You Too Can Have Fun With Sepia Images!

[Hugh Weaver]

If you are one of those who wonder how people come up with the cool
looking sepia tone prints that you admire so much. If you are doubling
up with jealousy over a sepia tone, here, we will give you tips on how
you could achieve this sepia tone, too. Ready up your Photoshop
software program, your PC and prepare to have fun with sepia! It's
time that they envy you, too.
First of all it is important for you to choose images that have some
darks and lights - it doesn't matter how colorful they are. Many
images could go along with sepia tone, so you won't take forever
finding an image. You can even have a black and white image. However,
if you start with images that are in CMYK, there's no need to convert
them to RGB. If you're going to use them for the web, then convert
them to RGB by clicking IMAGE-MODE-RGB. Take the image size down to 72
dpi with about 4 inches in height. Do this by the commands, (IMAGE-
IMAGE SIZE). If your image is for print, though, a much higher
resolution is needed for it. The dpi needed can be checked with your
printer.
You'll see how big your image is by making sure you are at 100%.
Whether you are using the image for the web or planning to print it,
make sure that you are aware of the size you have it set at. Scale the
size down or repair a choppy image by using the ZOOM TOOL-Hit Z on the
keyboard - hold down your ALT key. On a Mac, open apple key to toggle
back and forth between zoom in and out). You'll see your image
smoothing out as you manipulate these commands. We dearly hope that it
would work for you!
When you have found the ideal size you want for your images, we go on
to the fun part! Begin working on the color first for it is easier and
adjust your lights and darks.
Change the Hues of your image by IMAGE-ADJUST-HUE/SATURATION. Check
the box that says colorize and preview or check it by default. It's
your choice if you like to adjust the top bar to the color you want
for your image, or just type in numbers. Saturation is how much of the
hue you chose will be used on your image. For adjusting lightness, the
lightness slider does the trick. Try not to go crazy over this last
bar (lightness).
Then, adjust the darks and lights. Even if you think your image is
already so great and you wouldn't want to mess it up try this - select
IMAGE-ADJUST-LEVELS. Three sliders will appear - the first will make
your image lighter, another will make it darker, and the last one
adjusts the midtones. Adjust on these sliders depending on the image
you use. Once you're done, hit CONTROL-Z or EDIT-UNDO MOVE to see your
image before the adjustments. It will switch back to the original
image. If you hit CTRL-Z or EDIT-UNDO MOVE again, it will toggle back
to the image with the level adjustment you just applied. If you like
to have fun, go over it again and again! Just don't blame us if you
get bored!
And we haven't told you that you can do different types of hues? So,
we're telling you now! If you'll be doing this types of images for the
web the great thing is that you can save them as a GIF and they will
look wonderful. File sizes will not be a problem since you are using
lesser colors! Good luck with your sepia!