Ramblings of a Grouch

So finally the DigitalMemoriesonline is on the home straight. I need to apply a sepia tone, add a border and title the photograph.

There are many different ways to apply a sepia tone to a photograph, but whatever method is used the image has to be converted to the RGB colour mode first (up to now I have been working on a black & white image). For this example I tried three toning methods, each producing subtly different results:

1. Colorize the image. Open the Hue & Saturation control, click the Colorize box and set the hue to a sepia effect.

2. Adjustment layer. Create a new adjustment layer, fill it with a solid sepia tone. Change the Blending Mode to Soft Light and drop the Opacity to 70%. (Remember a layer is like a clear plastic sheet on top of the image, so this effect is like looking at the photograph through a coloured filter).

3. Duotone. A black and white image is a monotone - there is only one colour (black) in the image. A duotone can be created to apply one tone to the shadows and another tone to the highlights, with the mid tones blending evenly between the two. This is the effect I chose for this photo, along with a slight Curves adjustment to bring the contrast up a little.

Looking at those three samples above there would appear to be very little difference between the methods, but trust me - there are noticeable differences to the full sized photograph!

I then added a narrow white border to frame the image. Very often photographs from this era were borderless prints but I find that a narrow border helps make sure no part of the final image is hidden when mounted in a picture frame.

And finally the text was added, not something I would normally do but I think it is a nice touch to remind us who this lady was. I chose a font which reflected the style of the photo, Brush Script, which is not too formal nor too 'flowery'.

And there we have the finished article, which can be viewed on the DigitalMemoriesonline Samples page.

Until next time ...

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