How to Create a Vintage Photo Step by Step

Vintage never goes out of style. There are a million and one ways to recreate a vintage look using modern technology. The key to achieving the look of aged photos without the effect of artificiality is to emulate the softer colors and blurred images of old photographs, which can breathe new life into modern photos.

In this lesson, we will see how to give photos a vintage style using Photoshop (we are using CS6, but you can use any version of Photoshop or Lightroom).

This technique works best on images that initially have strong, vibrant colors. So, we chose this delightful autumn image to work with.

10 simple steps to create a vintage photo

Follow us step by step to make your favorite photos vintage:

Step 1. Raise the blacks

Open your image and go to the menu “Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Levels” (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels).

Now move the black slider to about +8 (move it further or closer, depending on the initial amount of black in your image).

Step 2. Duplicate the layer

Duplicate the background layer and move it to the top in the layers panel. Right-click on it and select “Convert to Smart Object.”

This will allow you to review the changes made at any time without deleting steps.

Step 3. Adding the color contrast filter

In vintage style, it is important to emphasize the original lines of the image before we apply muted tones later.

So, while on our duplicate background layer, go to the menu “Filter > Other > High Pass” and choose a radius of 10. After that, change the layer’s blending mode to “Overlay.”

This will make your image very bright, but don’t worry – it’s part of the process!

Step 4. Adjusting contrast

Now let’s start giving our image a vintage look.

Go to “Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast” (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast) and reduce the contrast to -20.

Step 5. Adjusting curves

Add a new adjustment layer “Curves” and, using the dropdown menu, adjust each channel.

For the red and green channels, increase the highlights and decrease the shadows using an S-curve. For the blue channel, decrease the highlights and increase the shadows.

The adjusted RGB curves should resemble the screenshot shown below.

Step 6. Muting the image

Next, you need to mute the colors in your image while keeping the warm tones we added.

Select your background layer and add a new adjustment layer “Hue/Saturation.”

Move the saturation slider to -25 and brightness to +5.

Step 7. Adding a light noise for authenticity

Digital photos are mostly very sharp and smooth, so the vintage effect on the photo will look more realistic if you add a bit of graininess (known as noise in digital terms).

Create another copy of the layer and go to the menu “Filter > Noise > Add Noise.”

Do not be tempted to make the noise value too high! For this image, we set it to 12, as it is quite detailed, and the noise will show in larger amounts.

If your image does not have such a level of detail, use a smaller value.

Step 8. Adding a little purple

Merge the image layers and then go to the menu “Layers > New Layer” (Layer > New Layer) and fill it with purple color.

To do this, go to the menu Edit > Fill, choose from the dropdown “Use… Color” (Edit > Fill > Color), and set the values R255, G0, and B255.

Step 9. Changing the blending mode

Change the blending mode for this layer to “Screen”, reduce the opacity, and fill to about 10% or a bit more, depending on your image.

Step 10. Finally!

Merge the layers in the image again and go to the menu “Layers > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance” (Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Color Balance).

Select midtones and set the values for Red-Blue: -40, and for Yellow-Blue: +20.

Last merge of the layers and voilà!

Your vintage image is ready!

Please note that you can make your adjustments at each step of this lesson, considering your own preferences and depending on the image you want to achieve as a result.

original: www.shutterstock.com/blog/how-to-make-photos-look-vintage-in-10-easy-steps

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