How to Create a Two Color Sepia Image Tutorial

Now I know, that this title negates the definition of sepia, but still, this is a technique that can make a simple black and white image go that one step further.

What's more, this method can equally be applied to color images, to touch them up. Even though this tutorial is very simple, it holds within a method many professional photographers use to edit images.

This is what we'll be creating. As always, you can click on the images and screenshots to see a bigger version.

As you can see, on the left side is the black and white (which holds its own, no doubt), and on the right side, the two colored sepia, in which you can glimpse red and green sepia tones. Of course which two colors you choose depends on your liking.

Step 1
Apply the Black and White filter

In Photoshop this is easy. Just click on Image > Adjustments > Black and White (If your editing software doesn't have a black and white filter, use the Saturation filter and slide the saturation down to 0). Once your done, click OK and move on to step 2.

Step 2
Apply the Curves Filter and edit the Red Curve

This is so easy. Select Image > Adjsutments > Curves and Select the Red Curve from the drop down menu. Click on the upper part of the red line and move the dot slightly up, and then click on the lower part of the red line and move the dot down, just like in the screenshot that follows. Don't click OK jist yet. Move to Step 3.

Remember: Adjusting the Red Curve is an artistic choice I made, you can certainly try this with the Green or Blue Line.

Step 3
Edit the Blue Curve

Open up the blue curve, and move the line downwards by selecting the top of the line, and sliding it down. Just open up the next screenshot and you'll see what I mean. I have put a red circle around the spot I'm talking about. This is a trick many professional photographers use when they have a bright white spot and they want to cover it up. What this does is color the white parts of your image slightly yellow. Click OK when you're done.

Step 4
Save your image
File > Save as

This is the end result, that I came up with:

click on the image for a bigger view

Note on the image: This is a leftover from out recent visit to the old town of Pocitelj. I have kept this from publishing so far, because I wanted to show it off in this tutorial. What I love about the two color sepia technique here, is that it gives a very ominous atmosphere to the image. Sepia is usually related to soft and washed out images, but i truly believe that I have proven that sepia can be dark, vicious and foreboding too.

If you have any questions, about the tutorial, feel free to leave them in the comments below. I hope this was fun and easy to follow.