 Tracey Burroughs |
Sepia Photographs How do you take Sepia photographs? I love the look and don't know much about it! Thanks.
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Judith A. Clark |
I know of two ways. I don't know what kind of camera you use, but you can buy sepia filters for most 35mm slr lenses. You can also take your pictures and change them to sepia digitally. This can be done with many photo programs. To be more specific, I need to know what kind of equipment, and software you have.
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Tracey Burroughs |
I have a 35mm Canon, not a digital camera. I'll have to keep my eye out for a filter and experiment!
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Actually, sepia is achieved through toning b&w prints. Toning is done to b&w prints to make them more archival. There are various toners out there that produce various effects from blue tints to the more familiar brownish tint. So strictly speaking sepia toned photos are b&w prints that are toned. Now, you can duplicate this effect in numerous ways. As Judith points out you can do it with a filter. But note that this only works with color film so it will not be a true sepia toned b&w print. You can do it digitally. To do this have your negative scanned and then work on it in an editing program if you have one. Another method is to shoot on C41 b&w film and have it printed on color paper. Make sure you let the lab tech know you are after sepia or browntone images. Or you could simply shoot b&w film and have them printed and sepia toned.
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John A. Lind |
Some full-service pro labs will also offer selenium toning of B&W prints. This is a brownish toning slightly different in tint from sepia. You might ask to see an example of that if it's offered by the lab. I'm having some trouble trying to imagine how color film would look with a "sepia" filter. As Jeff mentions, toning is used to make B&W prints more archival and dates back to the 19th Century. Various methods also included using precious metals such as gold and platinum . . . each one producing a distinctive tint. In looking at the example on Tiffen's site, they used a photograph that had very muted colors amenable to a color filter like this: grays, pale yellows and light browns. -- John
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Jerusha |
While the other answers are teachnically better, I've done some experimenting with tea in the past. I took my finished b&w print and soaked it in tea. What tea you choose depends upon what color tone you want the print to have. It may not be the easiest or best method, but it is fun!
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John A. Lind |
Jerusha, An interesting concept. I know this has been done with material . . . as in cloth used to make clothing. The question that comes to my mind: how it affects archival life of a silver print, both fiber and resin types. I don't know whether it does or not. It's something to watch for as the prints you've done this with age under various lighting and display conditions. -- John
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Crystal Anderson |
To make matters simple, you can also buy sepia film. It usually has a softer tone than what I have seen taken with the sepia filters. I have personally used sepia film and have had wonderful results.
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Bill McFadden |
Ilford XP-2 Super printed on color photographic paper will give a Sepia tone. It gives you a fairly high ISO, 400 speed, with very little grain. You may also ask a lab to print it and use selenium tone to get the aged, brown look that John mentioned. The Ilford film's biggest advantage is any photo lab that processes color film can also process this film. I tried other C-41 black and white films and, so far, this film is the only one I feel is a true black and white film. I have not yet tried Kodak Portra Black and white film but have seen reviews that usually prefer the Ilford brand over Kodak Portra. If you have access to a lab where you can print your own black and white film, I would suggest Ilford Delta or any brand of Kodak black and white film except for their C-41 film.
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
"To make matters simple, you can also buy sepia film. It usually has a softer tone than what I have seen taken with the sepia filters. I have personally used sepia film and have had wonderful results. - Crystal A. 4/4/2003 5:06:50 AM" That's a new one on me. Can you give us a specific brand and name to this "sepia" film Crystal?
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John A. Lind |
Jeff, The one "sepia" film I'm aware of is made by Polaroid. Following is Polaroid's description of the film: ---------------------------------------- Polapan Sepia Type 56 4 x 5 Black and White Sheet Film is a panchromatic, medium-contrast film producing 4 x 5 inch sepia-tone prints with excellent gradation and tonal range. The chemical process used in many nineteenth and early twentieth century photographs produced shades of brown and white (i.e., sepia), not black and white. With this film you can recreate the sepia tone of these early photographs for novelty portraits, special effects, and fine art applications. Works with the following Polaroid cameras and imaging systems: My assessment: -- John
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Jeff S. Kennedy |
Thanks John, I have heard of that. Leave it to you to dig that up though ;-))). Somehow I suspect that's not what Crystal was referring to, however.
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John A. Lind |
Oops! Forgot . . . You can do it "on the cheap" with this film using a pinhole camera made for 4x5 sheet film. This obviously requires desiring a pinhole camera photograph and being willing to work with very long exposure times too. -- John
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