Recreate retro analogue effects
Steer your images away from crisp digital perfection by applying film-style effects for organic and retro photography looks
Despite film emulsion being stable and reliable, analogue photography can throw up unexpected results that are less likely with digital photography. When you apply special effects to film, they can often create varied results with different images, even when the process itself is identical each time. This provides film-based photography with the ability to create more distinctive results.
But while digital photography is much more consistent with great image quality much easier to achieve, it can still benefit from analogue effects being applied in Photoshop. The results can look great, and the process can be fun.
These four digital techniques mimic the characteristics of some types of film, basic camera effects and darkroom techniques. Despite the clear differences between Photoshop and traditional photography, it’s easy to faithfully recreate several effects.
Pinhole camera effect
With the Background Layer selected, press Ctrl/Cmd+J to make a copy. Go to Filter > Blur > Radial Blur; when the dialog box opens, set Blur Method to Zoom and Quality to any setting you prefer. Drag the Blur Centre to the top-left area of the square. Set Amount to 15 and click OK. Grab the Eraser Tool, setting the brush to a large size such as 2,500 and Edge Hardness to 0%. Now simply paint over the circular area that needs to be sharp.
Mimic solarisation
Click the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers Panel (it’s the half-black, half-white circle), then select Black & White. Close the dialog box immediately, then create a Curves Adjustment Layer. Drag the top-right corner point down to the bottom-right corner. Click on the centre of the curve, which is running horizontally along the bottom: drag the point to the centre-top to create an upsidedown V, before closing the dialog box.
Add a matte effect and lift blacks
Click on the Create New Fill Or Adjustment Layer icon in the Layers Panel and select Curves. Click to place points 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and 3/4 of the way up the curve. Drag the bottom-left corner point up until Output says 30. Next, create a Levels Adjustment Layer; drag the black Output slider right until Output Levels says 20. This will add a matte effect and raise the black point to create haze and increase shadow detail, for a vintage look.
Apply a crossprocessed film look
Create a Curves Adjustment Layer. Click on the dropdown menu that’s set to RGB and select Red. Click 3/4 of the way up the curve, and drag up and to the left; then place a point 1/4 of the way up, and drag down and to the right. This should create a subtle S-curve. Do the same with the Green channel. With the Blue channel create a backwards S-curve – so drag the lower point left and up, and the upper point down and right.
Portrait photography is important to every one of us. We all have a connection to other people that’s captured and celebrated through photography. But while most of us love shooting photos of family and friends, many of us don’t have the extensive editing skills needed to process our shots to make them look their best.
Editing portrait and fashion images is notoriously complicated, not to mention time-consuming. When some images require around three hours of editing, the idea of being able to process portraits to a professional level in just a few minutes is an incredibly exciting prospect. And with Luminar AI, this dream is a reality.
Luminar AI is packed with all the functionality you need to take as much, or indeed as little, control over portrait editing as you wish. Starting with Templates, you can give your images an instant makeover at the click of a button before taking more control with manual editing. Once the overall result is looking how you want it, you can then move onto Luminar AI’s powerful portrait controls, powered by artificial intelligence.
Face AI allows you to effortlessly control how slim faces look with natural-appearing results. Skin AI makes light work of skin smoothing, while Body AI can recognise models’ bodies in different poses and positions, and provides control over body shape and abdomen size. So, if you’re aiming to edit your portraits like a pro, but without spending years learning all of the editing techniques you would need, Luminar AI is exactly what you want.
Templates and editing
Choose an image to edit, then select a Template in the Templates tab to add an effect to the image. Here we chose High Key to lighten the backlit portrait and create soft pastel hues. Click on the Edit tab and apply any manual editing as required; Light will be the most likely section to expand. This portrait was lightened and warmed up.
Face AI – mouth
In the Mouth section, you can make adjustments to lip colour and lightness, as well as whiten teeth (not necessary here). Lips Saturation was set to 30, Lips Redness was set to 50, and Lips Darkening was set to 20. This increased the colour of the lips and darkened them, but all the while maintaining a completely natural look.
Body AI
Body AI can recognise human bodies in different poses and positions, and provides control over body shape and waist size using just two sliders. These can be increased or decreased as desired, although subtlety is usually the best approach. The Abdomen slider, which is used to control stomach size, will only work when a stomach is detected. In this shot one wasn’t, so we just increased Shape to 10 to thin the model slightly.
Face AI – face and eyes
In the Portrait section, click the Face AI tab. The top two sliders control face lighting and slimness, and were set to 11 and 15 respectively. Under Eyes, the colour was changed from brown to green, with Iris Visibility reduced to 15 for a natural result. Enlarge Eyes was set to 30 and Eye Whitening to 20.
Smooth Skin
Click on Skin AI to expand the controls. The Amount slider controls the overall smoothing, Shine Removal makes the skin appear more matt, and Skin Defects Removal AI removes light blemishes. More prominent blemishes will need to be removed using the Clone Tool, which can be found in Luminar AI’s Professional section.
102
DIGITAL CAMERA
Body AI
Body AI is a simple and effective set of tools for changing body shape. Shape is most commonly used to thin subjects, but can also make them wider. Abdomen reduces apparent stomach size.
Cloning
To remove blemishes, you’ll need the Clone Tool. Set Softness and Opacity to 100 and reduce the opacity if the blend is noticeable. Alt-click to set a sample point then click on the blemish,
Group shots
In group shots, controls such as Face Light and Shape can detect people and apply adjustments to all. To apply effects to a single person, click the Add Mask icon and paint where you want the effect.