Giving modern day photos a 1990s style / feel?

[coffee_king]

Hi
Ive got some images of some pals dressed up in 1990s clothing that I'd like to make a bit more authentic 1990s looking.
Any thoughts on re-colouring, saturation etc etc?
I'm not saying it needs to be as stylized as an Instagram type effect, but that kind of thing.

Many thanks in advance.

 

[chrisdesign]

If you would post an image, the chance would be much better that some gurus here could show you how to do it yourself.

 

[coffee_king]

Hi
Great idea, here you go.

 

[IamSam]

Interesting..........the bicycle is from the 70's.

Do you have another photo that shows an example of the 1990's style and feel that your trying to emulate?

 

[coffee_king]

Hi
The keyword is "Britpop" here, all the clothing is original 90s Britpop, and the bike was heavily featured in the video to 'Alright' by Supergrass.
So its kind of a mix up of Blur, Oasis, Pulp, Supergrass, Kula Shaker. All the big UK 90s indie bands.

 

[IamSam]

Great description, thanks.

Any example photos of the effect you are trying to create for your image?

 

[coffee_king]

Hi
I'm really having trouble putting my finger on it. I just mean for the pics to look in a 90s style none digital media type, rather than them looking like theyve been taken with a digital camera (If that makes any sense at all?)

I guess you could look at these for inspiration

http://images2.fanpop.com/images/photos/7400000/Britpop-britpop-7467200-451-309.jpg

http://content.asos-media.com/~/med...ASOS_MW_DD_ARTICLE_BRIT-POP-ASOS-5.jpg?mw=603

http://41.media.tumblr.com/1c8ba022267384eaa26eb3068dfaa71f/tumblr_mpn1dyFoBn1qcbwd5o1_500.jpg

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Music/Pix/pictures/2008/06/19/LouiseWener460x276.jpg


Any good?

 

[coffee_king]

Maybe I mean so it looks like an actual developed photo that you can handle that was developed (Not printed) back in the 90s, but as it would look today having been around for about 20 years.

 

[Tom Mann]

Film exposed and developed, whether printed or not in the 1990's had many possible different looks, depending on the lighting conditions, the type of film, how it was exposed, how it was processed, how it was stored, etc. Assuming it's negative film, not transparency film, how it was printed will add a huge variety of other looks, as will how the prints were stored. Rather than continuing to refer to, and trying to describe "a 90's look", the specific examples you provided are much more meaningful and useful for reconstructing the looks that you seek.

To my eye, the examples you gave in posts #3 and #7 have several different film looks, so, assuming that you are already reasonably familiar with PS, I think you would be best served by PS add-ons and plugins that each emulate a variety of film looks. Take a look at:

Alien Skin "Exposure": http://www.alienskin.com/exposure/
DxO "Filmpack": http://www.dxo.com/
VSCO: http://vsco.co/film
Nik's "Silver Efx Pro" (B&W): https://www.google.com/nikcollection/products/silver-efex-pro/
DFT's "Film Stocks": most easily accessed using Tiffen DFX -
Imagenomic Realgrain (mostly for B&W): http://www.imagenomic.com/
Replichrome: http://www.gettotallyrad.com/ (PS actions, not plugins)


HTH,

Tom M

 

[chrisdesign]

Original

Polaroid effect

 

[MikeMc]

I chuckle Tom....When I looked at the "exposures" in Alien Skin....my first thought was, cut sharpness, contrast ...and throw an oddball cast over everything, I don't need that help...thats what I'm trying to correct ! :banghead:

 

[Tom Mann]

Once again, Mike, I've got to agree with you, except that you forgot to mention THE favorite technique of this group of people, "fake grain", LOL.

One way I think about it is that that there an infinite number of straightforward methods to muck up a good image, say in the name of re-creating a more-or-less aged look, but it's vastly more difficult (if it's possible at all) to take an old photo and try to reverse the effects of aging. The 1st is always possible, whereas the 2nd, which is what you and I usually strive for, takes much more skill.

T

PS - I wonder where the OP went?

 

[coffee_king]

Dont worry, I'm still here.
Just waiting too see if anyone suggests anything using Photoshop that I don't have to spend more money on buying plugins etc on.

 

[MikeMc]

Ahh yes grain......used to try to eliminate it, now you are to add it.....

 

[Tom Mann]

Dont worry, I'm still here. ...Just waiting too see if anyone suggests anything using Photoshop that I don't have to spend more money on buying plugins etc on.

FWIW, lots of the retro actions are free, so once you find one that you like, it's trivial to open up the action palette and see exactly what they have done to get that specific effect. Speaking for myself, the reason I responded with a list of sources for you to look into instead of one or two specific "how-to" examples is that the examples you posted show fairly different types of processing, and I wasn't about to spend the time writing tutorials on how to do each of the efx that I saw when there are so many resources already available. If you narrow the field down to just one or two specific "looks", my guess is that more people will respond.

Cheers,

Tom M

 

[chrisdesign]

Dont worry, I'm still here.
Just waiting too see if anyone suggests anything using Photoshop that I don't have to spend more money on buying plugins etc on.

The Polaroid effect is done just with Photoshop. See screenshots. Sorry German PS version.
1. Curves

2. Filter