![How to Make Your New Photos Look Vintage](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/0496890b1513549aa1bdeea3bc417c8af75c24f5-1800x600.jpg?w=600&auto=format)
How to Make Your New Photos Look Vintage
By:
Mitch Wiesen
on 9/1/2020
I’ve always been drawn to the warm, friendly way film captures reality. I found my first analog camera, a Canon AE-1, sitting on a blanket at a flea market at age 14, and I was enamored. I bought the $5, untested, dusty camera and spend the next 3 months figuring out how to fix the film rewind crank, then the shutter release button, and then the film advancer. I was dying to see what she could do by the time I got her working. I was ready for beautifully saturated, high contrast photos, but what I got was a bunch of desaturated, grainy photos, with the lowest contrast I’ve ever seen. It didn’t matter– I was hooked.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/980ea323ceefe858c7af9101c667cf8d0330aad7-1024x678.png?q=75&auto=format)
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/c5f11a0e41f386452ecf0efc069867c55e447973-1024x677.png?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 0](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/51f7ddc5e1b7f3609a804c322ab05e35eafd1d5b-1024x1024.png?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 1](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/7931259b4efe3ec4de5ca75068002158da48f37f-1024x1024.png?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 2](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/b37d0c343de5c5d7ca2127c96ebde7fe4622beeb-1024x1022.png?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 3](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/29faeda180a574b67eb556f1b316eb297201eb50-1172x1170.png?q=75&auto=format)
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/2110f64342dc3049a504ab88c6995444868dea74-1024x676.png?q=75&auto=format)
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/3ad5128f46539fdd62d36500183b5343b288fc57-1024x680.png?q=75&auto=format)
11 years, thousands of photos, and 28 analog cameras later, I’ve learned just how much I don’t know about film photography. I’ve owned perfect cameras, and barely functioning cameras, and the latter is my favorite to shoot with. The photos I develop are always a surprise– the light leaks and the colors that show up are un-guessable.
Unfortunately, when developing a photography style for a client, the “surprise” of amateur film photography is rarely appealing. In this instance, I like to suggest digital photography that’s been edited to have that vintage “feel”. I successfully pitched the concept of doing Lomography-style photography for our client, Louisville Parks Foundation.
Nothing could ever replace the real thing, but I think this tutorial will get you pretty close:
Step 1
Take your digital photo. You can use anything from a DSLR to your phone; depending on the final quality you're looking for, you may not need a very advanced camera. I'll be using this photo taken on a Canon EOS.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/4ef5b80f0e939f4b028b32fe968804b84f383c5b-1024x650.png?q=75&auto=format)
Step 2
Go to "adjustments," and select "color balance." Generally, you should be increasing the red and yellow in your highlights and mid-tones, and the blue in your shadows. You can see the exact numbers I went with in the screenshots below.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/8799d8f08f13d15398dc3ea4cb0bd5a6c0f99d99-1024x651.png?q=75&auto=format)
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/14015a5fca754a5f18bb3f0612e6a735105713dc-1024x653.png?q=75&auto=format)
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/505e9edb4230446b3a2e41bcf4dc9c39e6de493f-1024x653.png?q=75&auto=format)
The changes I made were pretty subtle, and the color adjustments can certainly be pushed harder. For this client, we were aiming for vintage inspired, more than a realistic vintage photo. To push your photo to look even more vintage, go on to step 3 and 4.
Here are some examples of the photos we created for Louisville Parks Foundation:
![Gallery Image 0](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/c3bddb19addd02bc945db940b29dd46f32a98284-1024x1024.jpg?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 1](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/4c70094d1ec541f2088581a767f772044eeb5287-1024x1024.jpg?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 0](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/5366abdc42101dab37ce26856c27a32004b691ba-1024x1024.jpg?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 1](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/a5762597695bf48fd2ad00ba38b89c99dc9a4875-1024x1024.jpg?q=75&auto=format)
Step 3
Blow out your highlights and wash out your shadows.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/4727ff27761a91442445383302306ff5fd539c08-1024x652.png?q=75&auto=format)
Step 4
Add noise to your satisfaction.
![Gallery Image 0](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/d2ddef77ef28532ea1757606d707863d83e1fc9c-1024x651.png?q=75&auto=format)
![Gallery Image 1](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/28269caad2f5955ff042f9ca8354ecaae517a0c2-1024x654.png?q=75&auto=format)
And you're done! Don't forget to compare the adjustments you made to the original photo.
![](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/0m66vvkr/production/e8ec035e7511d7c71d9069d8ebf78ecea7d015ee-1800x600.jpg?q=75&auto=format)
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