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Monday, 28 January 2013

Photo Editing Techniques

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he following post goes into detail on how to pull off the age-old classic photo effect: vintage. We've used this technique for a number of our past photoshoots and it is a wonderful way to transform a "normal" image into something quietly spectacular.
I will keep this tutorial as understandable as possible, in hopes that the photo editing techniques listed will be useful for both aficionados and brand spanking new editors. All of the steps should be taken with a grain of salt, that is: What works for a particular image may not work for yours.
The settings I use should be altered for your image in a way that works for you. That being said, I hope that the steps I outline will give a basic, solid understanding of a great way to turn your boring photo into a vintage, kick-ass photo. Without further ado... I present to you Photo Editing Techniques: Vintage Photography.
Step 1: This is the easy part. Open up the image that you wish to edit in Photoshop.
Step 2: The first thing that we are going to do to the image is slightly alter the contrast (and brightness, if necessary). I like to bump up the contrast, giving the picture a bit of added life... making it jump. It's small, but it can do wonders. Try Contrast +25.
Step 3: The next step of our 'Photo Editing Techniques' tutorial is the most important part. Curves. (To find Curves, go to Image, Adjustments, Curves - or just Control + M) This is the most integral part, and the part that requires a bit of artistic interpretation based on the image you are looking at. Use my settings as a base, and adjust accordingly. For Red I set Output to 213, and input to 195. For Green I set output to 204 and Input to 193. And for Blue I set output to 16 and input to 0.
Step 4: Having fun yet? Now we're going to give our image a bit of Noise. (Filter, Noise, Add Noise). Not a lot, just enough to give the image a nice grainy feel. I chose 17 for mine. Wow... we've taken a few years off of this!
Step 5: The fifth step to today's Photo Editing Techniques walkthrough can do wonders. Give it some vibrance, and take away some saturation. Trust me. (Image, Adjustments, Vibrance) I set Vibrance to 42, and Saturation to -33.
Step 6: In light of my attempts to keep this simple, by this point, you've got yourself a nicely editing vintage photograph. This is the finishing touch. Open up a new layer, add large red circles using the paintbrush, and change this layer mode to Lighten. Set the Opacity to 60%. If the spots work for your image, they are a great "cherry on top".
So there you have it! The final product. Not too bad..and when practiced, this effect can easily be applied to your images in under 60 seconds. I hope you enjoyed today's photo editing techniques: vintage edition!
posted by michaelabela.weebly.com

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