Saturday Special – creating a sepia photograph
Hi everyone, it’s Sharon (aka skyezak) here with a little tip on creating a great sepia colored photograph. I am using Photoshop CS4 but I’m sure this should work in Photoshop Elements, albiet with slightly different menu options.
Firstly you need to edit your photo (ie: red-eye, brightness, contrast, etc) and once you’re ready, desaturate it (in Photoshop, go to IMAGE, ADJUSTMENTS and DESATURATE). This will make your photograph black and white.
Now create a new layer above your photo layer and make sure that the new layer is selected in your Layers Pallet.
We’re going to fill our layer with a nice chocolate brown shade and then play with the opacity and blend mode to make it a nice sepia color. So next go to EDIT, FILL and a pop-up window will appear. In the CONTENTS area, select COLOR from the drop-down arrow and then you will be asked to choose a color. I like to choose something in the medium-dark chocolate brown shades. My RGB codes are R63, G48 and B14 if you’d like to start with the same shade. Click OK to close the Choose Color window and then click OK to close the FILL window. On Layer 1, you’ll now see it is the shade of brown you chose.
The next step is to change the blend mode of the fill layer so you can see your photo underneath it. Depending on your photograph, I’d start with either Overlay or Soft Light. Once you are happy with the effect of the blend mode on your photograph, then adjust the opacity of the Fill Layer (Layer 1). If you slide the opacity slider right down to zero, you’ll see your original desaturated black and white photo. If you slide the opacity slider back up to 100%, you’ll see the fill layer at the blend mode you selected. I tend to go somewhere around 60% with my fill layer opacity, but again, it will depend on the brightness of your photograph. I tend to not go for a really rich sepia tone, but something that takes away from the dreary greyscales of the desaturated shot. For my photo today, I’ve used an opacity of 52%. The higher I go, the darker my photo was becoming. But when you compare it to the desaturated shot, it’s certainly much nicer.
Here’s a layout I did using my sepia shot. I have used the gorgeous SMITTEN kit from Golden Girl Digital Designs and also OLD BRUSHES by Vinnie Pearce.
So there you go! Nice and easy and great to use on those old vintage photos.
And here’s a few layouts from some of our fabulous Scrap Matters CT using my tutorial.
Christy (aka TheWerners) using Erica Zane’s EGGPLANT ENVY kit
One from Christine (aka alamama) Haynay’s WIDE RULED, Collab kit OWL LUV U by Tater & Digi Keepsakes, PAPER SHAPERS by Britt-ish Designs, Tape by Britt-ish Designs from VERY MERRY, Staples from PEACE & QUIET Collab by Andilynn & Britt-ish Designs and mask by Erica Zane.
and one from Natasha (aka bcnatty)
Have a go and you can submit a layout using this technique to earn yourself a point for the month. I will choose my favorite layout at the end of February and you will receive an additional point! I have started a thread up in the Saturday Special section of the Forum where you can link us back to your layouts in the Saturday Special Gallery. You can also earn an additional point if you use a Scrap Matters product released in the past 7 days. Just make sure you mention that when you post your page.
You don’t have to use ScrapMatters products to participate in this challenge, but we love it when you do! Remember, no double dipping. Each LO must be created for one challenge only. Can’t wait to see your pages!
