Photoshop Tutorial - Cool-Warm Sepia Photo

The sepia tone in the dark areas of the image gives the photo an aged look most suitable to the subject matter while the gray values enhance the aerial perspective and add depth to the photo image.

scene from Elephantine Island in Aswan, Egypt

Sepia is a red-brown ink derived from the species Sepia officinalis, a cuttlefish. It was very popular with artists in the nineteenth century. The sepia tone employed in black and white photography is the result of converting the metallic silver in a photograph to a sulphide. It not only made the photo more attractive and fashionable, but it also elongated the image's permanence. Today, sepia toning is a term for any monochromatic photo with a brownish tint to make it look old fashioned.

Although true sepia toning renders an overall brownish tint to a black and white photo, we can make it more interesting by combining the silver gray of the high and middle tones of a black and white photograph with the rich warm darks of a sepia toned image.

Click on Image>Adjustments>Desaturate to change a color picture to gray tones.

Click on Image>Adjustments>Color Balance.

Select the Shadows button in the Tone Balance section

Adjust the Color Levels to give the shadows a rich warm red brown tone. Use these parameters:

Color Levels: 24 / 0 / -24

Select the Highlights button in the Tone Balance section

Adjust the Color Levels to give the highlights a silvery gray tone. Use these parameters:

Color Levels: -24 / 0 / 24

Download Cool Warm Sepia Photoshop Action