DIY: Vintage Photography Tips, Part 3

Welcome to the final installment of my 3-part vintage effects series! Almost all of the effects I'm talking about in today's tutorial can also be achieved with Picnik.

Do you love vintage-looking photography with those soft colors and yellow-blue-red tints? Good. Do you like to take pictures? Good. Today I'm continuing the second of a three part series on how to get the above look, or similar, with your photos with different kinds of techniques and photo-editing software. Now don't fear, I have researched free tools and websites that will allow you to get very close, if not better, than the image above I have produced with Photoshop.

I have been doing this for years and years to my photos, I've always been obsessed with color and have experimented with different ways to tweak my photos to evoke the mood I want to create. It's very easy to do and it creates a beautiful result!

Before we begin I want to include a list of editing software and free tools available to you.

Software:
Adobe PhotoshopCS5 - this is what I use
Adobe Lightroom - this is what I use
Adobe Photoshop Elements - your best bet for using Photoshop without all of the bells and whistles, and for a fraction of the cost
Pixelmator - Most affordable
Corel Paint Shop Pro - I used to use this

Free Tools:
Photobucket - New and improved editing features
Pixlr - Very similar to Photoshop and should be able to follow the tutorial closely
Picnik - Easy to use
Photoscape -
Paint.NET - Very similar to Photoshop and should be able to follow the tutorial closely
Picasa - Google's photo editing tool

Vintage Effects: Part 3, Extra Effects - Vignettes, Rounded Edges, Polaroid, Filmstrip Frame
For this tutorial I will be using Photoshop, but do not worry - I will include examples below each section for how you can create these effects if you don't own Photoshop.

***Important***: Every image is different! There are different colors, different lighting, and different subjects. Because of this I do not use exact number/setting examples when I write tutorials so that you can experiment and begin to understand how an image works and what will work to get the end result you want. Experimentation is important!

Vignettes:

Open your image and create a new layer. Using the Elliptical Marquee Tool (M) hold the shift key and create a circle around the center of your image. Be sure to set your feather - experiment to see which effect you like best. I used 150px for my feather. The larger the feather, the more your image will show through. You can also create a non-constrained circle by not holding the shift key when creating your selection.

Inverse your selection by going to Select->Inverse and fill in your selection with black (or another color of your choice).

Adjust the opacity of your new fill layer until you have a result you are pleased with.

Rounded Edges:

For rounded edges I use the Rounded Rectangle tool. Create a new layer, then select your Rounded Rectangle tool (U) and set the radius for the rounded edges. I selected 100.

Select the area you want to be your new image. You can go as close to the edge as you like.

Right-click (PC)/option-click (Mac) on your shape and select "Make Selection" and click ok when the window pops up.

Select your base image and hid the delete button to delete the edges. You can now delete your shape layer. You now have snazzy rounded edges.

Polaroid:

You can download a polaroid frame (look in the notes for download link), or you can make your own (which I do). Create a new image in the size that you want your polaroid to be. I've made mine 1400px x 1580px.

Using the fill bucket and setting your fill mode to pattern, fill your document with a tan or grey pattern. If you don't have one, here are a few that work well.

The next step can be done two ways. One: Select the area where you want your image to be on the polaroid and delete it, then replace the empty space with your image (resize it to fit there). Two: Simply resize your image and paste it over your document.

Crop your polaroid if it has too much lip at the bottom, which I have done for this example.

Filmstrip:

Download a filmstrip frame. When using frames all you need to do is resize your image to fit the frame. You may need to crop your image to fit your frame.

Other Site Examples:

Vintage Effects, Picnik - under "Create" tab




This concludes the final part of this three-series post.

I'd love to see what you come up with!