# B&W Challenge: Editing Special SEPIA



## gk fotografie (Oct 10, 2020)

Welome!

The B&W Challenge is a fun thing, no competition and no prizes. Every digital photographer and film photographer can participate in this weekly challenge with as many photos as desired. Feel free to enter the world of black & white photography!

_Editing Special 1: SEPIA

First convert an old or new photo to black and white and then immerse yourself in the possibilities. Choose a 'standard' sepia tone that can be found in any editing program, or 'mix' your own sepia tone that matches the subject in your photo. Think for example of adding a tinted second layer to a standard black and white photo or merge a standard black and white photo with the same black and white photo in sepia tone. Please, show BOTH photos (with and without sepia toning) and tell us which editingprogram was used  and how the result was achieved, so everyone can enjoy the effect._

Have fun!


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## Tropicalmemories (Oct 10, 2020)

A mobile phone snap of the interior of a Vietnam War era ex South Vietnamese Army Huey as seen at a market in Bangkok last month.  The original phone image was not very special, but with the old black and white look you can almost here the chop-chop-chop of the two blade rotor.


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## snowbear (Oct 10, 2020)

I went with a color original to a Lightroom Black & White conversion, to a Photoshop Sepia conversion.

1. The original


 

2. Black and White conversion.




3. Sepia conversion.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 10, 2020)




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## Tropicalmemories (Oct 11, 2020)

gk fotografie said:


> @Tropicalmemories @jcdeboever  Looks good, by the way I discovered that I completely forgot to ask if everyone can mention how the sepia toning came about, so, which editing program and in which way. I think it's very interesting for everyone to learn more about technique used and creative possibilities.
> 
> Cheers



Mine was all done on a Samsung  Note 8 mobile phone.  Original photo and the editing.  I used Snapspeed and the phone's stylus to clone out the distracting background, the black and white conversion and the sepia tone.  Then used Lightroom mobile for a bit of sharpening and to reduce the file size.


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## Photo Lady (Oct 11, 2020)

i do not think i have the exact editing capabilities you are asking for but trying ..

 

 I did find this one which is somewhat close to Sepia


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## SquarePeg (Oct 11, 2020)

I thought this shot of my daughter had a bit of a retro feel so I decided to give this a try.  I converted to b&w using Snapseed then used one of the Noir filters to warm it up.  I was surprised that neither iPhoto nor Snapseed have a Sepia filter!  I was too comfy on the couch to go get my laptop and do this in LR.


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## Photo Lady (Oct 11, 2020)

SquarePeg said:


> I thought this shot of my daughter had a bit of a retro feel so I decided to give this a try.  I converted to b&w using Snapseed then used one of the Noir filters to warm it up.  I was surprised that neither iPhoto nor Snapseed have a Sepia filter!  I was too comfy on the couch to go get my laptop and do this in LR.
> 
> View attachment 198637
> 
> ...


she is beautiful in all of the photos..


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## jcdeboever (Oct 11, 2020)

Snapseed. Vintage simulation. Moved sliders for tone and vignette.  Shot using X100V.


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## gk fotografie (Oct 11, 2020)

(experimenting a bit, I think I'll take sepia toning in a wider sense during this challenge)
View attachment 198647
The photo is an edited and mirrored image of a bridge in Amsterdam, converted to black and white, then made a transparent layer with a bit of brown-red color and placed over the photo.

View attachment 198648
#1 added roughly 50% coloration (brown-red layer) to black and white photo

View attachment 198649
#2 PaintNet original sepia coloring

Nowadays I actually only use PaintNet for this kind of thing, bought a new laptop last Monday and am thinking about adding PS again to the range of programs after quite a few years.


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## smithdan (Oct 11, 2020)

Searched through my files to find a shot that I once upon a time would have printed on warm paper.  Original on Acros 100 in a 500C, sepia toning done by NIC Silver Efex along with some dodge and burn fiddles.


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## smithdan (Oct 11, 2020)

..one from the macro challenge, a dried mini sunflower about 1" diameter.  A reshoot is in order as the background texture is too prominent for my liking.  BW conversion with PS Elements 9,  hint of sepia in Silver Efex.


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## waday (Oct 11, 2020)

I used Snapseed. When I took the picture, I was looking specifically to convert it. So, looked for somewhat high contrast. To get the sepia, I used the color curves feature of Snapseed. My first try was how I liked it, but then I wanted to push the sepia further. All three are below.

Original



Flowers by Wade, on Flickr

Original sepia



Flowers by Wade, on Flickr

Final sepia



Flower (sepia) by Wade, on Flickr


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## jcdeboever (Oct 12, 2020)

Snappseed, vintage simulation,  bumped style slider.


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## jcdeboever (Oct 12, 2020)

Snapseed


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## waday (Oct 12, 2020)

jcdeboever said:


> Snappseed, vintage simulation,  bumped style slider.
> 
> View attachment 198715
> 
> ...


Love the sepia one. What’s the purpose of the extreme camber angle on the front wheels?


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## jcdeboever (Oct 12, 2020)

waday said:


> jcdeboever said:
> 
> 
> > Snappseed, vintage simulation,  bumped style slider.
> ...


 Lower steering effort


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## gk fotografie (Oct 12, 2020)

This seems more like a comparative study, but I find the ideas of manufacturers about what exactly is "sepia" very surprising!

The original black and white photo is an attempt to digitally imitate a pseudo-solarization. At the moment I'm busy transferring all the info from my old laptop to a new one and I met a number of (free) editing programs that I don't use that much anymore. I searched those programs for the "sepia button" and found most of them!

View attachment 198736
original B&W photo

View attachment 198737
I know several members (Mac users) on this forum use GIMP, a very good program but I just have too little patience to get the most out of it.

View attachment 198739
How about this: I've been using (free) XN View for 10 years as the 'standard' to open/view photos on my computer and have never known it's possible to use this program to give photos a sepia tone.

View attachment 198738
PhotoScape is a program I've been using for 12 years now, it is really an amazing (free) program you must download immediately, discover all the possibilities and I am sure you will never delete it again!

View attachment 198735
Not free, so exception, but for the finishing touch to my fisheye images of trees, I started to use Artweaver quite some time ago, a drawing program instead of a photo editing program.


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## smithdan (Oct 12, 2020)

Perhaps the weirdest camera I have, the Dover 620-A.  Conversion, adjustments and tinting in Silver Efex. 
Thought maybe this half pound of Baekelite would look better with a cool selenium tint.















.....my favorite shot from this photographic curiosity, and with a sepia tint warmup.








The Tea Party.


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## waday (Oct 12, 2020)

Three more, these are old photos. Thanks @gk fotografie for allowing old photos. Both follow similar styles as the previous photo I posted: processed in Snapseed and used color curves.

The first is a still life that I thought would look good with sepia toning. The second is a B&W that I converted some time ago, brought to life again now with new processing!









The second of the stacks is one that I thought really popped with the processing.









The third is a crop where the people in the front really provide a good contrast to the foggy background. I also removed the post in Snapseed.


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## mjcmt (Oct 12, 2020)




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## gk fotografie (Oct 14, 2020)

In the film age I've printed tens of thousands of photos on Agfa Portriga Rapid B&W paper and long time I've searched for a shade for digital images that comes somewhat close to this formidable and never equaled photo paper, the results are going in the right direction, but it's not quite Portriga Rapid, yet. Combination of a "standard" black/white conversion via PaintNet and 2nd layer (value 125/255) in sepia tone.

View attachment 198860
View attachment 198859


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## johngpt (Oct 14, 2020)

I've just put away all my external hard drives on which I keep originals and backups, so all I have right now is the finished version of this.
I had converted the original color to b/w using a gradient map in Ps. The final version is available because it is already posted to Flickr.

Then I blended five (I think) layers of differing yellows, oranges, and red set to color blend mode and varying opacities to create a toning which wasn't available by just pushing a button. Because all these layers blend to create one tone, it's still technically a monochrome image.

Next week I'll come back to show the original color, the image with just the gradient map available, and the final version. I've put all the drives away as we've just learned our son is getting married this Saturday and She Who Must Be Obeyed needs me helping out and not being distracted.




autumn leaves

.


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## johngpt (Oct 14, 2020)

Oh, and I used luminosity masking and the Blend If dialog to limit how much the toning influenced the brightest pixels.


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## zulu42 (Oct 14, 2020)

Used split toning in LR to add different shades of color to the highlights and shadows



 

And another subtle change if you can spot it


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## smithdan (Oct 14, 2020)

Pinhole image from a few years back.  Homemade pinhole on a K1000 body cap, HP5 inside.  Subtle tint from Color Efex user defined split toner.


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## waday (Oct 15, 2020)

smithdan said:


> Pinhole image from a few years back.  Homemade pinhole on a K1000 body cap, HP5 inside.  Subtle tint from Color Efex user defined split toner.
> 
> View attachment 198877
> 
> View attachment 198878


Wow, that is subtle but really changes the image!


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## smithdan (Oct 15, 2020)

waday said:


> smithdan said:
> 
> 
> > Pinhole image from a few years back.  Homemade pinhole on a K1000 body cap, HP5 inside.  Subtle tint from Color Efex user defined split toner.
> ...


Thanks Wade.  I too was surprised how the tint added dimension.   Thanks to gk as well for suggesting this week's challenge,  a chance to try stuff that I don't usually do.


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## gk fotografie (Oct 15, 2020)

GIMP sepia toning (I just pushed the "sepia" button)
Actually this color reminds me very much of the sepia-effect of photos from the period 1910 - 1940 you see in museums, books and catalogs.
View attachment 198891
original

View attachment 198892


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## gk fotografie (Oct 16, 2020)

Following @johngpt I've taken a different path than the 'standard sepia conversion' and opened the red and yellow filter for 100%, in combination with the gray tones from the (converted) b&w photo this produces a special kind of sepia toning.
View attachment 198931
View attachment 198932
View attachment 198933
(detail from Padrăo dos descobrimentos, Lisbon, Portugal)


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## johngpt (Oct 18, 2020)

Last week I wasn't able to post the color or black and white versions as I had packed up the hard drives to help She Who Must Be Obeyed get things ready for our son's wedding.

So, here they are now.

The relatively unedited color version, only cropped in Capture One.








The black and white version, first turned b/w via a gradient map, then using the color version's red channel in a layer above it and using the Blend If sliders in the Layer Style dialog to keep its highlights.






And the finished version again which has five layers set to color blend mode for a unique toning.




autumn leaves

.


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