Make New Photos Look Old -- Fast Photoshop Tutorial

Make New Photos Look Old -- Fast Photoshop Tutorial
In a Few Simple Steps You Can Make an Old Photo, Using a Couple Layers in Photoshop




In this tutorial I will show you a fairly basic technique that will help you make new digital photos look like old photos by using layers and filters. There are several steps to creating this old photo effect. During this tutorial we will make the image sepia tone, fade the edges of the photo, create a film grain, and as a finishing touch add artificial scratches to the photo.
First Selecting the Photo to make an Old Photo

One of the most important things in creating an old photo is to think about the content of the photo you are looking to adjust. Unless the purpose is to put new objects into an old photo, you need to make sure that the content of the photo will not contradict the effects. No amount of photoshoping abilities will make a credible photo of you with your iPod and 40inch TV look like it was taken in the 1900's. That being said you want to avoid clothing that looks modern or has lots of logos, technology, modern cars and buildings.

Preparing the Photo

Now that you have selected your photo import it into Photoshop and place it on the background layer. If the image is in color you now want to make it black and white. An easy way to convert the image to black and white is to go into the menu "Image" and select "Hue/Saturation" under "Adjustments". When the "Hue/Saturation" menu pops up move the saturation slider all the way down to -100, this will remove all of the color from the photo.

The only other altering we will do to the actual photo is adding a slight blur. You will only need to add a blur if the photo is particularly crisp. To do this go into filters and select "Gaussian Blur" under the "Blur" menu. Set the radius to 1 Pixel, 2 pixels at most if the picture is extremely sharp.

Sepia Tone

Next, to create sepia tone, create a new layer. The sepia tone will create the yellow/orange hue that many old photos have. Name this layer "sepia" take the paint bucket and fill the screen with an orange color. I used #ff9933. Set this layer on top of the photo layer and set it with an opacity of 50% and set the layer blending style as "Overlay". The benefit of doing this versus using a filter on the image itself is that you maintain the integrity of the original image and if you want to create more old time photos you can simply remove the background and put in a new image without having to repeat the steps.

Faded Old Photo Edges

In order to create the darkened edges that occur on old photos, make a new layer and name it edges. Using a 100% opacity take a gradient fill from white to black, and use a radial gradient. Make the middle of the screen white and the edges black. At this point you will not be able to see the picture that is ok, change the settings on this layer blending options from normal to multiply. The image is beginning to look like an old photo now.

Creating Film Grain in Photoshop

Next and one of the most important steps is adding a film grain. To create this on the layer with the gradient go filter and select under the "Texture" menu "Grain". Set the grain type to "Vertical" and the intensity to 8 and contrast to 5.

Scratches

As a finishing touch what looks good is to add some random scratches that the photo itself would have gathered over time. To add scratches in Photoshop create a new layer and name it scratches. Take a pen with a one to three pixel size and set it with 100% opacity on white. Now draw some scribbles on to the photo as randomly as possible. Make some of them long some short coming from different directions. Finally set the layer to 40% opacity, depending on the photo if this seems too bold you can always lower the opacity.