Aging a photo with PaintShop

How to get an antique-looking photograph using some simple processing techniques with PaintShop.

In this tutorial, we will try to reproduce the look of an old photograph, starting from a color image acquired with a scanner or taken with a digital camera. First, we convert our photograph to black and white: in the past, photographic emulsion required very long exposures but, along with the large size of the negative, gave images a tonal range and a richness of details still unsurpassed today.

Let’s examine some methods for conversion: select the image (ctrl+A), copy it (ctrl+C), and paste it into a new file (ctrl+V). Select grayscale from the image menu and we obtain a first black and white version. Copy again with ctrl+A and ctrl+C and return to our photograph, placing the black and white image on a new layer with ctrl+L, which we will rename “grayscale”.

A second method to obtain a black and white conversion is to completely remove the saturation from the photograph. Temporarily hide the “grayscale” layer and duplicate the “background” layer. With SHIFT+H select the hue/saturation/luminance tool and set the “saturation” parameter to –100. Rename this layer “saturation” and hide it.

Another method to convert the photograph to black and white is to isolate the luminance channel of the photograph: from the image menu select decompose channel/decompose to HSL: the photograph is now divided into three new images representing the hue channel (a graphic representation of color tone), the saturation channel, and finally the luminance channel.

Close the images related to hue and saturation and adopt the image related to the luminance channel as the black and white conversion of our photograph. If the image appears too bright, we can duplicate the base layer “raster1” and set the blending mode of the duplicate to “multiply”, then adjust its opacity until a good result is achieved.

The most versatile method is as follows: duplicate the “background” layer again and create a new layer group, which we will call “mixer”. After selecting the “copy of background” layer, right-click and select new adjustment layer/channel mixer. The filter dialog window opens. This filter allows you to dose the influence of each of the three channels on the image.

Select the “monochrome” checkbox: the preview is now in black and white. To decide the best setting, bring the controls related to each channel to 100, leaving the other two at zero. We will get a preview image of the red channel, one of the green channel, and one of the blue channel, respectively. We can then evaluate the different contribution in terms of brightness brought by each channel (see figure).

We then enhanced the blue channel obtaining dark and well-contrasted tones. Red and green helped us compensate for this effect. A general rule is to keep the sum of the three values roughly equal to 100, respecting the brightness of the photograph. If this black and white version satisfies us, we can delete the others, flatten the “mixer” group and rename it to “black and white”.

After choosing the black and white version that satisfies us most, create a toning effect by selecting layers/new adjustment layer/hue/saturation/luminance and in the dialog window select the “toning” box. Carefully leaving the luminance value set to 0, set the values 45 for “Hue” and 25 for “Saturation”, obtaining a “sepia” toning.

Set the opacity of the adjustment layer to 80 and then move on to the actual “artificial aging” of the photograph. Let’s create the characteristic “frame” at the edges of the photograph: set white as the background color, then select the layer containing the black and white image, and from the image/frame image menu select a frame style that we deem suitable.

Move the newly created “image frame” layer below the adjustment layer and move on to the typical “burn marks” at the edges of the photograph: duplicate the “image frame” layer, rename it “burn marks”, place it below “image frame” and apply filter/blur/gaussian blur with value 10. Finally change its blending mode to “luminosity (existing)”.

If we want to reduce the depth and contrasts of the photograph, we can proceed as follows: above the “background” layer create a new layer, which we will call “white”. Fill the layer with white using the fill tool. This allows us to reduce the contrast of the photograph non-destructively, simply by adjusting the opacity of the “black and white” layer.

We can now add a slight “grain” effect to the photograph: set the foreground color to R 128 G 128 B 128 by selecting it from the color palette and create a new layer called “grain” above the “black and white” layer. Set its blending mode to “overlay” and fill it with the new color using the “fill” tool (key F).

Keeping the “grain” layer selected, from the adjust menu choose add/remove noise/add noise: select the “Gaussian” and “monochromatic” boxes and then, using the “preview” button (the eye icon) to see a preview of the result on the image, find the optimal graininess value that gives the right “antique” look to the photo.

To conclude, we have obtained a rather convincing ‘period’ reproduction. Many of the techniques covered in this tutorial can be further developed by experimenting with new values on the parameters of the filters we applied. It is, for example, possible to obtain blue tonings of the photograph, rarer than the sepia tone, or experiment with further “artificial aging” techniques of the photograph.

Pubblicato in Digital Tools