Sepia is a warm brown color that can give photos an antique look. It was very popular in the early days of photography, and many classic photographs are in sepia tones. You can create this effect by adding sepia toning to your photos in post-processing, or by using filters when you take the photo. Here’s how to add a sepia color to your photos.
What is the Sepia Color of Sepia Toning?
The sepia toning was originally used to preserve printed photos and make them last longer. In fact, it is not uncommon to see sepia-toned photos from seventy, ninety or even a hundred years ago in great condition.
This method was so common in the past and there are many photos that survived to our times. This is why we have a strong association between sepia tone and old times, vintage, nostalgic, old school looks.
Sepia photos are monochromatic, some even consider them to be black and white photos. They have distinct warm, brown-yellow tones.
The process was done by a chemical reaction. You can see many variations in the tones. It’s due to differences in the treatments and methodology of the developers.
How Do You Get a Sepia Tone in a Darkroom
Sepia tone can be added to a black and white photograph in the darkroom.
Sepia toners are chemical compounds that replace the traditional metallic silver of the black and white photos with another substance (a sulfide-based compound). This results in the addition of warm colors to the image.
Depending on how much of this compound you add to the image, the warm effect you get varies in intensity.
Why Was Sepia Tone so Popular
Photographers started using the sepia toning back in the 1800s for two reasons. The first one is merely artistic. They liked the warm look that sepia tone adds to the image, so it was a way to make their photos look a bit different.
The second reason was to slow down the deterioration of the image. The chemicals involved in sepia toning have a longer life span, so photos lasted longer too.
Create an In-Camera Sepia Effect
Chemicals used in the darkrooms to get the sepia tones were quite toxic. Thanks to digital photography we don’t need to handle hazardous products anymore.
Most digital cameras have the option to shoot in sepia tone. I will show you how it looks like on my camera, a Nikon.
If you have a different brand, it might be a bit different. Check your camera manual to learn how to select the sepia effect.
In Nikon, you need to go to Shooting menu> Set Picture Control.
Look for the Monochrome option.
Instead of just selecting it by pressing the OK bottom, press the right arrow on your camera Multi Selector. In the Monochrome Menu, select Toning
Select the sepia color in the Toning section. This is the second brown little square. You can also choose its intensity by using the sepia color scale.
Keep in mind that this monochromatic effect is applied straight in-camera only if you take your photos in JPEG format. If you are shooting in RAW, you will see the sepia tone on the camera screen. Once you transfer the images to your computer, you will have them in color.
This is because RAW is a format that stores all the pixel information, including color. In that case, the monochromatic effect can be useful to have a preview and decide if the photo you are about to take will look good in sepia or not.
Create a Sepia Photo Effect Using the Split Tone Panel in Lightroom
If you want to have more control and flexibility over your sepia effect, instead of using your camera monochrome options you can create a sepia effect in post-processing.
Today I am going to explain to you how to create a sepia effect using Lightroom. It is easy and quick, just a few steps.
Step 1: Create a Virtual Copy
Before you start editing your image, it will be useful to create a virtual copy. These copies are created just inside Lightroom to store editing information, so you won´t duplicate your original file.
As a result, they won’t take up room on your disk. They are useful because they let you apply different edits in each one of them. You can then keep your original image and a version of it, for example, with a sepia effect.
To create a virtual copy, right-click on the photo in the film strip and select Create Virtual Copy.
You will know which one is the original and which is the copy by their file name. The virtual copy also has a little fold in the left bottom corner.
If you want to delete a virtual copy, you can do so by selecting it and pressing Delete. However, take care not to delete the original thinking that it is a copy. If you do, you will lose both the original and the copy!
Once you have different versions of your image, you will be able to compare them selecting both images in the Grid View and clicking on the Compare View option.
Lightroom will show them side by side. This also works for more than 2 photos.
Step 2: Convert the Virtual Copy to Black and White
Now that you have created a virtual copy, let’s convert into Black and White.
In the HSL/Color/B&W panel, click on B&W and Lightroom will convert the image.
You might need to do some adjustments, such as the exposure, contrast or any other.
When you are happy with your Black and White version, do a Virtual Copy of it to create the sepia effect on the copy. Then you will have 3 versions of the image: original, Black & White and Sepia.
Not all photos convert well into sepia. The more suitable are those with some contrast. This means that they have both Blacks and Highlights.
Photos with just mid-tones might not look good with this effect.
Step 3: Go to the Split Tones Panel
To create the sepia effect, go to the Split Tones panel in the Develop module. This simple looking panel offers you a lot of creative options. It enables you to make strong effects of color in your images.
It has 2 sets of Hue (color) and Saturation sliders. One pair allows you to set the tones that will be applied in the shadows of the image, and the other affects the tones in the Highlights.
There is also a balance slider to give more intensity to either the shadows or the highlights.
Step 4: Select a Color for the Highlights
Let´s start by selecting a color (hue) for the highlights. You can select a color by moving the Hue and Saturation sliders. If you hold Alt while moving the Hue slider, Lightroom will show you the Hue at 100%.
This trick is useful because it helps you to decide if you like the color. For a sepia effect, I usually choose a golden color. You can start with a Hue value of 47 and a Saturation of 52. Adjust it to your personal taste.
Another way to select a color is through the Color Panel. Its icon is the little colored rectangle above the Hue slider. Click on it to open the Color Panel window, that is mostly a color palette.
Choose the color you want to add to the highlights by clicking on it. You can modify the saturation of the color using the slider at the bottom right corner.
Step 5: Select a Color for the Shadows
Now you need to select a color to add to the shadows. To do that you need to follow exactly the same steps you took for the Highlights but using the Shadow Hue and Saturation slider or the Shadows Color Palette.
A hue value of 36 and a saturation of 23 belongs to a sepia color that might be a good starting point.
Step 6: Balance the Highlights and the Shadows
Finally, use the Balance slider to find the relation between shadows and highlights that you like. By moving the slider towards the left you will make the shadows predominant in the image.
Moving it towards the right, the highlight colors will be predominant.
Step 7: Final Adjustments to the Sepia Version
Check if you need to do some final adjustments to your image. Something I like to do is to emphasize textures using the brush tool.
To do so, I select the Brush tool, increase its clarity and brush over the areas of the image with interesting textures. I think this improves the sepia effect.
Here is the final image:
Step 8: Create Your Own Sepia Develop Preset
One of the great things of Lightroom is that you don´t need to repeat all these steps every time you want to create a Sepia effect.
Instead, you can create your own Develop Sepia Preset and apply it with just one click in other images.
Creating your preset is easy. First, click on New Preset.
A window will open where you can Rename it. Use a name that will allow you to quickly identify the preset in the future.
You can save it in a Preset folder to have everything more organized.
In the Preset windows, you can select which settings you want to save. I usually save them all except for the settings that are very specific for an image (such as Exposure) or the local adjustments (such as Graduate and radial filters).
In the next image you edit, you just need to select your preset from the Presets panel in the Develop module. Lightroom will apply all the edit settings to your image automatically.
Extra Step: Add Grain to Emphasize the Old Photo Look
If you want to add an old look to your image, a great way to achieve it is by adding a bit of grain. In the Effect panel, increase the grain by moving its slider to the right.
You can also change the size and the roughness of the grain. Play with these sliders until you get the effect you like. This is the final image with the added grain:
Sepia toning creates an old nostalgic look that is difficult to achieve with any other edit or filter. You can create sepia images in the darkroom using chemical products but those are hazardous for your health and the environment.
Luckily we can achieve this effect digitally either straight from the camera or using editing software such as Lightroom. You can also add a sepia filter in Photoshop.
This second option allows you to have more control over the sepia effect and even add some grain to emphasize the old-photo effect.
You can create the sepia effect in Lightroom following a few simple steps, allowing you to easily experiment and get creative with your images.
Rangi ya sepia ni rangi ya kahawia yenye joto ambayo inaweza kufanya picha zionekane za kale. Ilikuwa maarufu sana katika siku za mapema za upigaji picha, na picha nyingi za kawaida ziko katika rangi ya sepia. Unaweza kuunda athari hii kwa kuongeza toning sepia kwa picha zako katika baada ya usindikaji, au kwa kutumia vichungi wakati wa kuchukua picha. Hapa ni jinsi ya kuongeza rangi sepia kwa picha yako. Rangi ya Sepia ya Toning ya Sepia Ni Nini? Mwanzoni, rangi ya sepia ilitumiwa kuhifadhi picha zilizochapishwa na kuzifanya ziendelee kwa muda mrefu. Kwa kweli, ni jambo la kawaida kuona picha za rangi ya sepia za miaka sabini, tisini au hata mia moja iliyopita zikiwa katika hali nzuri sana. Njia hii ilikuwa ya kawaida sana katika siku za nyuma na kuna picha nyingi ambazo zimeokoka hadi nyakati zetu. Kwa hiyo, kuna uhusiano mkubwa kati ya rangi ya sepia na nyakati za zamani, vintage, nostalgic, old school looks. Picha za Sepia ni za rangi moja, baadhi hata huzifikiria kuwa picha nyeusi na nyeupe. Zina rangi ya manjano-kahawia yenye joto. Utaratibu huo ulifanywa kwa kutumia kemikali. Unaweza kuona tofauti nyingi katika sauti. Ni kutokana na tofauti katika matibabu na mbinu ya watengenezaji. Jinsi ya Kupata Sauti ya Sepia katika Chumba cha Giza Sauti ya Sepia inaweza kuongezwa kwenye picha nyeusi na nyeupe katika chumba cha giza. Toner ya Sepia ni kemikali ambayo inabadilisha fedha ya kawaida ya picha nyeusi na nyeupe na dutu nyingine (dutu ya sulfidi). Hilo huchangia kuongezwa kwa rangi zenye joto kwenye picha. Ikitegemea kiasi cha mchanganyiko huu unachoongeza kwenye picha, athari ya joto unayopata hutofautiana kwa nguvu. Kwa nini Sepia Tone ni maarufu? Ya kwanza ni ya kisanii tu. Kwa sababu ya rangi ya sepia, picha hizo zilikuwa na rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi. Sababu ya pili ilikuwa kupunguza mwendo wa kuharibika kwa picha. Kemikali zinazohusika katika toning ya sepia zina maisha marefu zaidi, kwa hiyo picha ziliendelea kwa muda mrefu pia. Kuunda In-Camera Sepia Athari Kemikali kutumika katika vyumba giza kupata sauti sepia walikuwa kabisa sumu. Shukrani kwa upigaji picha wa dijiti hatuna haja ya kushughulikia bidhaa hatari tena. Kamera nyingi za dijiti zina chaguo la kupiga picha kwa sauti ya sepia. Nitaonyesha jinsi inavyoonekana kwenye kamera yangu, Nikon. Ikiwa una chapa tofauti, inaweza kuwa tofauti kidogo. Angalia mwongozo wa kamera yako kujifunza jinsi ya kuchagua athari sepia. Nikon, unaweza kuchagua kutoka kwa orodha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha ya picha. Tafuta chaguo la Monochrome. Badala ya kuchagua tu kwa kubonyeza OK chini, bonyeza mshale wa kulia kwenye kamera yako Multi Selector. Katika Monochrome Menu, kuchagua Toning Chagua rangi sepia katika sehemu ya Toning. Hii ni mraba mdogo wa pili wa kahawia. Unaweza pia kuchagua nguvu yake kwa kutumia kiwango cha rangi ya sepia. Kumbuka kwamba athari hii monochromatic ni kutumika moja kwa moja katika kamera tu kama wewe kuchukua picha yako katika muundo JPEG. Kama wewe ni risasi katika RAW, utaona sepia sauti kwenye skrini ya kamera. Baada ya kuhamisha picha kwenye kompyuta yako, utakuwa nazo kwa rangi. Hii ni kwa sababu RAW ni muundo ambao huhifadhi habari zote za pixel, ikiwa ni pamoja na rangi. Kwa hivyo, athari ya monochromatic inaweza kuwa na faida ya kuona mapema na kuamua ikiwa picha unayopanga kuchukua itaonekana vizuri katika sepia au la. Kuunda Sepia Photo Effect Kutumia Split Tone Panel katika Lightroom: Kama unataka kuwa na udhibiti zaidi na kubadilika juu ya athari yako ya Sepia, badala ya kutumia chaguzi yako kamera monochrome unaweza kuunda athari ya Sepia katika baada ya usindikaji. Leo nitakuelezea jinsi ya kuunda athari ya sepia kwa kutumia Lightroom. Ni rahisi na ya haraka, hatua chache tu. Hatua ya kwanza: Kuunda nakala halisi: Kabla ya kuanza kuhariri picha yako, ni muhimu kuunda nakala halisi. Hizi nakala ni kuundwa tu ndani ya Lightroom kuhifadhi uhariri habari, hivyo huwezi duplicate faili yako ya awali. Matokeo yake, hawatakuwa kuchukua nafasi kwenye diski yako. Wao ni muhimu kwa sababu wao basi wewe kutumia marekebisho tofauti katika kila moja yao. Kisha unaweza kuweka picha yako ya awali na toleo lake, kwa mfano, na athari sepia. Kuunda nakala virtual, right-click juu ya picha katika filamu strip na kuchagua Kuunda Virtual Nakala. Utajua ni ipi ni ya awali na ni ipi ni nakala kwa jina la faili yao. Nakala virtual pia ina fold kidogo katika kona ya chini ya kushoto. Kama unataka kufuta nakala virtual, unaweza kufanya hivyo kwa kuchagua yake na kubonyeza Delete. Hata hivyo, uwe mwangalifu usifute wazo la awali kwamba ni nakala. Ukifanya hivyo, utapoteza nakala ya awali na nakala hiyo! Baada ya kupata toleo tofauti la picha, unaweza kulinganisha picha zote mbili kwa kuchagua Grid View na kubonyeza Chaguo la Kulinganisha. Lightroom itawaonyesha kando kando. Hii pia inafanya kazi kwa zaidi ya picha mbili. Hatua ya 2: Badilisha nakala halisi kwa nyeusi na nyeupe Sasa kwamba umefanya nakala halisi, hebu kubadilisha katika nyeusi na nyeupe. Katika HSL, rangi, na rangi ya rangi, bonyeza B&W na Lightroom itabadilisha picha. Unaweza pia kuwa na haja ya kufanya marekebisho ya picha, kama vile kupanua, tofauti, na vinginevyo. Wakati wewe ni furaha na toleo lako nyeusi na nyeupe, kufanya Nakala Virtual yake kuunda athari sepia juu ya nakala. Kwa mfano, unaweza kupata picha tatu za asili, nyeusi na nyeupe, na Sepia. Si picha zote zinazobadilishwa vizuri kuwa sepia. Zinafaa zaidi ni zile zenye tofauti fulani. Hii ina maana kwamba wana wote Weusi na Highlights. Picha na tu katikati ya sauti inaweza si kuangalia nzuri na athari hii. Hatua ya 3: Kuingia kwenye Split Tones Panel: Kuingia kwenye Split Tones Panel katika Moduli ya Maendeleo Hii rahisi kuangalia jopo inatoa mengi ya chaguzi ubunifu. Inakuwezesha kufanya athari kali za rangi katika picha zako. Ina seti mbili za Hue (rangi) na Saturation sliders. Moja jozi inaruhusu wewe kuweka sauti ambayo itakuwa kutumika katika vivuli ya picha, na nyingine huathiri sauti katika Highlights. Pia kuna slider ya usawa kutoa nguvu zaidi kwa ama vivuli au highlights. Hatua ya 4: Chagua rangi ya highlights: Chagua rangi ya highlights. Unaweza kuchagua rangi kwa kuhamisha sliders Hue na Saturation. Ikiwa utaweka Alt wakati wa kuhamisha slider ya Hue, Lightroom itakuonyesha Hue kwa 100%. Ujanja huu ni muhimu kwa sababu unakusaidia kuamua kama unapenda rangi. Kwa ajili ya athari ya sepia, kwa kawaida mimi huchagua rangi ya dhahabu. Kwa mfano, unaweza kuanza na Hue ya 47 na Saturation ya 52. Boresha kwa upendezi wako wa kibinafsi. Njia nyingine ya kuchagua rangi ni kupitia Jopo la Rangi. Ikoni yake ni rectangle kidogo rangi juu ya slider Hue. Bonyeza juu yake kufungua rangi Panel dirisha, kwamba ni zaidi ya palette rangi. Chagua rangi unataka kuongeza kwa highlights kwa kubonyeza juu yake. Unaweza kurekebisha saturation ya rangi kwa kutumia slider katika kona ya chini ya kulia. Hatua ya 5: Chagua rangi ya shadows: Chagua rangi ya shadows. Ili kufanya hivyo unahitaji kufuata hatua sawa na ulizochukua kwa Highlights lakini kutumia Shadow Hue na Saturation slider au Shadows Color Palette. Kwa mfano, rangi ya sepia yenye rangi ya 36 na saturation ya 23 inaweza kuwa na athari nzuri kwa rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi ya rangi. Hatua ya 6: Balance Highlights na Shadows Hatimaye, kutumia Slide Balance kupata uhusiano kati ya vivuli na highlights kwamba wewe kama. Kwa kuhamisha slider kuelekea kushoto utafanya vivuli kuwa vikuu katika picha. Ukihamia upande wa kulia, rangi za mstari wa juu zitakuwa kubwa. Hatua ya 7 - Marekebisho ya mwisho kwa toleo la Sepia Angalia ikiwa unahitaji kufanya marekebisho ya mwisho kwa picha yako. Kitu mimi kama kufanya ni kusisitiza textures kwa kutumia chombo brush. Ili kufanya hivyo, mimi kuchagua chombo Brush, kuongeza uwazi wake na brush juu ya maeneo ya picha na textures ya kuvutia. Nadhani hii inaboresha athari ya sepia. Hatua ya 8: Kuunda Sepia yako mwenyewe: Kuendeleza Preset Moja ya mambo makubwa ya Lightroom ni kwamba huna haja ya kurudia hatua hizi zote kila wakati unataka kuunda athari Sepia. Badala yake, unaweza kuunda yako mwenyewe Kuendeleza Sepia Preset na kuomba kwa bonyeza moja tu katika picha nyingine. Kuunda preset yako ni rahisi. Kwanza, bonyeza New Preset. Dirisha itafunguliwa ambapo unaweza Rename yake. Tumia jina ambalo itakuwezesha kutambua haraka preset katika siku zijazo. Unaweza kuhifadhi katika folda ya Preset kuwa na kila kitu zaidi kupangwa. Katika madirisha ya Preset, unaweza kuchagua ambayo mipangilio unataka kuhifadhi. Mimi kawaida kuhifadhi yao yote isipokuwa kwa ajili ya mipangilio ambayo ni maalum sana kwa picha (kama vile Exposure) au marekebisho ya ndani (kama vile Graduate na radial filters). Katika picha ijayo wewe hariri, unahitaji tu kuchagua preset yako kutoka Presets jopo katika kuendeleza moduli. Lightroom itatumika mipangilio yote ya uhariri kwa picha yako moja kwa moja. Kuongeza Grain: Kuongeza Grain kwa kuangazia picha ya zamani: Ikiwa unataka kuongeza sura ya zamani kwenye picha yako, njia nzuri ya kuifikia ni kwa kuongeza kidogo ya nafaka. Katika Effect jopo, kuongeza nafaka kwa kuhamisha slider yake kwa haki. Unaweza pia kubadilisha ukubwa na ukali wa nafaka. Kucheza na sliders hizi mpaka kupata athari unataka. Hii ni picha ya mwisho na nafaka aliongeza: Sepia toning inajenga kuangalia zamani nostalgic kwamba ni vigumu kufikia na hariri nyingine yoyote au kichujio. Unaweza kuunda picha za sepia katika chumba cha giza kwa kutumia bidhaa za kemikali lakini hizo ni hatari kwa afya yako na mazingira. Kwa bahati nzuri tunaweza kufikia athari hii digital ama moja kwa moja kutoka kamera au kutumia programu ya uhariri kama vile Lightroom. Unaweza pia kuongeza sepia chujio katika Photoshop. Chaguo hili la pili hukuruhusu kuwa na udhibiti zaidi juu ya athari ya sepia na hata kuongeza nafaka fulani ili kusisitiza athari ya picha ya zamani. Unaweza kuunda athari ya sepia katika Lightroom kufuatia hatua chache rahisi, kuruhusu wewe kwa urahisi majaribio na kupata ubunifu na picha yako.