why does sepia convey a feeling of antiquity?

Question

i realize that it does... but i cannot for the life of me understand HOW or WHY.

are there any other colors that convey a particular emotion or sensation to you? describe please...

Answer 1

Sepia colored photographs convey a message of antiquity because at a time long ago, when photos were being developed, we had no color to put in photography...
Most pictures were black and white or sepia tone...
We had no cameras that developed in color so that makes us remember a time long ago when things were simpler and less refined...

Answer 2

The primary function of sepia toning, or really any other type of toning, is to enhance the archival properties of a print.

I don't know enough of the chemistry of what's going on to say exactly why this is the case, but I believe that it has to do with preventing oxidation of the elemental silver which forms the image.

The toning effect, whether sepia, selenium, or some other toner, can be extremely subtle or quite obvious.

In any case, though, I would guess that the reason it's often associated with antique images is because the best preserved images are those which were sepia toned in the first place. Ergo, the antique images most likely to be displayed would be sepia toned.

This may be a stretch, but is the best that I could come up with.

Answer 3

For me it's because of those old daguerrotypes. I have some daguerrotypes of my father's family dating to the 1890's, the type that were printed on glass, and most of them are sepia. Old photographs tend to become sepia when they age too (I suppose because the pigments get oxidized).

With respect to other colors, Green says "life" to me.
As for the rest, I guess my reactions are the same as most people's: reds, oranges and yellows are hot or warm colors, (ut not necessarily 'happy'), while blue is cold (but not necessarily 'sad').

As a non-native English speaker, I'm not sure if you realize how much the English language uses colors to describe moods. I'm very interested in the answers you get to this one!

Answer 4

I think due to the chemistry used in early photography that caused many early photographs to have or develop a sepia tone to them we associate the sepia color with antiquity.

To many color photos mean modern, black and white old, and sepia toned antique.

Personally there are no colors that convey emotion in me, but that's just me.

Answer 5

the short answer is that sepia (and black and white, for that matter) photographs lack color. Since most people are primarily familiar with color photographs (a much more modern invention), they associate the lack of color with age.

I used to think the exact same thing, however years of working with black and white has made me lose the association of non-color prints with being older. On the other hand, I now (quite often wrongly) associate color photographs with simplistic, amateur, point-and-shoot photography.

What you're used to strongly influences what you like.

Answer 6

Definitely A; it's basically saying that hope no longer seemed impossible and unlikely, but was now "brilliantly visible" - very clear, obvious, and likely.