Sepia

Modern photographic prints do not suffer from such a severe discoloration effect over time, but if you take a photograph clicked 20 to 30 years ago, you are most likely to find that the color has faded. This can be due to the dyes used in the ink, or the way the photograph was processed. Sepia images have their characteristic brown nature right from development, because of a chemical reaction that occurs during processing. They are actually more colour-fast than normal color prints, and should not fade much over time. The Sepia effect is just as desirable nowadays as it always was, and more accessible techniques have been developed to give photographs this distinctive appearance. Originally the process involved adding a pigment made from the inky secretion of a Cuttlefish to the photograph during development, but other methods have since been devised using artificial toners.

For the scientifically inclined, the word “Sepia” comes from the genus of Cephalopod, which is a group of creatures including the cuttlefish. This is also why it has a capital letter. If an image is truly Sepia toned, (by a strict Sepia definition), it must technically be completely monochrome. This means that it only contain shades of brown, much like a black and white photograph only contains shades of grey.