nce,photosweredevelopedwith
chemicals,andlight-sensitive
compoundsofsilverwere
commonlyused,especiallyinblack-and-
whiteprinting.Thetraditionalprocesssaw
silver halideinthepaperconvertedto
metallic silverafteritsexposuretolight.
It wasn’ta perfectprocess,though.One
ofitsfailingswaslongevity– pollutantsin
theatmospherecontinuetoreactwiththe
silver,ruiningtheimage.Thesepiaprocess
wasdevelopedtocombatthis– thesilver
intheprintis convertedagain,thistimeto
silversulphide,whichis morestable.Silversulphide is responsible for one of
themostrecognisable printing techniques
inblack-and-white photos – sepia toning.
Thesedays,wecan recreate this effect in
software– specifically Photoshop
Elements 2019 (go to http://bit.ly/
PSE19trialtoget your free trial)./HʋʢɚKʝɦWɛ
Give photos a retro look
O
Step-by-step Giveyourphotosa sepialook
1
Choosea photo
Sepiais a warm,nostalgiceffect,andit worksbestwiththe
right kind ofphoto– portraitsoflovedones,anythingthatevokes
the sort ofwistfulsentimentalitysepiacanfeedinto.If youwant
to really makeyourphotolookold,we’regoingtoshowyouhow
to add film-likegraintoyourimage,sodon’tpickanythingwitha
lot of detail,sinceit mightgetdestroyed.Onceyou’vechosena
photo, savethefileasa PSD.
2
Convertanimagetogreyscale
Therearea fewwaytoturnanimage into black-and-white.
Theeasiestis touseImage> Mode> Grayscale. The image will
snapintoblackandwhite,butyouhave no control, and will need
tochangeit backtoRGBagain.Another is to use a Hue/Saturation
adjustmentlayer, addedusingthehalf-black half-white circle
iconatthetopoftheLayerspalette.Drag the Saturation slider all
thewayleft,thenusetheLightnessslider to fine-tune the image.3 Usea quickfilter
A quickwaytogeta sepiaeffectis touseanother
adjustmentlayerfromthesamedrop-down:thistime,Photo
Filter. Choose‘Sepia’fromthemenuinthePhotoFilterwindow,
and use theDensityslidertochangethestrengthoftheeffect.
The PreserveLuminositytickboxgivesyoua brighterimage.It’sa
simple wayofachievingtheeffect,butgivesyoulittlecontrol.To
get a specificcolourcast,usetheColorboxtochooseone.
4 Gradientmapanimage
A betterwayofcreatingtheeffect is with a Gradient Map
adjustmentlayer.Atfirst,allyou’llseeis a slight variation of
yourmonochromeimage,butdouble-clicking the black/white
gradientinthepop-upwindowopens the Gradient Editor.
Fromhere,youcanchangeit toredand green, or make a
customgradientwithsepiacoloursinit. There’s a Light Brown
presetundertheSimplecategorythat’s quite useful, too.<ʝʦɠʔʦLȫɏ,ʋɚ(ɃʑQȫʑɚVʋ\ɡ“The early days of photography are long gone, but you
can recreate the sepia look with an image-editing app”May 2019 | |^27
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Give photos a retro look