1800s photo effect [2017]

Forum|Forum|8 years ago
October 8, 2017
5 replies
31062 views

Hi,

Does anyone know a good tutorial to edit your photo into a 1800s photo? I have here a few examples:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-abbKpLg2lQ4/U0iJBcMhORI/AAAAAAAAHMk/ZW6KKBm37G8/s1600/Assassination+of+Jesse+James+by+the+Cowa…

http://i.imgur.com/D9udx0D.jpg

These are from a movie from 2007, also edited in that 1800s effect. So, how to get this awesome effect?

R

ramin5C17

Participant

hi everyone

very interesting photos can be made

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Chuck Uebele

Community Expert

As mentioned above, the old photos were taken with large format cameras with long lenses and shallow DOF. The photo of Brad could have been taken with a large format camera. One other thing to consider is the film that was used. Back then, it was orthochromatic, meaning blue sensitive. Reds go very dark, blues go very light. That give photos a slightly different look that might not be obvious.

Norman Sanders

Legend

To simulate the 1880's it is reasonable to assume that typical image contrast was a bit higher than images now because it was more difficult to control the tonal scale, so I increased the black & white curve, as seen in the face. In addition, the color would probably be a flat value rather than a duotone, perhaps due to paper color, aging or fading. This result (the middle sample) is a b&w image with a flat color layer set to Multiply. Type would be knocked out of both colors to simulate the white script. Seeing the final result, I would let up a tad on the color in order to achieve a blacker black (suit). I think a tad less would also benefit the face. I would not reduce image sharpness even though today's lenses are far superior. At that time images were contact prints, a bit of compensation for the lens limitations.

D Fosse

Community Expert

This is where you'd use a gradient map adjustment layer. Here's just a random quick example:

Kerwick011Author

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the comments so far, but I think it is more then just a color correction to get the real deal. The sharpness or something is different then todays. I really want to get it right.

Another example

D Fosse

Community Expert

Yes, that's true. These old view cameras used long lenses with relatively wide apertures, which results in a very shallow depth of field. They couldn't just stop down, the film was far too slow. Because of this, they also had to use slow shutter speeds. So motion blur can be seen in anything that didn't hold absolutely still.

These lenses were also very poorly corrected, with pronounced vignetting and rapid sharpness falloff towards the edges, creating a sort of "tunnel" effect.

These things should be considered when shooting. They are very hard to imitate in an image that is already high quality - especially the shallow focus plane.

You can't just blur out-of-focus areas. Then it will just look like it's seen through frosted glass. Bokeh (as it's known) is a very complex optical phenomenon, and Photoshop doesn't really have any filters that do a convincing job here. There used to be a plugin from Alien Skin called "Bokeh" that worked really well. I think it is now assimilated into a larger suite at considerably higher price, and can no longer be bought standalone.

EDIT: Here it is, at $149. https://www.alienskin.com/exposure/ I did use the standalone "bokeh" plugin at one time, and it was excellent at what it did.

Photoshop has a "Lens Blur" filter, but IMO it doesn't even come close. It's just not credible, you can always tell it's been filtered and not the genuine deal.