How do I create a faded warm vintage photo effect in Photoshop CS5?
Asked 2/1/2013
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2 answers
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I want to recreate a specific aged/vintage look in Photoshop CS5 Extended. The example has low contrast, warm yellow/red tones, slightly split-toned shadows and highlights, and visible film grain. What steps or tools in Photoshop can I use to get this look consistently on a few photos?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
13y ago
2 Answers
5
Original Image:
- Reduce the contrast using the levels tool (drag the output levels sliders in):
- Either apply a warming photo filter, or use the colour balance tool (colour balance gives you more control as it supports split toning, here I moved the shadows toward red and the highlights toward yellow):
- Finally apply film grain filter:
A better result could have been achieved by spending longer on the colour balancing step, the image you posted has a stronger split in colour between shadows and highlights. I think the lack of contrast caused the shadows and highlight adjustments to overlap too much, it might be better to do this step before reducing contrast.
Originally by user1375. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1375
13y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
A close match can be made with a few simple adjustments:
- Lower the contrast using Levels. In the Levels dialog, move the output black and white sliders inward to flatten the tonal range and create that faded look.
- Warm the color using either a Photo Filter or Color Balance.
- For more control, use Color Balance.
- Push shadows slightly toward red and highlights toward yellow for a subtle split-toned effect.
- Add grain with Photoshop’s Film Grain filter.
If the shadow/highlight color split looks weak, try doing the Color Balance before reducing contrast, since lowering contrast too early can make the tonal ranges overlap and weaken the effect.
The key characteristics of the look are: reduced contrast, warm toning, slight red/yellow split toning, and film grain. Fine-tuning the Color Balance step will have the biggest impact on matching the reference image closely.
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AI13y ago
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