Technique 33: Adding Professional Photo Filter Effects
Save Time By
Using the Photo Filter command
Making photos look like sepia prints
Professional photographers use filters — thin lenses that fit over a camera or enlarger lens — to correct lighting conditions, enhance specific colors, and create special effects such as fog, vignettes, and cross stars. (Have you ever wondered how cameramen created those wonderful soft vignette shots of actresses in old black and white movies from the 1940s? The photographer actually smeared Vaseline around the outside edge of the lens to diffuse the light on the edges of the image but keep the center sharp, creating a portrait with a “halo” effect. Stretching a black stocking over the camera lens sometimes created soft focus effects.)You can apply photographic-style filters in Photoshop using the Photo Filter command. The Photoshop photo filters recolor photographs by enhancing warm or cool colors, or by completely retinting the photograph to a specific hue such as yellow, magenta, brown, or blue.In this technique, you find out how to apply Photoshop’s photo filters to recolor your photographs. Also, you discover how to make your photographs look like old-time sepia-toned photos. So, find an interesting photograph and experiment with photo filters!Take a look at Color Plate 33-1 to see the results of recoloring a photograph using the Photo Filter command.