Add a copperplate photo effect

One fun use for Photoshop is to re-create traditional photographic effects, especially the ones that give photos a special finish. In this tutorial here, we are going to look at how to mimic a copperplate effect. The copperplate process dates back to the 1850s, when a printing plate was created from the image and then used to create the paper print. It shares some similarities with a lithograph. The process is rarely used today due to high costs. Traditionally, most of these prints ranged from dark black to brown to copper and orange. While the process can be easily accomplished using the Duotone dialog, we will explore a different approach through adjustment layers. The advantage is that you can easily switch the colours used to create new unique image recipes.

Click here to download the start image

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Desaturate and separate the highlights

Start by duplicating the start image layer and then desaturate the copied layer (Image>Adjustments>Desaturate). Go to Select>Color Range, and in the Color Range dialog use the Select drop-down to choose the Highlights. Click OK. Now save this selection (Select>Save Selection) and name the selection ‘Highlights’. When done, be sure to deselect to remove the marching ants (Ctrl/Cmd+D).

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Separate the midtones and shadows

Go back into the Color Range dialog and create/save two more selections – one for the midtones and one for the shadows. Be sure to deselect (Ctrl/Cmd+D) after saving each selection, otherwise you may get a warning message indicating no pixels are selected. When you’re finished, click on the Channels palette. You should see your three selections as alpha channels.

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Blur the channels

Select the Highlights channel and blur the channel (Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur). Use a setting that matches your image resolution. Since this is a large image, a large blur setting of 15 pixels is used. Apply the same blur to the Midtones and Shadows channels as well. When done, go back to the Layers palette and select the desaturated layer.

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Load each selection and map colours

Go to Select>Load Selection and select the Highlights channel. Click OK. Now with the selection active, create a Color Fill adjustment layer (Layer>New Fill Layer>Solid Color). Use the following colour: R:241/G:203/B:141. Repeat this process for the midtones and shadows selections. Use the following colours for each Color Fill adjustment layer: midtones: R:188/G:145/B:90 and shadows: R:102/G:67/B:35.

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Blend and add some grain

Change the blend mode for all three Color Fill adjustment layers to Color. To add texture, create a new layer at the top of the layer stack and fill it with 50% grey (Edit>Fill). Then apply some grain (Filter>Texture>Grain). Use the Clumped grain type with Intensity: 22 and Contrast: 73. Desaturate this layer and change the blend mode to Overlay.