson says that something 'happened so long ago, it can only be described in sepia tone'.
In the Phineas & Ferb episode Leave the busting to us, Doofenshmirtz says to Perry the Platypus "But I guess my dreams faded into Sepia tone somewhere along the way."
See also
Sepia (color)
Monochrome
Selective color
Photographic print toning
List of software palettes — Color gradient palettes section
External links
Sepia toning in Photoshop
Sepia toning in the GIMP
|
|
|
|
This section is sponsored by:
Looking for Sepia Tone?
Find Sepia Tone and more at Ansearch. Answers that matter most!
www.ansearch.com
Lowest Priced Computers
Get the lowest prices on laptops, desktops and computer accessories
www.Geeks.com
HP Laptops & Notebooks
Find great deals on HP laptops & notebooks along with accessories for your computer.
www.shopping.hp.com
Buy Computers Cheap
Get Computer,Laptop,Acces. Save and Order Now!
Portable-LaptopComputers.com
Complete Laptop &Accessories
Need laptop &accessories in new tech? Find here at affordable Price.
Computer-Laptop.net
Get a Mac Computer
Find the Mac computer that fits your needs from the Macbook to the iMac
store.apple.com
Laptop & Desktop Computers
Find great deals & low prices brand name laptops and desktop computers.
www.buy.com
Get a Free Laptop Now
100% Free Brand Name Laptop. Hurry - supplies are limited.
www.GetFreeLaptopsNow.com
|
