Welcome to Tutorial Tuesday! Sarah of Naptime Momtog and I will be bringing you a new challenge every week, to stretch your shooting and editing skills. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve received a few questions that will turn into interesting tutorials, but this week, I thought we’d check out another effect I found the other week while looking for tutorials. This one has everything to do with turning today’s images into something of the past…and the tutorial link includes an action (if you’re interested). 

 

First thing first…let’s watch the video tutorial.

Obviously in order to fully utilize this tutorial, you’ll need some version of Photoshop. Although most of the steps can be performed in Photoshop Elements, there will be a couple of steps in this tutorial that will not work for PSE users (still try it – I’ll offer some alternative approaches).

Here’s my original shot (taken last September in London):

Much like the last time, I am fully expecting a few comments along the lines of, “I really like your original better.” I think with vintage processing, it all depends on your mood. And it’s funny, because so many times, the images that inspire us to go “vintage,” weathered over time. Nonetheless, let’s learn a new effect.

Step 1: Create a duplicate of your background layer. You won’t use this one right now, but this creating a duplicate layer is just good practice when editing.

Step 2: Create a Color Balance adjustment layer. (This is the one adjustment layer that will not work for Photoshop Elements’ users – you can tinker around with a saturation adjustment instead.) 

Step 3: Create a Curves Adjustment layer. (If memory serves me correctly, PSE9 does have a levels adjustment…previous versions can download an action to simulate the layers adjustment. Click HERE.) Create three points on your curve. The mid and upper points should be pulled up just a hair, while the lower point should be pulled down just a little bit. When you’re done, your image will look similar to mine below.

Step 4: Create a Gradient Map layer. Be sure that reverse is unchecked (although I seem to recall that the video said to check it…didn’t look right to me). You’ll want to change the color of your gradient to something within the orange/brown range. Click okay and then lower your opacity. The video suggests an opacity of 80%…I lowered mine to 74%. I’m not sure there is a perfect formula for this step – just experiment with it until you see something like my image below.

Step 5: Create a Levels adjustment. Here, you’ll want to drag your shadows and midtones to the right just a bit. The video pulled them to 17 and 0.73.

Step 6: Go back to the duplicate of your background layer (just above your background layer). Go to Filter > Enable Smart Filters. 

Step 7: (same layer) Go to Filter > Select Lens Correction. On the right hand side, scroll down to vignette. Pull the vignette slider to -52 and the midpoint slider to +34. 

Step 8: Add noise by going to Filter > Noise > Add Noise. This step is optional, but for a vintage photo, you’d typically see a little bit of noise. Add 5 and see what you think. This is the final step of the video tutorial and your image will look similar to mine below.

Step 9: If you’d like, add texture. I decided to give my image a little more of a vintage look by adding Kim Klassen’s new “Paper Love” texture (click HERE). I believe I added one layer on a multiply blending mode at 50% opacity and then tinkered with my layers again. Here’s where I ended:

With that said, that’s the vintage effect. What do you think? Would you rather just download an action? Here’s a link: click HERE. Just in case you forgot, here’s my original image on the left and the final vintage edit on the right.

1. Watch THIS TUTORIAL on YouTube.

2. Choose your favorite shot (or more!) to share with us.

PS: If you have any photography or editing suggestions, please don’t hesitate to let Sarah or me know! We would love to feature your tutorial.