This tutorial is split into two parts to cover both basic concepts and advanced techniques and discussion. In this primer, we will look at the ideas behind creatively reinterpreting the light in an image. We do this to change the focus or dramatic impact of the image, usually because the available lighting wasn’t what we needed, or because our intent for the image might have changed. The techniques can be useful for product photography, portraits, fine art, or whatever strikes our fancy.

Vincent Versace recently published a book called Welcome to Oz: A Cinematic Approach to Digital Photography With Photoshop. In it, he describes much of what goes on here, and since it’s a book, he can go into much greater detail. I am not attempting to summarize Mr. Versace’s work, though there are a lot of similarities. Instead, the techniques presented here are the result of individual experimentation, and a lot of interaction with the members of PhotoshopTechniques.com.

But since this is a tutorial, we should get started!

I presume the reader has an understanding of the following:

• Basic painting skills.
• Layers, including visibility, opacity and blend modes.
• Masks.
• Adjustment layers and curves.
• Black and white conversion.

I have made the source image available here:

However, you can use whatever image you like. Here’s the basic idea of where we are going:

• Start with a good, clean image.
• Duplicate layers as needed to allow for light, dark, and neutral adjustments.
• Push individual layers to extremes using adjustment layers, looking for desirable details.
• Paint on the adjustment layer masks to select only what you want.
• Add finishing touches – tints, borders, etc.

First, we need to choose our candidate image. Anything that has relatively flat lighting will work, but at this stage it helps to have a strong subject which can be isolated from its surroundings. In part 2, we’ll talk about more detailed choices, and how to modify the technique for a broader approach. Right now, just get something similar to the source image we are using here.

Next, let’s set up the Photoshop document. Here is the layer order I will be using:

Color Fill (optional)
Border (optional)
Light Beam
Overlay w/ Gradient
B&W Copy
Black Fill (optional)
Background

1) Image Prep & Clean up

Open your image in Photoshop, and duplicate the Background layer. Call the duplicate ‘B&W Copy’. On the B&W Copy layer, make any adjustments to the core image you like; sharpening, color correction, dust removal, etc. You want to end up with a technically good exposure, but not a final image.

2) Black and White Conversion

After you are done with the B&W Copy cleanup, it’s time to convert to black and white. I used to prefer using the Channel Mixer method, but you can also use the new B&W Filter in Photoshop CS3. However you get there, make sure you leave detail in both the blacks and whites.

3) Duplicate the B&W Layer
Make a new copy of the B&W Copy and call it Overlay w/ Gradient. Add a layer mask.

4) Make an overlay mask

Here’s the first tricky part – creating your overlay mask. In most situations, you can simply add a layer mask to isolate parts of an image. In this case, however, we will be setting the blend mode to Overlay, so anything that is masked won’t be affected. What we need to do is actually blacken parts of the layer that we don’t want highlighted. To do this, we need to use a temporary layer filled with black *underneath* the Overlay w/ Gradient layer.

4a) Create a black fill layer
Just below the Overlay w/ Gradient layer, create a new layer filled with black.

4b) Paint the overlay mask
On the Overlay w/ Gradient layer mask, begin painting with a soft, black brush on low opacity. Slowly take away the parts that will be darkened or hidden layer.

4c) Merge the result
Once you are happy with the mask, select both the Overlay w/ Gradient layer and the black filled layer below it and merge [Layer > Merge Layers or Ctrl/Cmd + E]. This should leave you with a single layer and no mask.

5) Set Overlay Mask to Overlay Mode

That’s pretty straightforward… change the blend mode of Overlay w/ Gradient to well… Overlay. The image should look a little more interesting right now. There should be much more dynamic range, and some nice, deep shadows. In the next step, we’ll create a little more drama with some additional lighting effects.

6) Create a Light Beam layer

Create a new, blank layer above the Overlay w/ Gradient layer, and call it Light Beam. Using whatever method you like, create some soft, white light beams. For this example image, I used the Polygon Lasso tool with about 20px of feathering to draw a triangle. I then filled with white, and blurred this a couple of times. Next, I rotated the triangle slightly, and then duplicated it to a new layer, which was flipped about the vertical axis. Finally, I merged the two together. However, you may find it much easier to simply paint your light beams, and then use a transform warp. Whatever works for you! Set the Light Beam layer blend mode to Overlay, and lower the opacity to taste. I used 46%.

7) Survey the results!
At this point, it’s important to look at what you have so far. For my example, the top flower is centered and highlighted, with other elements lower down the stem fading to darkness.

Summary
We are now done with the basics of the technique. “But wait,” you say. “Where’s the painting?” Well, remember when we did the masking and the light beams? That’s the very beginning of where you can go. We just created the beams to a general shape, but you could have painted them for specific highlights. In part two, we’ll cover some actual painting on the masks to draw out very specific highlights, flatten the lighting, and completely remake an image just by manipulating the lighting.

For now, it’s important to see the concepts at work. The blend modes are added to push the dynamics, and we added a light layer to focus and enhance the effect even more. With a little playing around, you can develop your own approaches, such as building light layers from other images, or adding filters to get special effects. In this image, I added a 1-pixel border, and an additional color layer at the very top to give an aged feel.

To get a nicely toned monochrome image, simply add a blank layer at the top of everything else, and fill with a color of your choosing. Set the blend mode of that layer to Color, and reduce the opacity or fill to suit your tastes. For my version, I used a kind of light tobacco color, and set the opacity at 50%. Finally, I added an oval vignette layer mask to my B&W Copy layer, just to give it that old portrait feeling (this also requires a black filled layer underneath so the original doesn’t show through).

Keep using this technique, and you’ll find all kinds of variations. Use any combination of the steps you like. Leave some out, duplicate others, and substitute your own. The key is to experiment. In part two, I’ll show you some ways you can quickly try many different things and still keep the process flexible. It’s a good way to look for candidate images that you want to develop further. I’ll also discuss in more detail what to look for, and how to shoot images that lend themselves to this technique.

Happy ‘Shopping!

Shooting a panorama is easy if you keep a few things in mind;

• Overlap your images by at least 1/3rd when photographing.
• Set your exposure manually, if possible, to avoid dramatically different lighting conditions across your panorama.
• Shoot 6 to 8 frames across your horizon, then pick from the best.
• Please Note: Merging many images together can create some massive file sizes. Be aware…

Once you have your images, go to [File> Automate> Photomerge...] From the Photomerge dialog box, Use [Files, Folders, or Open files] Select Files and click [Browse] to locate the images you want to use. Once selected, the names of your images will appear in the window. By default, Attempt to Arrange source Images will be checked, if you uncheck this you will have to order the pictures yourself. Photomerge does a pretty good job, so I leave it checked. Then click OK.

From the Photomerge workspace you will see the beginnings of your panorama. Any and all of the section can be repositioned, by selecting and dragging the sections. You can even drag them out of the working window to the thumbnail viewer above. Please note, only the images “stitched” in the working window will be merged.

The Photomerge default settings work well and in most cases the Normal setting works best. Perspective is used for 180° – 360° images, but play with it until you get the look you want. Advanced Blending works great to even out image tones and can be “Previewed”. “Snap to Image” is helpful for placement. Keep as Layers will not work with Advance Blending, so you will have to decide if you want to blend on your own. Once you are happy with the merged image, click OK.

Once in Photoshop you will have a merged layer called “Photomerge”. Click the Measure Tool [I], then drag a line across your horizon line or whatever you want to be the horizontally straightened. Then go to [Image> Rotate Canvas> Arbitrary...], the correct value will be entered automatically, click OK. This trick can be used anytime you need to straighten an image. (Works great for scanned images…)

Then select the Crop Tool [C], and drag out your image crop. Your can play with the crop until you have your image masked out, hit [Enter] to accept the crop.

Now grab your Clone Tool [S] and scout out imperfections in the Merge process. There will almost always be areas that require attention that didn’t triangulate correctly. If you enjoy building panoramas, learn to love and master the Clone Tool.

Once you have the image you like, Select the Luminosity of the Photomerge layer, [Shift + Ctrl + Alt + ~] All grayscale values darker than 126 will be selected. [Ctrl + J] will put the Luminosity Mask on its own layer. Then change the blend mode to “Multiply”. This will make your sky really pop of the page!!

Select the Photomerge Layer and duplicate it with [Ctrl + J], on your new Photomerge Copy Layer add a vector mask from the Layers pallet. Now select the Gradient Tool [G] and drag a black to white gradient over the horizon line and set the layer to “Screen”. This will set your landscape apart from your skyline. For this image, I duplicated the Screen layer again to add a more dramatic effect. Note: Keep in mind, every panorama is different. Some may need to be darker on bottom, if so, Multiply the layer. If the effect is too much you can lower the opacity on the layer.

Now it is time to dress up your print. With the Photomerge Layer selected [Ctrl click] the “New layer” button on the Layers pallet. This will create a new layer below the Photomerge Layer.

Grab the Crop tool [C] and drag out the entire image. Now, rather than Crop, we are going to expand the canvas for our background. [Alt click] and drag the left-center handle. You will notice the right expanding proportionately. Then do the same on the top-center handle. You may want to give yourself a little extra room on the bottom if you want to title or tag your print. Once you are happy with the outline, hit Enter. Now fill the layer with White or whatever background works best with your panorama.

Now add a description, title or whatever in a pleasing font and you are ready to print and frame!!

View The Final Image

I started with this photo from BigStockPhoto.com (Couple by Dimitrii). It’s a perfect photo, since the couple is in the foreground and there are no distracting objects.

Start by selecting the people in the foreground. This doesn’t have to be an exact selection… but the closer the better. It’s also better to have a little outside of the lines than in. I made my selection by using the Quick Mask [Q] and, using the Brush Tool [B], painting away the red.

With your selection made, create a new Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer [Layer > New Adjustement Layer > Hue/Saturation]. Drag the Lightness all the way down to -100. (NOTE: You don’t HAVE to go to -100. Leaving it a little higher will allow your objects to show more.)

You should end up with something like this:

Beneath your Hue/Saturation Layer… you’re going to create another Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer [Layer > New Adjustement Layer > Hue/Saturation] with the same setting of Lightness: -100.

Your image will be black. Select the Gradient Tool [G] and press [D] to set your colors to default. Choose the default Black-to-White gradient.

Make sure your layer mask is selected on your new Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer.

Now, drag the gradient from bottom to top. Do this until you get the effect you like.

Below these two layers, create a Solid Color Adjustment layer [Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color]. Set the color to a dark orange color. I used #f78733.

Set the Layer Mode to Color Burn.

If the color is too dark or too light, just open the Solid Color Adjustment Layer and mess with the colors til you get something you like.

Now, to create the glow of the sun. Make a circle selection with the center near the horizon.

Create a new Solid Color Adjustment Layer and select a yellow color. I used #f4bc12.

Run a high Gaussian Blur of around 25-pixels or so. [Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur]. Make it enough of a blur so you can’t see a hard edge in your circle. Set the Layer Mode to Lighten.

Make a trapezoid shaped selection, with the small end being at your horizon.

Create a new Solid Color Adjustment Layer below the orange-color layer. Fill it with the same yellow you used for the sun. Again, I used #f4bc12.

Run a Gaussian Blur [Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur] (or [Ctrl + Alt + F]) of about half the amount you used earlier. I used 15.

Set the Layer Mode to Linear Light and reduce the Layer Opacity to around 50%.

In case you got confused on the Layer order, here’s a shot of my Layers Palette.

So there’s a relatively quick way to turn any photo into a Hallmark sunset photo.

We’re obviously going to start with our object. I used another image from PhotoSpin
(PhotoSpin # PS008088).

Select your object and extract it to its own layer with [Ctrl + Shift + J].

Duplicate that layer again with [Ctrl + J].

Go to [Filter > Stylize > Find Edges]. Press [Ctrl + Shift + U] to desaturate the layer.

Bring up the Levels dialog with [Ctrl + L] and adjust the sliders until you get the detail you want.

Add a Layer Mask with the button at the bottom of the Layers palette, or with [Layer > Layer Mask > Reveal All]. With the Layer Mask selected, choose the Gradient Tool [G].

Drag the gradient over your image to make some parts of the mask visible.

You can repeat the gradient until you get the effect you want.

That’s about it. You can get creative with the Layer Masks to create some differing effects.

Open your image. I started with this photo of a banana (PhotoSpin #0250025). I masked out the banana and slightly rotated it.

Behind my banana layer, I added a Gradient Adjustment Layer. Adjust the colors to something yellowish, or whatever color you want, and fading to black.

Set the Gradient Adjustment Layer to Style: Radial. I increased the scale to fit my banana better.

Make a rectangular selection on the lower 1/3 of your image. Add a new Solid Color Adjustment Layer under the banana layer and above the Gradient layer. Fill it with black.

Select your banana layer and press [Ctrl + J] to duplicate it. Select your lower, original banana layer and press [Ctrl + T] to bring up the free-transform. Right-click on your bounding box, and choose “Flip Vertical”.

Drag your new, flipped layer down, so that the bottom of the top layer, matches the top of the bottom layer. Confused? Picture:

Click on the Add Layer Mask button on your Layers Palette or go [Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All]. Select the Gradient Fill Tool [G] and select your default colors [D]. With your Layer Mask selected, drag your Gradient from top to bottom until you get a nice reflective effect.

And that’s pretty much it. I explained it out in this tutorial, but it’s a few quick steps for a nice effect.

Now, I might have a slight advantage, since I’m using a Wacom tablet. Tablets are the perfect compliment to Photoshop for almost any project. If you have the means, I highly suggest picking up at least a Wacom Graphire 3. You can usually find them for under $100. Tablets let you control the sensitivity of your brushes by how much pressure you apply.

If you don’t have a tablet, then you’ll want to get used to using your [Enter] key on your number pad. This allows you to quickly jump to your Exposure setting in the Options bar. You’ll also want to get familiar with your [{] and [}] keys. These keys allow you to quickly adjust your brush size. Ready?

Another helpful tip, is to go to [Window > Arrange > New Window]. This will duplicate the window, not the image, and allow you to keep one window at 100%, while you do your work in the zoomed-in window. This helps you from having to repeatedly zoom in and out.

Let’s open the photo of the person that we’re going to be aging. I chose this photo of Salma Hayek, for one, cause she’s hot, and for two, she already has a bit of natural wrinkle going on… which is good to start with.

Select a small brush size of 2 or 3. Make sure the Range is set to “Midtones” in your Options bar. Start with the eye area and start brushing some straight lines for the wrinkles. Now these won’t look too realistic yet, so hold the [Alt] key and trace the lines you just made. This will highlight (Dodge) and add some depth to the wrinkles.

Now start tracing the natural lines of the face and extend the lines a little bit. This will strengthen and lengthen the natural wrinkles.

Now choose an even smaller brush size of 1 or 2, and add some “accent” wrinkles. Use the same Burn, then Dodge technique.

Select a wider brush size of around 4 or 5. Lower the Exposure to around 3-4% and darken in the areas around her eyes, the cheeks, and some of the wrinkles.

Now go to the neck region. Up your Exposure a bit, hold the [Alt] key and create some thick white lines vertically on her neck. Let got of the [Alt] key and trace the light lines. Add a little bit more shadow if you need, and try to make it blend into the chin.

Now you can go back and add any little accent wrinkles you want.

Now choose the Brush Tool [B] and select the Grass brush.

Open the Brushes palette [Window > Brushes] and under the Shape Dynamics, check on the Flip X Jitter and Flip Y Jitter checkboxes.

Choose a white foreground color and a grey background color. Create a new layer, and shrink your brush size to around 5 or 7. Paint in the eyebrows a little bit. Set the Layer Mode to “Hard Light” and you might want to lower the Opacity a bit. This will add some grey highlights to the eyebrows.

Now you can go back and add some forehead wrinkles, and darken the teeth a little bit. Create a new layer and choose the Brush Tool [B] choose a darker skintone color, and paint some liver spots. Set the Layer mode to Multiply and adjust the opacity.

Now choose a thin brush and the Brush tool. Choose a grey color and paint in some hair strands. Lower the opacity, create another layer, and do it again. This will add some depth to the grey hair.

And that’s about it. It’s hard to write a tutorial like this, because it’s more about technique than the process. Hopefully, with some practice, you can get pretty good at this.

Original:

Aged:

Good luck!

Update: If you would like to learn how to do the opposite, check out Fountain of Youth by Lachlan Phillips.

We’ll obviously start with the photo we want to edit. I used this one courtesy of PhotoSpin.com (PhotoSpin #1450003 ).

First duplicate your background layer [Ctrl + J]. Desaturate the color from your duplicated layer with [Ctrl + U]. Then duplicate the desaturated layer [Ctrl + J].

Now we’re going to run Find Edges [Filter > Stylize > Find Edges]. Adjust the the Levels a little bit [Ctrl + L] by sliding the far-right slider towards the left to get a more outlined effect.

Set your “outline” layer mode to Overlay. In your Layers Palette, select your background layer, duplicate it [Ctrl + J], and drag it to the top of your layer order.

Now we’ll run the Cutout Filter [Filter > Artistic > Cutout]. Change the settings to: Number of Levels: 8; Edge Simplicity: 0; Edge Fidelity: 3;

Before you do anything else, Fade the Filter [Ctrl + Shift + F] down to around 65%, to reduce the filter effect slightly.

Set the Layer Mode to Multiply. Drag the Opacity of your “outline” layer down to around 45%.

Your photo might appear too dark now, so we’re going to add a Curves Adjustment Layer at the top, and drag the dark-end up a little bit, to lighten the dark areas.

And now we’re done:

Old

New

Let’s start with our regular, old, point-and-shoot photo. This one was taken with a little higher-end camera, but it can still use a lot of work.

First, we’re going to sharpen our image a bit using the Unsharp Mask [Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask]. We don’t want anything too drastic, so I used some low settings. Amount: 40%; Radius: 0.9 pixels; Threshold: 1 level. You basically want enough to make a difference, but you don’t want any glowing or hard edges.

Now we’re going to add a Levels Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels]. When the Levels dialog opens, just click on Auto. A lot of people frown on the Auto Levels, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, they’re a lifesaver.

Next step is to add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Brightness/Contrast]. Increase the Contrast a little bit, 10 is usually a good standard amount. Too much and it looks fake.

One more adjustment layer… the Hue/Saturation Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Hue/Saturation]. Increase the Saturation very slightly. I usually never use more than 5-6.

Now you can probably already see how much of a difference these few steps make. One of the features of Photoshop CS is the Photo Filter Adjustment layer. I went ahead and added a Photo Filter Adjustment layer [Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Photo Filter], with the default Warming(85) setting.

It’s a subtle change, but it usually makes the photo look nicer.

You can stop now and still end up with a nice photo, or you can continue on to add a little bit of background blur.

I’m going to start by duplicating my Background Layer [Ctrl + J]. Then go to [Filter > Blur > Lens Blur]. I left the settings default, and just lowered the Radius down until I get a decent, but not too drastic blur.

Now add a Layer Mask to your blurred layer [Layer > Add Layer Mask > Reveal All] and paint the focal areas black to hide the blur. Once you’re done, you can even alter the opacity of the blurred layer to reduce the amount of the blur.

Here’s a comparison to the original:

Original:

Retouched:

UPDATE: Do you think she read this tutorial?

This is a quick and easy way to reduce the size of body parts. In this example we will reduce the size of this girl’s nose.

First step, select the Lasso Tool [L]. In the Options Bar, set the feather to something like 10px. Quick tip: Pressing the Enter key (next to your number pad) quickly selects the Feather Box in your Options Bar. Draw a wide selection around the area you want to modify. In this case, it’s Ashlee Simpson’s nose country.

Go up to Filter>Liquify [Ctrl + Shift + X].

The Liquify dialog box will open, and you will see your selection with the Quick Mask red around it. Now you can select the Pucker Tool [S]. Use the tool right at the inside edge of the area you want to shrink. It changes pretty quickly. If it’s too much, lower the Brush Pressure in the Tool Options to your right.

Once you get your desired reduction, press OK.

As you can see, it was a very simple process for very dramatic effects. Now she’s a little easier on the eyes.

Ugh… In this tutorial, Layer Masks and the Healing Brush are going to be our best friends. So make sure you have a decent grasp on both.

Let’s start by duplicating the Background layer [Ctrl + J]. Select the Healing Brush tool [J]. Now let’s start taking away the major blemishes.

Set the tool Mode to [Color] to make some of the blotchy spots on her face more uniform. Now let’s duplicate the retouched photo with [Ctrl + J].

Now, normally we could use the [Filter > Noise > Dust & Scratches] filter, but her face still seems pretty blotchy. So, I’m going to go [Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur]. Set it to the amount that makes her skin as even as possible without looking too blurred.

TIP: You can reduce the filter effect after applied by pressing [Ctrl + Shift + F] and reducing the slider.

We can use the Healing Brush again on the blurred layer to remove any really pesky spots. Next, we’ll apply a Layer Mask to the blurred layer and fill it with black. Select the Brush tool [B] and choose a soft-edged brush. Now we’re going to start lightly “painting” away the rough areas.

TIP: If you find yourself zooming in and out a lot, you might want to duplicate the window [Window > Arrange > New Window for ...], leave one at the full view, and use the other one to zoom in. This way you can see your changes live.

After you’ve smoothed out the rough spots, you might want to add a little Noise to get some texture back. [Filter > Noise > Add Noise]. I used a very small percent with a Uniform distribution.

Now let’s add a Levels Adjustment Layer to lighten up her dark eye circles. Drag the middle slider to the left to make the image brighter. Then, fill the Layer Mask with black, and paint only the areas you want brightened. They don’t have to be perfect, just brighter.

Next, we’ll create a Solid Color Adjustment layer. Don’t worry about what color, cause we’re going to change it. Once the layer is created, fill the Layer Mask with black. Double-click on the layer to bring up the color browser, and select a color near her eye.

Set the Layer Mode to Luminosity (worked best for me, you might want to scroll through to see which mode works best for you), and again, paint the areas you want lightened.

Now let’s add some color to her lips. I first create a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer, set it to Colorize, and play with the sliders until I find a lip color I like. I then fill the Mask with black and paint the area of her lips. For an added touch, I set the Layer Mode to Soft Light to keep some of the reflection.

We’ll do pretty much the same steps as before, but a little more subtle to add some color to her cheeks, and again to add some color around her eyes.

I’ll then add another Levels Adjustment Layer at the top of all the Layers to brighten the image. Above that, I add a Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer and increase the Saturation to a more lively feeling. Above that layer, I add a Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer, with a slight Contrast increase to bring back some of the shadows.

After those 3 layers, you might want to go back to some of your previous layers and tone down some of your corrections. And that’s it! I fixed Britney’s busted face in a matter of minutes.

Let’s start off with our person photo. I found this one at www.photospin.com. We’re going to want to start by masking the image. Masking is when you basically hide a portion of the image, leaving what you want to see, visible. It’s a lot easier than “deleting” the unwanted area. Start by making your selection around the object.

Create a Solid Color Adjustment Layer by clicking on the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of your Layers Palette. You’ll see the Color dialog box. Select black.

Select your Background Layer again in your Layers Palette. Press [Ctrl + D] to deselect your selection, just in case. Create another Color Adjustment Layer, but this time choose bright green, or red, or orange, or whatever you want your iAd color to be. I chose green.

You can stop after this point if you want, since you get the basic effect. But I’m going to add a few extra things.

First is going to be a shadow. Hold [Ctrl] and click on the Layer Mask of the black Color Adjustment Layer you made. Create a new layer under that layer [Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N]. Press [Ctrl + D] to select the default colors. [Alt + Backspace] fills the new layer with black. [Ctrl + D] deselects.

Now let’s transform that layer. Press [Ctrl + T] to bring up the Free Transform bounding box. Hold [Ctrl] and select the top-middle box. Shrink and twist the box to resemble a shadow.

Add a Layer Mask to the shadow layer and press [G] to select the gradient tool. Select the default gradient settings, and drag across your shadow layer. Like this:

Now, to finish it off, I added the iPod. I grabbed the iPod photo from the Apple site. Shrank and tweaked it. To create the headphone wires, I used the pen tool. After I created the paths, I stroked them with the Brush, set to 1-pixel. You can check out more on the Pen Tool Here.

Let’s start with a regular old-image. This one is courtesy of PhotoSpin.com.

The first thing we want to do is duplicate the background layer. Quickly done with [Ctrl + J].

Next we wanna add a Gaussian Blur. [Filter>Blur>Gaussian Blur]. Set the Radius to about 2-pixels.

Now want to add a Layer Mask to the new layer by clicking on the Layer Mask button at the bottom of the Layer palette.

Choose the Gradient Tool and choose Radial Gradient from the Options bar. Make sure your Layer Mask is selected, then click and drag the Gradient tool from the focal center out.

Create a new Layer. [Ctrl + Alt + Shift +N]. Set the Layer Mode to Multiply. Press [D] to set your colors to default. Press [X] to reverse them. Click and drag your Gradient tool from the center out. Repeat until you get the effect of darkened edges.

Create a new Solid Color Layer Adjustment Layer. Set the color to black. Set the Mode to Color. And set the Opacity to around 15%. This will wash out some of the color.

Create a new Photo Filter Adjustment Layer. Set the Filter to Warming (81). Increase the density to around 75%. This should give a nice burnt/orang-ish hue to the image.

Now you’re basically done. Almost all of the Layers you created are easily adjustable, so play around with them until you get the look you want.

This tutorial will show you how to recreate a Holga-style medium-format camera effect. Great for adding a little bit of style to otherwise boring photos.