Turn your pics into Polaroids
Make your images look like you shot them on an instant, with Jon Adams
Considered photography can be a rather earnest affair, but shots of lighter moments like family snaps and days out with friends are far more likely to adorn the fridge or kitchen noticeboard. For many, fun memories can often be often more appealing than the shots we’ve worked hard on – and a Polaroid frame is a cool way to show them off.
Here you’ll build a frame to Polaroid dimensions, then add a pic and style it up with a suitably retro treatment to share. It doesn’t take long to do – and for those who want to be economical on paper and ink, you can get four Polaroids to a sheet of A4. Once you’ve created your frame, call it ‘Polaroid Frame’ and save it as a Photoshop (PSD) file. If you do this, you’ll keep all the layers in place, and you can use it as a template later.
In Photoshop CC, go to File > New; enter dimensions of 3.483in and 4.233in the Width and Height boxes. Set the resolution to 300ppi, and make the background contents white. Click OK and your Polaroid frame will appear on screen. In the Layers panel, double-click on the Background layer while holding down the Alt key and it’ll turn into an editable layer. Now select the Rectangular Marquee tool; in the Style box in the Options bar, choose Fixed Size and key in 3.024in and 3.108in Width and Height. Click on the pic, and drag the marquee so it is centred at the top of the frame. Press Delete then Ctrl/Cmd+D to lose the marching ants, and you’ll have a Polaroid frame with a hole in.
Open an image you want to use; when it’s on-screen, press Ctrl/Cmd+A to select it, Ctrl/Cmd+C to copy it and Ctrl/Cmd+W to close it. Back on your Polaroid template, press Ctrl/Cmd+V to paste it in. In the Layers panel, drag the layer down so it’s under the frame in the stack. Press Ctrl/Cmd+T to enter Free Transform mode, and pull in the corner handles to scale down the image.
Press Return when you’re happy, then select the Crop tool and trim off any overhanging edge. To give the image a retro look, click the Adjustment Layer icon and select Curves. In the Curves panel, reduce contrast a little in RGB mode, then create a shallow S curve in the Red channel, followed by a reverse S in the blue channel to create a retro, cross-processed effect.