Any ideas on getting this effect?

[Sarah23]

I love this womans photos. I love the vintage look that she applies to a lot of her color ones. Any idea what she does to get that look? I would love to get this look for some of mine, just for my personal enjoyment.

(the first ones in her photostream aren't so much what I'm talking about...look towards the bottom, and next pages)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/threezawadzkis/

 

[Garbz]

Either her screen has a magenta shift in the shadows and she doesn't know they come out like that or it's some kind of pre-recorded action in photoshop.

Most likely I will point towards the curve tool with each channel edited independently. That is pretty much the only way you can get that kind of colour shift that is different in the shadows than the highlights. Do a google search for photoshop vintage look and see if you can find a tutorial or an action for it.

 

[KristinaS]

Hi Sarah,
I checked out her page and she has some nice work! On her "profile" page, she says she uses a lot of actions and lists a few links to places she's bought them from. You might want to check that out if you haven't already.

 

[Sarah23]

I HATE ELEMENTS! I cant do much with Curves...grrr...Im getting CS3 as soon as I can afford it. Elements also doesnt have actions, you cant record them or use ones you buy.

This stinks. Oh well...for now I will just live with it.

 

[randerson07]

You could shoot film?

 

[Double H]

You can get that look by using the selection tool, feathering it A LOT, and inversing the selection, then levels to bring up the mids and maybe some shadow, inverse again, and brighten up the subject and/or boost colors. Those steps, or similar steps, are most likely in her actions.
In other words, it looks like a vingette has been added, and a boost in the subject's colors and a tweak in the levels.