So is it an art to create Vintage photos? Well yes but it doesn't have to be. This photo I did of Tom Cruise took me about 15 minutes. And I am quite happy with the results. Below I will tell you what you need if you want to create something like the Tom Cruise photo. Why Tom Cruise? He is gorgeous...I don't think I need any other reason and he looks awesome in vintage.

Ok so here is what you will need. You will have to have some kind of photo editing software and happily there are free ones out there. The cool thing is I didn't use any advanced tools in any of the programs. Anyone should be able to do this. You can download Adobe Photoshop for a free trial, or download Gimp, (which I find to be a bit non user friendly) but there are many out there just google free Photoshop programs. They will need to be able to erase, airbrush and create layers. The Tom cruise vintage photo was done with 3 layers. The original photo, a piece of digital grunge paper, and an old tin type frame. That's it.  You can find these items again by doing a simple search on google.

When typing in "Grunge Paper" to Google there are many choices. This is one that I found cool.

Now that we have our three images we need to meld them together.  You want to start a "New" Image in your chosen program under the top left corner menu choice of "file". I chose a 8X10 inch format and 150 DPI if your program asks. DPI is the resolution in "dots per inch" The higher that resolution the better your print outs will be but 300DPI is HUGE and you will probably only need 150 or less. Images on the net are usually set at 72 DPI.  The reason I choose an 8X10" size is so that I have room to move things around and work just like a table. I can crop it later using a simple cropping tool.

Now you want to open each of your images into 3 different layers. As shown in the red circle below.

By clicking on the layers you want and then right clicking you should be able to alter them. We want to take our Grunge paper layer and make is 50% transparent.

You can see that by pushing the now 50% transparent layer over the top of Jenn's photo she already is starting to look vintage. WOOT! Now you will do just that.  Take that transparent layer and move it completely over the photo.  Now usually I would never adjust an image from the sides but in this case since we want the grunge paper to give our photo that look we don't have to worry about stretching it out of shape.  So go ahead and do just that. Grabbing from the corners and sides adjust that image over the top of your photo until the corners match up.  It should now look something like this:

At this point you can leave it like it is or if you want it to look more vintage you will need to adjust your actual photo to a black and white image.  I am going to go ahead and do that and then I will merge these 2 layers together by right clicking on the grunge layer and merging it down on top of Jen's now black and white photo.  Be careful not to merge the wrong layers, you can move them up and down by dragging them in the layer panel.  Then I will take my eraser tool and start erasing the white edges that are showing down to the grunge edge. Yes there are better ways to do this but this is a simple tutorial.  Here is the black and white merged with the grunge and the eraser tool showing:

Looking very vintage already yes?  Ok now in my case the image I chose doesn't match up with the final Polaroid image.  We can't stretch the Jenn Image from the sides because it would alter her face. We can size her properly from the corner but the Polaroid will still be a bad match up so what we do is stretch our Polaroid to fit because like the grunge layer we wont really see it in the end. I am also going to take my Jenn photo layer and make it 90% transparent. Why?  Because I want to be able to see some of the cracks and stains on my final image.  I will then take the eraser tool and lightly erase just a few of the grunge edges so the Polaroid will show through; this will also give it the dark vintage edge. I also did a little erasing of the Grunge layer over the cracks of the Polaroid so that you can see the tear cutting through the bottom. You can do two things now; darken the edges of the inner Polaroid with a black airbrush to darken it up further for your edges or just merge your layers now and crop your photo. I did not use the airbrush on this one BTW.  And here is the final product:

Pretty nifty huh? And done in less then a half hour with the tutorial but once you get good at it, it will take less then 15 minutes.  Super fun. Now go forth; now that you understand the "Art of Vintage Photo Creation" go do your wedding photos! Make sure to upload them to our DIY page we would love to see what you did!  Have a great time!

In the first close up with the black arrow you can see the the shot is a very low resolution.  Removing a lot of the digitization in the photo will help to smooth it out and make it a clearer crisper photo.  Can this be done?  YES!   The next arrow photo after the first shows how a lot of the digitization was removed and the digitized skin tones have been smoothed out as well.  I am not going to go into how I actually did this because that is not the point.  We are talking about turning good photos into great photos remember?  The third photo with the black arrow shows the bridesmaids being removed.  Off with her head!

We are now left with the photo with the bridesmaids removed. There was some additional altering done here because we needed to adjust the coloration of the veil to remove the blue dress from behind it as well as replace walls under the Bridesmaids legs in the background and a little teeth whitening.   Then the final touch; a color correction to remove the grey overcast from the photo bringing back the original sunny day and the whiteness of the brides dress. 

Now we don't have just a good photo anymore but a great photo of just the bride and groom and suitable to frame now don't you think?  Below we have the before and after final photos for closer inspection.  You can see how there is now more detail in the photo on the right.  The definition in the pocking of the rocks down to the individual blades of grass can be seen better.  The expressions in the wedding couples faces are more enhanced and that is the most important part.

This editing can be done to almost any photo including vintage photos. The best part is that though they are fun to do, its' even more fun making someone happy.  Have any photos you would like to get retouched?  Or a family ex that needs to be removed from a photo?  Though it may be sad it happens and why not try to save a "good" photo and make it GREAT.   All of this is possible.  If you would like to have this done just contact me through the contact page.  We are happy to help. 

Ok now to cover trying to take GREAT photos so you don't have to go through the above. While traditional wedding photos are special and important, fun & candid shots can make anyone’s photos stand out from the crowd and make it look like it was done by a professional.  So, put a little creativity in your wedding photos and make that special day even more memorable. How do you do that? Well read on!

In honor of the wedding season here are 24 ideas you shouldn't pass up.

Rule of thumb?  If you think you are going too far there is no such thing.  Its' your wedding.  You can always blame your behavior on the open bar and the photographer.  Don't let priority get in the way of art and a great wedding photo.

The UK to US initiative is a collaboration of Photography from Artists Greg Towning of Topsham England & TPowers Atlanta Georgia. The images are then melded together and digitally altered to create a Surrealist quality and new image. These images will be sold and featured in both the United States and the United Kingdom.  You will get the opportunity to follow the initiative here on GrafXQuest.com. A little known fact. Each of the images will have a duck hidden somewhere in the photos. How did this come about? In the very first photo melded together Greg said that he thought he saw a giant duck in the image. The "DUCK" was actually a boat in the water  within his original image that looks somewhat like a duck. Greg then jokingly said that we should include a duck in every image to make it our thing. And there you have it. Every image of the UK/US initiative will contain a duck hidden somewhere in the photo. They are not always obvious so look hard. 

The photo above was melded together using two photos, digital grunge paper, and digital manipulation. The grunge paper was used to give a raining effect seen to the left of the large tree. The smoke effect was done by combining airbrushing and a smudge tool in Corel.