How can I create a vintage, dreamy look like this photo?
Asked 5/22/2013
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2 answers
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I’d like to recreate the soft, vintage/dreamy style in a sample image. The look seems to include a warm yellow cast, very shallow depth of field, low contrast, and maybe some extra blur or softness added in post. What camera/lens choices and editing adjustments help create this effect?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
7
There are a number of factors here, two of which you've identified:
- a yellow color cast
- shallow depth of field, possibly with additional post-processing blur
These are important, but part of the dream-like appearance comes from the high key. Here's the histogram for the image:

which shows that all of the tones in this image are brighter than the 50% mark, with the bulk being way up in the top 20%. Nothing is even close to dark, let alone black. This brightness, especially when combined with blur or soft focus glow (not really seen in this example), tends to contribute towards a dreamy, ethereal appearance.
If we use the Levels tool to bring up the black point, stretching that same histogram across the whole range, the image looks like this:

and if we use Auto Levels to correct for the yellow cast in addition to that stretching, we get:

Both still have the blur, but are much less dream-like in appearance.
This is kind of extreme, and the high contrast now looks like an effect in its own right. The "realistic" image is somewhere in the middle.
I think it's pretty clear in looking at the adjusted images that the blur is from a shallow depth of field; the flowers are in narrow band of focus and the nearer and farther objects are blurred. This suggests that a long focal length was used, in combination with a wide aperture. It doesn't seem like post-processing blur was added, although it's possible that there's a smidge of it in the bottom front.
This also brings out what looks like corner vignetting, but that may just be the framing of foreground objects rather than either lens obstruction or a post-processing effect.
Originally by user1943. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1943
13y ago
0
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This look is mostly a combination of lighting, shallow depth of field, and low-contrast editing.
Key elements:
- high-key exposure: keep most tones bright, with very few deep shadows or true blacks
- shallow depth of field: use a wide aperture and focus on a narrow plane so foreground/background blur away
- reduced contrast: lift blacks and avoid strong shadow detail for a washed-out feel
- slight desaturation: colors are a bit muted rather than vivid
- warm/yellow cast: add a subtle warm tint in white balance or color grading
- softness: lower clarity/contrast locally, or use mild soft-focus/blur in post
- vignetting: a subtle dark edge can add to the mood
A soft-focus lens can help, but it’s not required. A longer lens used wide open can also create the narrow band of focus seen here.
In editing, try increasing brightness, lowering contrast and clarity, lifting the black point, slightly desaturating, warming the image, and adding only gentle blur if needed. The dreamy feel comes less from heavy blur and more from the bright, low-contrast, high-key treatment.
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