Sepia tone

Sepia tone is a type of monochrome photographic image in which the picture appears in shades of brown as opposed to greyscale as in a black-and-white image. It was originally produced by adding a pigment made from the Sepia cuttlefish to the positive print of a photograph taken with any number of negative processes. 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 time" photographs are sepia toned—those are the ones that have survived until today.

Related Topics:
Photographic - Black-and-white - Cuttlefish - Silver - Sulphide

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The sample photographs below show the action of taking a colour photograph and applying a conversion to greyscale using Adobe Photoshop. The last sample photograph shows the same coloured photograph converted to Sepia tone, again using Adobe Photoshop.

Related Topics:
Adobe Photoshop

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Image:Sepia-tone-01.gif|Color image

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Image:Sepia-tone-02.gif|Greyscale image

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Image:Sepia-tone-03.gif|Sepia-toned image

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The following are real examples of the three types:

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Image:Pangong lake by martinl.jpg|Color photograph

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Image:Reichstag flag.jpg|Black-and-white photograph

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Image:Photograph.sept1895.arp.750pix.jpg|Sepia-toned photograph

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