If you like retro photography, then you probably at least once thought about trying to age your photos so that they look more vintage and mysterious. In this article, we will consider the most popular type of retro photo cards - polaroid style photos. How to achieve the polaroid effect using a computer or phone?
Polaroid photo - easy and simple?
Usually, when the word “retro” is mentioned, associations with monochrome or texture photographs appear. But the polaroid effect is lively, interesting cards with a special style. The easiest way to get the coveted square pictures is to go to the photo workshop, where you will not only be processed, but also printed out. But let's try it for yourself.
You can use special sites for processing photo cards, for example, polaroin.com. This service is specifically tailored specifically for the polaroid effect. Here you can select the area of the photo that will fall into the final version, effect, frame, and even the color of the picture’s fill - red, blue, green. You can add a signature to the card. The free version of the site allows you to get a fairly normal quality, however, if you want better pictures, for a fee, the resolution of the photos can be made higher.
Another easy enough site for such photos is instantizer.com, which helps to put an inscription on the photo and rotate the composition. Here you can’t choose the area of the photo that will fall into the picture, and the site may not crop it the way you would like.
Polaroid in Photoshop - the easiest lesson
In order to get a photo with the polaroid effect using Photoshop, you need to follow the following instructions. First you need to open the photo and duplicate the layer, change the blending mode to soft light. Next, you need to create a new layer and fill it with # 070142 color, setting the blending mode to exclusion. After this, a new layer is created and filled with # de9b82 color, the blending mode changes to soft light and the opacity is 75%. Then a new layer is created and # fed1eb is filled with soft light and opacity is 50%, this layer is filled with # 070044 and the exclusion overlay is set.
After the manipulations are done, the layer with the original photo is duplicated, dragged up and the blend mode changes to soft light. Now you can crop the photo and paste it into the previously downloaded Polaroid template.
Polaroid imaging software
What photo program helps to get a similar effect? Among the most popular for iOS users, such programs as Polamatic, Instant, ShakeItPhoto, Swing, Afterlight. There are also interesting applications for Android smartphone owners: Instant, Polamatic, InstaMini, PolaroidFx and others. All of these applications are intuitive and easy to use.