Have you ever snapped a really great photo with almost perfect detail and vivid colors, but wanted to edit it so that it looks washed out, stained, and has other imperfections?
Strange as it may sound when phrased that way, it is essentially what the ‘vintage’ or ‘old photo’ aesthetic is all about. The idea is to make the photo look as if it was snapped decades ago, at a time when camera technology had numerous limitations and photos honestly didn’t look nearly as good as they do nowadays.
Sometimes you may want the photo to look older for the sake of nostalgia, or at others you may just want it to stand out and look more unique.
That being said you won’t want to just randomly introduce any imperfections. Instead – you will need to find imperfections and characteristics that imitate those on old photos.
Imperfections and Characteristics of Old Photos
Before you start to edit your photo, you should know the types of imperfections or characteristics that you want to introduce to them. To be more specific, there are several common types that can be found in old photos:
- Creases, tears, stains, and other damage caused to the photographs over time. Stains are found more frequently in old photos, but many often have other types of damage too.
- Low contrast images that look soft and lack definition. In most cases this is due to the fact that older cameras could not capture as much detail and only a limited range of color.
- Vignette that causes a gradually darkening around the periphery of photos along with less vivid colors. It was mostly caused by light fallout around the lens of older cameras.
- Sepia images were due to the type of dye that was used in photography at one stage. It was intended to make photos last longer without fading, but gave them a reddish-brown tinge in the process.
- Film grain that is large and visible due to the type of crystal used in old camera film. The material was often uneven and less refined than modern film. It should be noted that film grain looks different to the noise that can be seen in digital cameras.
- Yellow-tinted images that were mostly because the paper that they were printed began to get yellow as it aged. In some cases the tint was uneven, resulting in a more pronounced tint in some areas.
- Black and white or grayscale photography due to color photography only being introduced later. It took several decades for color photography to gain dominance and become widely-used, so many older photos even as recently as the 50s and 60s were in black and white.
Admittedly there are other imperfections and characteristics of old photos, but the ones listed above are by far the most common. By editing your photo to emulate their presence, you will effectively ‘age’ the photo.
It should be noted that if you want your old photo to look like it is from a specific era, you will need to find out what the characteristics of photos from that era were. However if you just want the photo to appear older in general, you can blend together whatever imperfections and characteristics you feel will look best.
How to Make a Photo Look Old in Photoshop
As a professional photo editor, Photoshop is more than capable of making photos look old. However if you haven’t used it in the past and don’t have much experience with editing, it can be somewhat difficult.
To really take advantage of Photoshop you’ll need to understand its layers and how they work. Additionally you’ll need to familiarize yourself with the interface and tools in the version that you’re using.
Generally however Photoshop has several ways that you can make a photo look older.
Use Photoshop Actions
Undoubtedly the easiest way to make a photo look older in Photoshop is to find an appropriate Action. Actions in Photoshop are essentially macros that automate the editing, and you can find many vintage, old photo or ‘retro’ Actions online. Learning to use Actions in Photoshop is a realy pro tip as this great article on adobe productivity explains.
Considering there are so many Actions available online, it can be time-consuming trying to find the right one. After you do find one that fits however, it should only take a click or two to apply it to your photo.
For best results you should think of Actions as a foundation that you can then refine further for each specific photo. Of course that is entirely optional, and if you’d rather just use an Action and call it a day that is up to you.
Make a Photo Black and White
To make a photo black and white in Photoshop you need to add an adjustment layer to it or alter its image settings. Either go to Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Black and White, or Image > Adjustments > Black and White, depending on which you prefer.
In both cases you can then select a Preset from the dropdown list that will contain several predefined grayscale mixes. Alternatively you could select Auto if you want Photoshop to automatically calculate the best grayscale mix, or adjust the sliders to manually control its tones.
Produce a Sepia or Yellow-Tinted Image
While you could apply a tint to the image in the adjustment layer or image settings described above, a better way is to adjust the Hue and Saturation.
That can be done in several ways in Photoshop, but one of the easiest is to select Hue/Saturation under the layer adjustments. In that panel you can set the Hue to a value between 15 (if you want it to be more orange or reddish) and 50 (if you want it to be more yellow) then set the Saturation to about 20.
If you want you could switch the image to Adobe’s Camera Raw mode and use the Split Toning feature to apply slightly different settings for the highlights and shadows to vary the look slightly.
Add Stains, Cracks and Other Imperfections
The easiest way to introduce stains, cracks, and other imperfections to make the photo look like it was printed on old and damaged paper is to apply a texture to it.
In order to do that you will need to add a new layer and open up the image you want to use as a texture in it. There are many old and damaged paper textures that you can find online, or you could create your own from scratch within Photoshop itself if you prefer.
After that all you need to do is set the Blending Mode for that layer to Screen, Soft Light, or Hard Light preferably. If necessary you can adjust the opacity, or remove parts of the texture by adding a white mask to the layer.
Apply a Vignette Effect
In the Effects panel you should be able to find a Post Crop Vignette section that you can use to apply a vignette effect to your photo.
If you want the photo to look as though it has faded over time you should drag the Amount slider to the right to brighten the edges. On the other hand if you want to mimic the vignette caused by light fall out you should drag it to the left to darken the edges.
The Midpoint setting can be used to adjust the area the effect is applied on, while the Roundness and Feather settings will affect its shape and sharpness respectively. All can normally be left at their default settings in the middle.
Add Film Grain
Another useful tool in the Effects panel of Photoshop is the Grain setting that will effectively let you add film grain to your photo.
It contains three sliders that you can adjust depending on the Amount of grain that you want, the Size of the grain, and the Roughness of its appearance. Most old photos have fairly large and rough grain, so you may want to take that into account when making adjustments.
The film grain that you add as an effect will be relatively even, which may not be what you want. If so you can instead add a new layer to apply a filter, and go to Filter > Texture > Grain to add other more specific types of film grain.
Bringing It All Together
Between all the alterations described above, you should definitely be able to make your photo look much older. As you can see Photoshop will give you a very impressive degree of control over the edits that you make, but some may be complicated for beginners.
The good news is that Photoshop isn’t the only way to make a photo look old, and a very good alternative that you could try is PhotoWorks.
How to Make a Photo Look Old in PhotoWorks
Compared to Photoshop, PhotoWorks is a far more beginner-friendly editor and is much easier to use. It has a simple and streamlined interface that you should have no trouble navigating.
Despite being simple, PhotoWorks does have several different options that you can use to make your photos look old.
Apply Old Photo Filters
The easiest way by far to make one of your photos look old is to apply on of the filters that PhotoWorks can provide. To access them you just need to open up the Effects tab, and go over the selection available under the Popular and Vintage effects sections.
In both sections you’ll find a wide array of filters that are designed to make photos look older. Some examples that you could try are the Black and White, Retro, Faded Photo, Aged Photo, or Old Photo series of filters.
As you’ll notice each filter has its own unique style and mimics a different type of old photo. From the selection that is available you should be able to find one that fits, and once you do you can select it and click on the Apply button.
If for any reason you don’t find a filter that fits, you can manually make your photos look old in PhotoWorks as well.
Make a Photo Black and White
In PhotoWorks there are two ways to make a photo black and white: The Saturation setting, or the Black and White setting under Treatment.
Both can be found in the Enhancement tab, and if you click on the Black and White option under Treatment your photo will be immediately switched to black and white. Alternatively you could look for the Saturation setting under the Main section and reduce the slider all the way to -100.
Produce a Sepia or Yellow-Tinted Image
To give your photo the iconic sepia look you can use the Tone Mapping feature under the Composition tab in PhotoWorks.
Essentially you will want to select an orange-yellow hue and lay it over your photo to create the sepia or yellow-tinted look. Once you’ve picked the hue you feel would fit best, you can set the type of blend and the amount setting so that the photo still looks natural.
Generally you should try to use the Overlay, Hard Light or Soft Light blend options for best results.
Add Stains, Cracks and Other Imperfections
The Tone Mapping feature in PhotoWorks will also let you apply a texture that can add stains, cracks, and make it look as though your photo was printed on old paper.
To use it you should select the Texture type and then find the Vintage category in the dropdown list. Within that category you’ll find an array of different textures that each have a distinctive look.
After you pick the one that you want, you can set the amount and blend to taste, just like previously. When adding textures for old photos the blend options that tend to work best are Color Burn, Overlay, Hard Light or Soft Light.
Apply a Vignette Effect
Another way to make your photo look older is to add a Vignette effect. It can be found in the Composition tab of PhotoWorks, and will effectively darken (or brighten) the periphery of your photo.
Under the Vignette effect there are several settings that you can adjust to control it. Dragging the Amount slider to the right will make the periphery brighter, while the left will make it darker.
The Midpoint slider will move the area that is affected closer to the center, while the Roundness and Feather sliders control the shape and sharpness of the effect. To make it look like the vignette effect of an old photo, you should aim to make it soft and subtle.
Add Film Grain
Film grain has an iconic status in old photos, and PhotoWorks will let you add it – even to digital images. All you need to do is select the Grain option under the Composition tab, then adjust the settings that appear.
While there are no hard and fast rules regarding the amount of film grain that you should add, it should be noted that the Size setting should be dialed up as the grain in old photos was generally large. Aside from that you can adjust it to taste to produce the type of effect that you want.
Bringing It All Together
At this point you should know how to use PhotoWorks to make a photo black and white or sepia, add film grain, apply a vignette effect, and even include cracks, stains and other imperfections. In short you should have all that you need to make a photo look old.
The one final alteration you may want to perform is to reduce the overall Contrast of the photo under the Enhancement tab to make it look a bit more faded – if necessary.
Keep in mind that there are lots of other features in PhotoWorks that you can explore to enhance the quality of your photos, crop, remove unwanted objects, touch up photos, and more. All of its features are just as easy to use as the ones described above, and you can visit the PhotoWorks website to find out more.
Final Words
It is up to you whether you prefer using Photoshop or PhotoWorks to edit your photos and make them look older. As you can see Photoshop is designed more for professional users, and it isn’t easy for beginners to come to grips with its interface and features.
On the other hand PhotoWorks is far more user-friendly, and can produce practically the same type of old photos that Photoshop can. Suffice to say if you’re new to photo editing and aren’t very experienced, it is a great way to convincingly make photos look old without having to jump through too many hoops.
Now that you know how to make a photo look old – go ahead and try it out. If you want the photo to look genuine you should make sure it doesn’t contain any modern elements or technology that wouldn’t be around in days past, but if not you can use any photo that you want to as a starting point.
