TipClique Photoshop Tutorial - Home

If you are not familiar with layer masks this Photoshop training session will increase your image editing skills within Photoshop. The tutorial will show you how to turn your digital image into a vintage looking image. All done in a non-destructive way. This was done in Photoshop CS2, although it may work in older versions.

If your image is on a background layer, select 'Layer > New > Layer From Background' from the menu.

Create a new layer by selecting 'Layer > New > Layer' from the menu. Set black as your background color by pressing 'd' on the keyboard, then pressing 'x' on the keyboard. Select 'Layer > New > Background From Layer' from the menu.

Select the layer your image is on in the layers palette, and click the 'Add layer mask' button at the bottom of the layers palette. Set your background color to 50% Gray by (Ctrl/Command) clicking it in your swatches palette.





Next select 'Filter > Render > Clouds' from the menu, then select 'Filter > Noise > Add Noise' from the menu with the Amount set to 10%, and the Distribution set to Uniform.

Select 'Layer > New Fill Layer > Solid Color' from the menu, then in the first dialog that appears set the Mode to Color, and click OK.



In the Color Picker dialog that comes up enter 60 into the Hue field, 10 into the Saturation field, and 90 into the Brightness field, or simply enter e5e5cf into the Web Color field, and click OK.

Select 'Layer > New Adjustment Layer > Levels' from the menu. The settings used here will vary depending on the image. I used 1.20 for the mid-tone input level, and 190 for the white input level, and then set the black output level to 75. The goal is to reduce contrast, and give the image a somewhat faded appearance.

Press 'd' on your keyboard to reset the colors to black, and white, and select 'Filter > Render > Clouds' from the menu. Next select 'Filter > Render > Fibers' from the menu, and set the Variance to 20, and the Strength to 50. You can click the Randomize button to get different patterns.



Select 'Image > Adjustments > Threshold' from the menu, and set the Threshold level to 10, and click OK.



Select 'Image > Adjustments > Levels' from the menu, and set the black output level to 175. The 175 value is based on this image, so you may need to adjust it if the little scratches seem too dark, or not dark enough.

Create a new layer by selecting 'Layer > New > Layer' from the menu. Fill the layer with the foreground color by pressing (Alt/Option) delete on the keyboard. Double click the layer to bring up the Layer Style dialog, and set the Fill Opacity to 0.

Click the Gradient Overlay style, and set the Blend Mode to Overlay, the Opacity to 50, and the Gradient to Foreground to Transparent. You may also want to try Color Burn, or Soft Light for the Blend Mode, and raising or lowering the opacity if this doesn't look very good for your image.



Check the Reverse check box, change the Style to Radial, set the Scale to 150%, and click OK.

That's all there is to it, the nice thing about this technique is you can adjust pretty much every aspect of it by either filtering the masks, adjusting the levels adjustment layer, or double clicking the color fill layer, and changing the color. You can also turn the color fill layer off so you have an old color image.

If you are the lazy type, and don't want to do it yourself, you can just download the action. This action will only work on a background layer, and the levels adjustment layer may need manual adjustments depending on the image to which it is applied.