Converting to a Sepia Tone in Photoshop

An important element to any layout is the overall feel of the layouts. What emotions does it convey as you look at it? What impressions do you get when you look at it? For some layouts a whimsical, fun feeling does the trick. For other layouts a more antique, warm feeling will produce the correct impression. In those cases, turn to the reddish-brown monochrome tints of sepia to enhance your photograph and layout. By applying sepia to a photograph or digital layout, you can get that warm feeling.

Here are a couple methods of converting a photograph to sepia tone in Adobe Photoshop.

For my sample I used a photograph of Chicago. My layout, a reflection on my youth in the city, needed a less modern feel so I converted it to the sepia tone.

Option 1: Quick Sepia

1. Open the image in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Make any adjustments to white balance, color and cropping as necessary. Hint: A brighter photograph is better than a darker one at this stage since you will be using reddish-brown tinting.
3. If the image is in color, go to Image, then Adjustments and then Desaturate.
4. Go to Image, then Adjustments and then Variations.
5. Move the Fine/Coarse slider down one notch from the middle toward Fine.
6. Click on More Yellow once.
7. Click on More Red once.
8. Click OK.

Option 2: Standard Sepia

1. Open the image in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Make any adjustments to white balance, color and cropping as necessary. Hint: A brighter photograph is better than a darker one at this stage since you will be using reddish-brown tinting.
3. Choose Image, then Mode and then Grayscale. A dialogue box will appear that says "Discard color information?" Click OK.
4. Choose Image, then Mode and then Duotone. Make sure the Type is set to Duotone. Two lines will appear for inserting inks. Ink 1 will be EB8B23. Click on the color square and enter the number using the Color Picker. Name your color Sepia 1. Repeat this for Ink 2 using 000000 for black ink and naming it Sepia 2. Click OK.
5. Go to Image, then Mode and then RGB color.
6. Choose Image, then Adjustments and then Hue/Saturation. Move the Saturation slider to the left. I set mine to -40. Tweak the saturation level to your desired amount.

Option 3: Creative Sepia

1. Open the image in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Make any adjustments to white balance, color and cropping as necessary. Hint: A brighter photograph is better than a darker one at this stage since you will be using reddish-brown tinting.
3. Click the Create a New Adjustment Layer button at the bottom of the Layers palette. Choose Hue/Saturation.
4. Using an Adjustment Layer, create your own sepia color. Check the "Colorize" box. The settings will automatically adjust to Hue 24 /Saturation 25/Lightness 0. I wanted a bit more contrast so I changed the Saturation to 33. Adjust the Hue, Saturation and Lightness boxes to get your own unique version of sepia.

All of these methods will produce a good sepia-toned photograph. Use your favorite method to create that 1800's look for your photographs and layouts.