Realistic Aged Photo Effect?

[gmitchel]

I'm going to produce a video today on how to give a photograph (what I hope is) a realistic aged photo look.

This will be a rather long video, since I'm going to aim for realistic over simple.

I've attached the original color photo, the aged effect, and the Layers panel from Photoshop. Please look at the aged photo and give me an honest critique about whether it looks realistic.

Original
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/in...ttach=79;image

Aged Effect
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/in...ttach=81;image

Layers Panel
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/in...ttach=83;image

Some stuff that is not apparent from the Layers panel . . .

• I added damage marks to the photo, used the brush to add vary the opacity of the handwriting, to modify the mars (which come from the Clouds filter, Lighten blend, and Threshold), add some damage from light to the upper left corner, and add some smudges to the edges and on the photo, particularly to vary the damage spots a bit.
  
• Opacity was set to 80% for Smart Filters layer prior to applying Film Grain. Then Blend If settings were used to keep grain away from extreme highlights and attentuate it in the highlights.
  
• Blend If settings were used to keep yellowing to the highlights.

The corner tear is not transparent with a JPG. It would be with a PNG or TIFF, but then I would have to reduce the photo to keep it under 256K.

Anyway, before I sit down to do the video, please give me some feedback on the realism of the effect.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Jerryb]

hi,
that sounds great.......

I tried looking at your links... but i kept getting a window requiring a password...!! you might want to on the pictures themselve upload here to the board.... it generally works out better..

Originally Posted by gmitchel

I'm going to produce a video today on how to give a photograph (what I hope is) a realistic aged photo look.

This will be a rather long video, since I'm going to aim for realistic over simple.

I've attached the original color photo, the aged effect, and the Layers panel from Photoshop. Please look at the aged photo and give me an honest critique about whether it looks realistic.

Original
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/in...ttach=79;image

Aged Effect
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/in...ttach=81;image

Layers Panel
http://www.thelightsright.com/smf/in...ttach=83;image

Some stuff that is not apparent from the Layers panel . . .

• I added damage marks to the photo, used the brush to add vary the opacity of the handwriting, to modify the mars (which come from the Clouds filter, Lighten blend, and Threshold), add some damage from light to the upper left corner, and add some smudges to the edges and on the photo, particularly to vary the damage spots a bit.
  
• Opacity was set to 80% for Smart Filters layer prior to applying Film Grain. Then Blend If settings were used to keep grain away from extreme highlights and attentuate it in the highlights.
  
• Blend If settings were used to keep yellowing to the highlights.

The corner tear is not transparent with a JPG. It would be with a PNG or TIFF, but then I would have to reduce the photo to keep it under 256K.

Anyway, before I sit down to do the video, please give me some feedback on the realism of the effect.

Cheers,

Mitch

[gmitchel]

Dang it! I did not stop and think that I was posting to files added to a forum message.

I'll get them uploaded to the files directory in an hour or two. That will not require registration. At the moment, I'm firewalled.

Sorry!

Mitch

[L33t]

LOL! check first if your link is view able...

[snook305]

gmitchel is a great help to the retouching family so don't laugh or you have to deal with me..:+}

It can happen to the best of us..

Thanks for understanding..

Snook

[Jerryb]

hi,
don't worry about it... you can't imagine the number of times i have done something like that...grrr.. be looking forward to your movie

Originally Posted by gmitchel

Dang it! I did not stop and think that I was posting to files added to a forum message.

I'll get them uploaded to the files directory in an hour or two. That will not require registration. At the moment, I'm firewalled.

Sorry!

Mitch

[gmitchel]

Sorry about the boo-boo with the files.

Here's the original:

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/...t/original.png

Here's the aged effect:

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/...agedeffect.png

Here's the Layers panel:

http://www.thelightsright.com/files/...ayerspanel.png

Do you like the effect? Would a tutorial about this be worthwhile? I'll do both a .PDF tutorial and a video tutorial. Probably the .PDF tutorial tonight. I have a raging sinus infection that makes it hard on my voice, pacing, etc.

Cheers,

Mitch

[Cross]

Tutorials would be cool...Thanks

[gmitchel]

Here's the written tutorial. Video tutorial to follow.

http://www.thelightsright.com/RealisticAgedPhotoEffect

Enjoy!

Mitch

[lurch]

To me your aged photo looks like a regular photo rendered in taupe with the corner torn off . . . Sorry!

[TommyO]

Mitch,
Here is my opinion, for what it's worth...

The overall effect creates a somewhat simplified aged effect, at least to most seasoned restoration folks. With that in mind, maybe the target audience should be beginners. With that in mind, maybe the software used should be Elements, not PS CSx.

Also, it may benefit from another level of aging effects, i.e. slight cracks, a little vignetting, etc.

Anyway, food for thought. Best of luck with it !

[gmitchel]

Vignetting is easy enough to apply. I'll look for some brushes with cracks and damage textures.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Mitch

[neumanns]

Mitch...I am a fan of any tutorial you offer. But this one IMHO needs some work.

The text needs a more hand written look and the grain looks very digital. And I don't know what would be a better tint but for some reason it's just not quite right yet.

Overall I'm just not feeling the aged effect your going for.

And on a side note, ewww this just feels so wrong posting this. How could I in my right mind even consider the tone I have just taken with you! I'm an admirer of your work and willingness to share it so freely!

Hope the sinus get's better, and may the photoshop gods not strike me down.

[gmitchel]

Why should you feel bad? You're expressing a candid opinion. It's what I asked for.

(I am not remotely offended by your comments or any of the other comments on this thread.)

This is the only forum where the feedback has not been positive overall. That's OK. In part, I suspect what's going on is that people are judging small versions of the photos. You do not really see a good representation of the grain, the yellowing, etc. I should add a full-size version of the photo as a download. The column is limited to around 450 pixels, which is why it uses smaller images. Had I done this as a .PDF tutorial, I would have included larger photos (and saved the server and the memory cache a lot of work serving up over a dozen photos).

I have downloaded a bumch of brushes for adding things like coffee cup stains, scotch tape marks, etc. The video will demonstrate how you can add them.

If you prefer a different tone, that's OK, too. Since the tutorial uses adjustment layers, that's all adjustable.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm considering everything I'm hearing.

Cheers,

Mitch