Sepia Filter

PlasticSpanner · Dec 6, 2005

Recently I was given my Fathers Minolta X-300 along with his accessories including a Cokin filter holder and some filters. Whilst shooting by the Canal I decided to try the Sepia filter on this work barge. I think the Sepia is too strong and dark but would like some other opinions please. This is an un-edited negative scan which usually turn out pretty much OK for colour, brightness and contrast.

Taken with 35-70mm lens @ 50mm, iso 200 film, f8, 1/125 sec. AE

terri · Dec 6, 2005

It's hard to call a color since monitors vary so much - but this looks more like a deep yellow/golden cast from where I'm sitting. Sepia can vary with toning, of course, but with something called a "sepia filer" I'd be looking for rich, deeper brown tones.

btw - neat area!

I like the reflections in this shot.

PlasticSpanner · Dec 7, 2005

Could the odd colour be down to it being a Cokin camera filter with colour film?

From what I understand sepia is really a wash for B&W prints to make them look richer so the toning only has to work with greys?

terri · Dec 7, 2005

PlasticSpanner said:
Could the odd colour be down to it being a Cokin camera filter with colour film?

From what I understand sepia is really a wash for B&W prints to make them look richer so the toning only has to work with greys?

Color film - that explains it well enough for me.

I believe you are confusing sepia toner with selenium. You can use selenium toner at a high dilution, just enough to get a slight tonal shift that enhances the blacks. Sepia is always going to give you a brown tone, though there are ways of playing with it to make it lighter - depends on how much silver you bleach from your print before slipping it into the toner tray.

Both enhance the archival qualities of a silver gelatin print, and lots of photographers routinely dip their work into selenium just for that enhancement.

Here's a pretty basic sepia-toned print I recently made:

This is a B&W print I toned briefly in selenium to enhance the blacks only:

If you use a higher concentration of selenium you end up with purplish blacks. Hope this helps.