Photoshop to make old photos

I think a lot of people like me, for those old yellow old photos have a hard to give up feelings. Indeed, looking at the old photos, miss or imagine those leisurely years, it is difficult not to immerse in the antique. Well, if you are Photoshop users, and want to put your hands of the photos immediately into meaningful memory, then please prepare your picture, come with me!

First, let's take a look at whether you are satisfied with this effect. The image on the left is the original, and the image is processed on the right (figure main). In general, making simple old photo effects takes only a few simple steps, fading, changing tones, and you can do it even in acdsee (Figure ACDs). But comparing the results, you'll be surprised to see the difference between the two methods. The photos processed with ACDSee are obviously more "new". If you prefer the old true feeling, please go on.

Figure Main

Figure ACDs

The ultimate purpose of this article is a small portrait, as pictured (fig. Small). This portrait is usually printed on very thin paper and mounted on a dedicated paper jam. We hope to make it look full of vicissitudes through Photoshop, yellowing fading and some old. Part of the paper is not the focus, we have in the last slightly introduced, you should focus on the image itself.

Figure Small

First, the calibration monitor

In general, you need to correct your monitor before you do a more formal job. We work most of the time to face color. If there is no correction, the image on some monitors will look a lot different from the print. On the process of correction, many places have a special introduction, no longer described here.

Ii. preparatory work

Before we begin to get ready to fade the image, we need to highlight a large, dark area in the background of the image. The vast majority of this type of portrait has been in existence for years, with man-made damage and sun and rain, which have long ceased to be glamorous. A large area of dark color does not appear in faded images. If you want to create this sense of reality, you need to highlight the process. Because of the huge difference in the selection of the image itself, I have no way to provide you with accurate values to adjust your image. You can make reference to my image and choose the appropriate parameters.

For images that need to be resized, it is safer to create an adjustment layer on the image. This way, you can change the image without destroying the pixel. When you are dissatisfied, you can change or remove the adjustment layer at any time. This way, you can go back and start again when you need it. For our image, we use two adjustment layers to achieve the effect of brightening the screen. That is the hue/saturation adjustment layer and the curve adjustment layer.

Select Layers > New adjustment layer > Hue/saturation, and in the pop-up dialog box, increase the brightness values of individual channels except red and magenta respectively. In my example, the brightness value was increased to +100. You can see all the other changes in the image except for the red part (Figure 01). Maybe your image needs to change the brightness value or no change at all.

Figure 01

Then select the layer of the new adjustment layer curve, respectively, adjust the curve of a single channel, until the image is lit and will not lose too much contrast, also do not appear very extreme color (Figure 02). Don't worry about the color being "lost". Remember, our goal is to turn the image into a hazel tone, so you don't even have to ignore it for a while.

Figure 02

If you feel the need, you can add some particles and diffusion to the image. If you like film particles, then choose Add Noise Filter, set the noise quantity to 3 or 3.5, check the "monochrome" option, or use the film particle filter, select the "Film particle" command in Filter > Art >, and then choose the Diffuser command under the filter > stylized menu. The last step may not be necessary, but it can increase the realism of the portrait.

Third, apply the light brown tone for the color image

In Photoshop, there are several ways to make color images fade into hazel tone. Among them, the simplest is the default action with Photoshop: Dark brown (layer) (Sepia toning (layer)). This is a simple and quick way. But here, I want to introduce you to another method that allows you to better control the hue and fit the individual image.

1. Select the layer > new adjustment layer > Gradient map, apply the default black and white gradient, the color information in the picture is hidden. Of course, you can also directly use the Go Color command, completely remove color information. However, as I have just said, using a gradient mapping method can better protect the image. (Figure 03,04)

Figure 03

Figure 04

2. Select Layer > New adjustment layer > Color balance, adjust the Balance slider in the dialog box. Turn on the preview to make sure that the midtones are selected to keep the brightness down, and then move the slider to red and yellow until the appropriate hue appears. Wait a minute, we can adjust again here. (Figure 05,06)

Figure 05

Figure 06

For the simple way of making old photos, here is the end, but for the way we do today, the play has not yet begun!

Four, fade processing

After the brown tone is processed, return to the Layers panel. Since the following work is to destroy the original image, it is recommended that you do a backup work in order to restore. Now, we're going to increase the age of the images.

We are going to start with the fading, which is the most obvious feature of the years of erosion. I don't want to make the image even fade, so it looks like there will be traces of processing. At the same time, I do not want to create a halo effect. We started fading from the dark areas of the background. Open the Color Range Command dialog box, use the Eyedropper tool to select a darker color in the background dark area, set the color tolerance to 70-80, and press CTRL to toggle the observation between the selection view and the image view. As shown in the figure (Figure 07).

Figure 07

Image window. Select the Free Lasso tool and press the ALT key to subtract the character's head and above from the existing selection. In other words, the constituency that we want to keep is the part that makes it fade. (Figure 08)

Figure 08

Apply the feather command under the selection menu to set the feather radius to 50 pixels.

Note: After the feather is made, it is best to save the selection in the channel. This way, once you have an error and accidentally deselect, you don't have to reset the selection, just load the channel selection.

Now we begin to do the fading work of the image. Select Adjust > Brightness/Contrast in the Image menu to increase the brightness until you are satisfied with the color change of the image. Can be repeated several times. As shown in figure, I will increase the brightness value to 100%, and then increase to 50%. (Figure 09)

Figure 09

Select Texture > Particles in the Filter menu, and select "Caking" in the Particle type Pull-down menu, with a strength of 60 and a contrast of 50. (Figure 10)

Figure 10

After you finish texturing, if you think the particles are too heavy, select fade particles from the Edit menu, reduce the opacity to 70%, or change the fade mode to "overlay".

Now, we have finished brown tone, fading and granulation. Our image looks closer to the old portrait of decades ago, but it can be perfected.

Five, scraping effect and edge wear

Is there any way to make a picture look older? The easiest thing to do is to add some scratches to it, just like the old films of the 340 's. If done by hand, it is not only time-consuming and laborious, but not necessarily very effective. We have a clever way to complete the process.

First, with the rectangular marquee tool, select about two-fifths of the screen, copy the selection, paste into the new layer. In the new layer, hold down CTRL and load the opaque selections for the new layer (Figure 11). Select Texture > Particles in the Filter menu, select "Vertical" in the particle type, the strength is 93, the contrast is 69. Change the layer blending mode to "brighten". (Figure 12)

Figure 11

The first method is suitable for large area of stain effect. Select the background layer in the layers panel (that is, the image layer you are working on, not as a backup layer, select a semicircular selection at the top, bottom, or edge of the image with the Free lasso tool, choose New Adjustment layer > Gradient map, apply the default black and white gradient, so you can easily get the required stains.

Another method applies to a small range. Simply select some of the nearly rounded shapes (in the main layer, of course), and use the Dodge tool to highlight the edges of the selection. (Figure 14)

Figure 14

We also need to add some wear effects to the edges of the image. If your image is used to make a portrait card, then you do not need to make a special wear effect on the edge of the image, because the photo is framed in the frame, the impact of wear on the card than the paper itself. However, if you want to simply do a picture that is not framed, the more severe damage will feel better. Let's take a look at the options below.

The next step is to work on the flattened image, which means that all the image layers will be merged into one layer. Otherwise, you'll have to create an edge effect on all images just as you would create a mask. But I don't want to use this method because I would also like some filter effects. So, before you do the following, save your image, go to the History panel, and click Create a new Document button from the current state, which creates a new document that is the same as the current image. The following work is done in this new document.

Now put all the image layers (without adjustment layers) in a layer group, and if you change the order of the layers during the placement, you need to put them in the correct order. Then select the Layer group and select the Flatten Layer Group command from the Layer menu so that all the image layers are flattened into one layer, and several adjustment layers remain on top of the layer. We'll create an edge effect in this separate layer.

For many years ago photos, whether it is framed cards or pictures without mounting, a significant feature is the rough edges. It means that like paper is no longer a rectangle with straight lines and exact corners, and as the years erode, its edges become blurred. To quickly create this effect, we can use the Rectangular marquee tool to select most images, leaving a little distance (about 1 to 2 millimeters) on the edge, and then softening the selection with the Select > Modify > Smoothing command, our example setting the sampling radius to 3 pixels.

Executes the reverse command, and then deletes the image pixels that are left in the selection. (Figure 15, note: For ease of observation, I added a white layer underneath the work layer)

Figure 15

After removing the extra image on the edge, press CTRL and click on the current layer to load the opaque selection range of this layer (note: The following steps require a selection range, please be sure to select the state!) We are now ready to add some stains to the edge. Select the burn tool to paint at the edges of the image. Set the brush size to 65 (larger or smaller depending on your image), reduce the brush's exposure appropriately, and gently smear the edges of the image until the hue becomes darker. In some parts, you may want to change the range of the tool options from the middle to the high light. At the same time to further reduce the exposure to 15% or even lower, so that the effect of deepening will not be too abrupt. (Figure 16)

Figure 16

We also want to add some wear marks to the image, a slight tearing and a further mottled. It is easy for us to do the work again after we finish the previous process. To determine the boundary range: on the basis of the active selection, use the Select > Modify > Expand Command, set the boundary selection width to 10 to 15 pixels, and then set your foreground color panel to black or dark gray. Select the sketch > Rip edges under the filter menu to set the image balance to 25, with a balance of 11 and a contrast of 17. If the effect is not obvious, then you can use the fade command to further strengthen. The method is to choose Edit > Fade edges, the pattern is superimposed, reduce the fading opacity to 60% or lower, depending on your image situation and the type of effect you want to create. In doing so, not only makes the wear more "fine", but also due to the opacity of the reduction, so that part of the edge of the edges appear slightly translucent effect. (Figure 17)

Figure 17

If you want to get a more vivid edge-tearing effect, you can use the Free Lasso tool to select small areas on the edge, remove the selection image, and then follow the steps just before using the RIP filter. In this way, the damage effect is completed.

Vi. Final Image Adjustment

After many processing, the color of the image has changed, we need to make a final color adjustment of the image. Throughout the process, we have retained the adjustment layer, so the color of the image has not been fundamentally damaged. Now you can continue to change the color of the image in the adjustment layer until it fits perfectly. Here, we can say that our nostalgic image has been completed, but if you want to make that kind of portrait card, please continue!

Before adding a backing for your photo, it is recommended that you flatten all the visible layers, including the adjustment layer. Create a card on the background, use a particle filter at the edge, fade, tear, and so on, just as we did with the photo. The specific process is no longer described. It's up to you to decide on some other details. An example is provided here for your reference. (Figure Finalwithcard)

Figure Finalwithcard