Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

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Archive 2011 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

ragintao
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p.1 #1 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone here have a good formula for producing a vintage look without presets?Something like this: http://www.stylemepretty.com/2011/02/08/vintage-wedding-by-three-nails-photography/

I usually play around with the level scale in photoshop but it doesn't work the same way for every photo.

Dec 09, 2011 at 02:57 PM

TrojanHorse
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p.1 #2 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Search this sub forum for vintage photo restoration - it seems like you're looking for the reverse situation. A member named theSuede had a nice piece on how to recover faded vintage photos that was particularly detailed and informative. Do it in reverse and it may help you.

The short version is that printing is a CMY process, and usually the C color fades fastest, leaving a strong magenta overtone. Convert your images to CMY and play with the curves until you get one that looks good, and you can save it (the curves, that is)

Dec 11, 2011 at 08:02 AM

ragintao
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p.1 #3 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Thanks! I will take a look and try the CMYK idea.

Dec 12, 2011 at 03:29 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #4 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Very basic (and easy), but its a start for taking 'control' rather than using a preset ...

B&W layer adjust > tint > opacity adjust.

As always, S&P to taste.

Dec 12, 2011 at 06:56 PM

Jay-Cub Photo
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p.1 #5 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Hey there! I've actually been experimenting with this look and i've found that using split toning in LR really helps. Set the highlights to light magenta-ish color and the shadows to a light cyan and mess around with the balance and you've pretty much got it!

Dec 12, 2011 at 10:58 PM

ragintao
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p.1 #6 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Thanks RustyBug & Jay-Cub!

So far I really like the control of B&W layer adjustment. Jay-Cub, I will try out your idea once I get a chance to open up lightroom. Thanks again!

Dec 13, 2011 at 03:33 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #7 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Jay-Cub's point at split toning can be also done by using two (or more) B&W layers and blending one for the highlights and one for the shadows (or any other range of values you deem).

GL ... and do share your results.

Dec 13, 2011 at 04:51 PM

bigkidneys
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p.1 #8 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

I know it's like cheating but I was messing around with Color Efex Pro 4 last night and when combining Cross Balance (3) filter with the cross processing filter (varies) I was getting similar results rather easily. I have PS5 and LR3.6 but have never experimented with layers and masking and whatever all that other stuff is

I know, I really need to learn PP but have been getting by ok with Aperture 3 and teh plug ins so far. Just thought I woul dthrow it out there.

Jason

Dec 16, 2011 at 05:52 PM

RustyBug
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p.1 #9 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

bigkidneys wrote:
I know it's like cheating

No such thing ... it's simply tools of choice (even if they are "outsourced" a bit).

Dec 16, 2011 at 07:11 PM

bigkidneys
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p.1 #10 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

I really need to learn PS and LR capabilities. Having all 3 programs and only using Aperture 3 is nurting me. I know there are a ton of things I can do in PS that can't be done in Aperture but just haven't found time to do it. It will be a major task but am sure once I dive in, will get easier...

Dec 16, 2011 at 07:15 PM

Tom D
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p.1 #11 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

Try this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPsgsam95DY

Not the same tones, but gives you a starting point to play with. I'd guess the example you linked to is a canned filter from one of the aftermarket effects companies (Nik, etc) ...

Dec 29, 2011 at 02:26 AM

mshi
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p.1 #12 · Vintage Look. What's a Good Formula

The look that you're after is so easy to achieve in Photoshop. As usual, there are more than tons of different ways to get there. If you are a filter kind of PS user, just try the following:

http://www.alienskin.com/exposure/index.aspx

If you don't use any filters, you can get there by using any native Photoshop tools as well.

Dec 29, 2011 at 02:53 AM

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