Sepia Scenes #11: Sepia Tutorial Part 2 - Shooting in Monochrome

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Part 1 of this series focused on how I convert color images to sepia. But that's not the only way of getting a sepia toned image. Most digital cameras have monochrome modes, and one of the options in that mode is frequently toning. My Canon 30D offers five toning options: "None", "Sepia", "Blue", "Purple" and "Green". I've never used the last two, and haven't used the "Blue" option frequently (though it does do a passable job of imitating the old Cyanotype process photos). Your camera may feature all, some, or none of these. But it's worth looking to see if you have this option available. Your owner's manual may call it something else, but Canon opted for the term "Picture Styles" for this option on the menu for the 30D. (I believe its predecessor, the 20D, called these same features "Parameters", which is nice and techie-sounding, but not intuitive.)

So why shoot in sepia -- or monochrome at all -- when conversion is so simple? Well, other than the obvious advantage of being able to see what you got immediately, you will probably notice a difference in tonal range and contrast. And shooting in monochrome to begin with -- as we'll see in a few moments -- doesn't have to be mutually exclusive with color enhancement (or more accurately, tonal enhancement) in post processing. And in some of these examples I actually found the color conversion to be more appealing because of the color balancing I did before converting to monochrome. But the purpose of this exercise isn't to endorse a specific method, it's simply an experiment to see what the differences are between shots taken in color (or monochrome) and converted and those shot in sepia to begin with.

So first a little background information on setup. My camera allows me to set up to three User Defined Styles based on one of the preset styles and for this trip I set up all three. The default monochrome setup is defined as:

• sharpness: +0


• contrast: +0


• filter: none


• toning: none

I find this default to be a little "timid" for my taste, so the first User Defined Style I set up added +1 to sharpness, +2 to contrast, with a red filter effect and no toning. That provided the basis for the other two styles which added toning effects (sepia in User Defined 2 and blue in User Defined 3). So my new sepia setting read like this:

• sharpness: +1


• contrast: +2


• filter: red


• toning: sepia*

(*I did use the blue tone setup on this trip, but that's outside the scope of this article. Stick around and you may see some of those shots in other posts.)

With my new styles defined, I loaded up the camera and the Tonka Unit and set out to take some photos in downtown Raleigh where I figured there would be at least a few sepia-appropriate subjects available.

The methods for the first three sets are basically the same, but I thought it was interesting to use more than one subject to allow for varying light conditions. In each case, I shot the same scene in color and sepia and then converted the color shot for comparison. I used my "standard" method for converting all of the color images (which is detailed at great length in Part 1 of this series) with one exception. Normally I would have adjusted brightness and contrast on the greyscale image before applying the toning, but that step isn't consistent across all images so I skipped it for this experiment.

Governor's Mansion, Shot in Color
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Governor's Mansion, Converted from Color
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Governor's Mansion, Shot in Sepia
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In this example, I like the camera's version better than the conversion. Despite the heavy red shift I introduced during the color balancing phase, the image shot using the sepia mode has a better (to my eye) tonal range and better contrast than the conversion. This is more or less what I would have expected to happen. But if you're a fan of the "redder" toning, the conversion may look better to you. The out of the camera version is noticeably more monochromatic, which may be why I prefer it.

Update: I didn't know it when I wrote this, but it turns out that one of our own is responsible for the magnificent red bows on the Governor's Mansion. Raleigh Blogger Kenju was involved in decorating the Executive Mansion (it's official name) for the holidays, and these red bows one of her contributions to the seasonal decor. Stop by and admire, on her blog "Imagine".

House on Blount St, Shot in Color
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House on Blount St, Converted from Color
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House on Blount St, Shot in Sepia
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There's much less difference in the tonality in these two shots, but I still think the camera offered better contrast than the converted image. In a real life situation, I probably would have adjusted brightness and contrast on the conversion before and/or after toning it and it may have ended up looking almost exactly like the out of the camera version. But in the interest of keeping the number of variables to a minimum, I left it as it was. In this case, I'd be hard pressed to choose between these two, probably becase there isn't a lot of background to gauge tonal range and contrast. The sky was overcast at the time, and there isn't any foliage in the shot to really stand out. The features of the house itself are rendered respectably by both variants.

Oakwood Cemetery Gate, Shot in Color
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

Oakwood Cemetery Gate, Converted from Color
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Oakwood Cemetery Gate, Shot in Sepia
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Here again I find the camera's version more appealing, and for the same reason as in the first set. Notice the "greens" (in the wreaths on the gate itself and the sbhrubs outside) and how much more dramatic they are in the out of the camera version. This is probably more a product of the red filter effect than the toning, and it's this effect I'm trying to replicate when I tune the reds up while color balancing the original (color) shot. But having the red filter applied when the shot is taken is different from trying to add it in post production.

In this case the subject is backlit, and that may be the reason I prefer the warmer toned conversion shot. In this case, the contrast from the out of the camera version is still more pronounced, but the overall image is a bit too "cool". From the full color image we can see that the side of the house was in shade and the camera didn't correct for this even though the white balance setting for all of these shots was the "Cloudy" preset. For some applications the mood of the cooler shot from the camera might be preferable, but in a very general way I like the conversion better.

House on Blount St, Shot in Color
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

House on Blount St, Converted from Color
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

House on Blount St, Shot in Sepia
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

In this case I wasn't especially keen on the conversion or the sepia image, so I decided to try applying the toning to the black & white version I'd taken. I wasn't sure this would even be possible since the original shot was greyscale, but Photoshop dutifully applied the effect and that version turned out to be my favorite of this set.

Peace College, Shot in Color
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Peace College, Converted from Color
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Peace College, Shot in Sepia
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Peace College, Shot in Black & White
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Peace College, Converted from Black & White
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

I would have probably tried the conversion from greyscale on this shot as well, but I didn't take a greyscale shot of this house. So instead, I took the image I shot in sepia and applied the toning filter I'd used for all of the other conversions. This set offers a view of the same toning applied to a desaturated color image and an image originally shot in sepia. And of all of them, the sepia-to-sepia conversion is probably my favorite. The image originally shot in sepia has very little toning to it, but since the image is already biased toward sepia rendering, applying the toning effect in Photoshop enhanced it enough to bring out the warm tones the camera didn't apply. In fact, this variant borders on being too warm, but it has the contrast advantages that all of the out of the camera versions have had so far.

House on Blount St, Shot in Color
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

House on Blount St, Converted from Color
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

House on Blount St, Shot in Sepia
(Click to enlarge in new tab/window)

House on Blount St, Converted from Sepia
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As I said at the outset, I have my preferences which may or may not be the same as yours. But having the option of creating the toned image when it's captured is one more tool available to get the image that appeals to you the most. And it's only when you can compare them side by side that you know for sure you got the shot you wanted.

Next Time: To Bronze or Not To Bronze

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Sepia Scenes #10: "Sepia Tutorial Part I - Color Conversions"

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This post wasn't originally scheduled to come out until after the first of 2009, but I sent a preview of it to Mary the Teach, and she got so excited by the idea I decided to reschedule it. This is part one of a series of "How I Did It" articles. I say "How I Did It" rather than "How To" because like most photographic -- or for that matter artistic -- methods, there's no one "right" way. Pretty much everybody who participates in this meme already has a conversion process they use, and all of them work. My aim in doing this series isn't to convince those people that my way is "better" than theirs. My aim here is to give those who might want to participate, but aren't sure how to get from point-a to point-b one method of doing it that they can try out and adapt to suit their own particular styles. And if the current players get some ideas from it as well, that's a bonus.

I plan to discuss two broad topics here in the next few weeks. First, how do we go about getting a good sepia image? Second when is sepia the best choice? Since the "how" question is much more easily answered, and probably of more immediate interest to most of those who will read this, I'll tackle that one first. There are a couple of basic ways to get an image. The first -- and probably the most common -- is to shoot the original image in color and then convert it. The second way is simply to shoot it in monochrome using a sepia effect. (Most digital cameras have this capability, but I haven't heard anybody say they did it this way so far.)

Since converting from color is the most popular method among the participants here, I'll examine that process first. Converting from color has a couple of significant advantages. First, and most obviously, it gives you the ability to turn any image to sepia whether it was originally shot yesterday or 50 years ago. I've found that a great many shots I've taken that I wasn't excited about take on a whole new dimension when converted to monochrome -- be that black and white or some other variant. But there's another advantage to converting from color that's more subtle. By adjusting the color balance of the original image prior to conversion, we can improve -- sometimes drastically -- the tonal and dynamic ranges of the finished product. Finally, conversion is probably the easiest method for obtaining a good sepia image. Most of us know how to go about shooting a good color photo, and it's the original shot that will ultimately determine the quality of the final image. Shooting in color is pretty much a WYSIWYG operation. The scene you see before you through the viewfinder is going to be faithfully recorded on media of some kind just as you see it (with all the usual caveats about exposure, depth of field, etc.) Shooting in monochrome isn't so much difficult as it is unfamiliar. All those colors you see through the viewfinder are going to be reduced to shades of gray (in a generic sense at least) so you have to mentally remove them from the image. So it's not simply a matter of finding a scene you like and clicking the shutter. It becomes an exercise in visualization, and it takes a little practice and a little experimentation to be able to look at a scene and know how it's going to look with virtually all of the colors removed. By using a conversion method, you get to see step by step how it's going to look, and you can adjust as you go rather than having to anticipate in advance.

So what are you going to do in your conversion process? Simply put, all you're really doing is removing certain colors and replacing them with a (much) smaller set of colors. How you go about this depends a lot on the software you're using. Some programs make this a one-click operation, others make you work for it a little, still others make you work for it a lot. And I don't use all of those programs, so everything I tell you here in terms of "How I Did It" (bonus points if you know where that reference came from) is based on the software I use. The good news for you is that I'm hopelessly antiquated in my setup which mainly consists of an embarrassingly old version of Adobe Photoshop (Version 5.5. There. I've said it. Are you happy now?) So anything I was able to do, you should be able to do -- and probably easier.

In outlining the steps I took, I've tried wherever possible to avoid references to specific menu options or anything else specific to Photoshop or any other specific piece of software. Because whatever software you use, the concepts are the same. I do have certain shortcuts I take for most posts because ... well partly because I'm lazy and partly because I don't like reinventing the wheel. But for this post at least, I took very careful notes of each step. You can adjust the numbers and percentages as you like -- there isn't really a "right" way to do this -- all I'm doing here is giving you the adjustments that yielded these images. If you want them toned differently, lighter, darker, yada-yada you can adjust for it when you do your own.

I started with these three images all take in February of 2001 during a trip to the Blue Ridge Mountains (specifically Valle Crucis, NC if you're interested). All of them were shot on 35mm color negative film and scanned from the negatives so the original versions are pretty close to exactly what came out of the processor with no adjustments for anything.

The process for all three images was essentially the same:

1. I created a heavy "red shift" by pushing the level of the reds in each range (shadows, midtones and highlights). The reason behind this step is to create a better tonal range in the monochrome version. If you've ever shot black and white film with a red filter, you've done the same thing. Adding red actually deemphasizes and lightens the reds when the image is converted, while at the same time emphasizing and darkening the complimentary colors (the greens and blues in an RGB image like this). The result is better contrast and better tonal range in the monochrome image. (For Photoshop users, I did this with the "Color Balance" option. You could also use the red compensation curve or the Channel Mixer, though these are a little trickier to master. For non-Photoshop users, you should have a similar option somewhere in your menus, but I'd have no way of knowing what it might be. Sorry, you're on your own on that one.)

2. I desaturated the images 100% to dial all the colors down to gray. Note that I didn't convert to a greyscale image, because that would remove all the color data from the file completely and I want that data available later. PS/PSE users have an actual "Desaturate" option on the menu. Other packages, I don't know about. (You may be able to convert to greyscale and still apply a tint using some other option if you can't simply desaturate the colors.)

3. Once the image is rendered in greyscale, I adjusted the brightness and contrast as if I were going for a good black and white image. In greyscale all you have to enhance the image is contrast, brightness and tonal range. So what makes a good greyscale image will usually give a good toned monochrome image (sepia or otherwise).

4. Once I was satisfied with the greyscale image, I added red and yellow back in until I got the toning I wanted. (Once again I did this with the Color Balance option, once again the other methods I mentioned could be put to the same use. You can also save this scheme using the "Variations" option so you can recall it later. And once again, non-PS users will have to find the equivalent options. Sorry, you're on your own on that one.)

Next Time: Shooting it in monochrome to start with!

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