Photo Discussion
Category: Before and After

How to Create the Vintage Photo Effect in PS

	Timeless Scene Historic downtown in San Antonio, TX at midnight. Nancy Grace Chen
	Timeless Scene Nancy Grace Chen

In reply to a question I got, here's how I created the vintage photo effect for "Timeless Scene."

1. Converted the photo to sepia by going to Image > Adjust > Hue/Saturation. Click on "Colorize," and adjust the sepia hue to your liking.

2. Create some texture by going to Filter > Texture > Texturizer. Choose "Canvas," Light Direction: Left, and play around with the Scaling and Relief.

3. Add film grain by going to Filter > Artistic > Film Grain. This helps enhance the vintage effect.

4. Create vignetting (the darkened corners and edges) by selecting the Elliptical Marquee tool. (Click and hold down the Rectangular Selection tool, and it should be one of the choices.) Enter in 10 pixels in the "Feather" box (you want the transition to be gradual, not abrupt). Draw a large oval on your pic. Then go to Select > Inverse. Now you've selected everything except the oval. Go to Image > Adjust > Curves and pull the middle of the curve down to darken the outside edges.

5. Use the paint or airbrush tool to color in black on the very edges, making sort of a messy frame.

You'll probably have to play with each of these a lot to get it just right. Please feel free to email me with any questions!

Nancy

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August 25, 2004

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August 26, 2004