I use Instaproofs and offer sepia as an option... until yesterday, nobody ordered it. Instaproofs converts my proof file to a sepia tone for proofing -- that is what the client saw/ordered. Instaproofs version of sepia is very red... my idea of sepia is more brown. I understand that I must provide the final prints as close as I can to what Instaproofs displayed... that's okay, I can do that.
The question... since when did sepia become such a red color? It was always brown back in the day when I did it in the darkroom. I should have paid more attention to that... maybe I should not offer it through Instaproofs.
I have two 'versions' (aside from a red-full tint action, but that's not sepia really) that I consider 'sepia' - done with actions and layers in PS, to be hoenst I made them awhile ago that I'm not quite sure of the actual values, but that they are done in opacity and Levels layers.
The common understanding is that Sepia is a B&W with a brownish tone.
The way I do it in PS: first I convert the pic to B&W using channel mixer, then I duplicate the layer, use Colorize in the Saturation menu (I set hue to around 30), then adjust the saturation to my liking. I sometimes blend the new layer in softlight mode as a final step.
How can you match what the customer say on Instaproofs? You have no clue if the monitor they saw your image on is calibrated or is too red or too green or something else entirely.
You are the artist. You decide what is sepia for your art. Just like you decide if you like a warmer WB than is 'correct'.
