60's/70's editing techniques

msmem

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Can others edit my Photos
Photos NOT OK to edit
I've always been blown away by the quality of some late 60's/early 70's color adverts. There's a softness to the images and a warmth to the colors that I'm sure must be because they were taken with film.

However using a film camera isn't an option for me right now. (The cost of developing adds up much too quickly). I've thought of other things, like maybe hand-tinting my photos and then scanning them.

But I wanted to know if anyone had advice or techniques they could share for editing digital photos in this way? Is there a specific program you use that might be great for this? Are there filters you can recommend?

I've linked examples to the style I'm talking about. Both were taken in 1972 by an unnamed photographer

https://emmapeelpants.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/lui2.jpg

https://emmapeelpants.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/lui4.jpg

(Hopefully this was posted in the right forum! Let me know if I've made a mistake. Thank you!)
 
The second image is suffering from a printing problem: the color is out of register!!! Look at the man's forehead/hairline!
 
If you have photoshop, open the image file you want to edit. Once you do that, you're going to make a "Selective Color" adjustment layer, like this:
screen_shot_2015_10_20_at_3_34_30_am_by_danostergren-d9dr4al.png


Choose "Selective Color":
screen_shot_2015_10_20_at_3_36_31_am_by_danostergren-d9dr4at.png


Once you click "Selective Color", it should create a new adjustment layer, and this dialogue box should appear. This dialogue box will allow you control the different colors in your photograph:
screen_shot_2015_10_20_at_3_37_09_am_by_danostergren-d9dr4bf.png


Once that dialogue box appears, you're going to click the color selector (it will automatically be set to red), and choose "Neutrals":
screen_shot_2015_10_20_at_3_46_53_am_by_danostergren-d9dr4wx.png


Once you do this, start playing with each of the color sliders. This is going to immediately start changing the color tone of your image. I recommend you take some time to experiment with each slider by sliding it back and forth until you get to a tone you like. Each slider is going to affect the tones a little differently:
screen_shot_2015_10_20_at_3_56_32_am_by_danostergren-d9dr5ii.png


After you've adjusted the "Neutrals" to your liking using the sliders, go back up to the color tab above the sliders and select "Blacks". You're going to do the same thing with the sliders to adjust the different tones. Once you've gotten it the way you like it, click the color tab above the sliders again and select "Whites", then make your adjustments with the sliders again.
screen_shot_2015_10_20_at_4_03_26_am_by_danostergren-d9dr5xp.png


Feel free to experiment with the other color channels as well to fine tune the look of the image. Like any technique, it takes a while to become good at it. This is one of MANY ways you can make color adjustments in photoshop, but it the technique that I generally use. Hope this helps.
 

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