One problem with digital images is that they’re a little too perfect – pin-sharp, noise-free, full of detail. That’s great when you want to
produce technically flawless images, but artistically they can appear cold and clinical.
One method for avoiding this is to mimic the type of results produced by old film cameras and traditional techniques such as
wetplate and tintype, complete with all their imperfections. You can spend hours doing this in Photoshop, or you could just use an
application such as Analog efex Pro 2 from the nik collection (nikcollection.dxo.com).
5
Old
techniques
The Wet Plate
presets create
some interesting
effects, with parts of the image rendered
out of focus and imperfections added to
mimic the fact that real Wet Plate images
were never perfect.4
Something
different
vintage camera 1
adds a thick black
film border to the
image and boosts contrast a little. in this
case B&W neutral has also been selected
from and preset 2 applied.6
Add a
border
There are lots of
different frame
presets that you
can add to the image to give it an analogue
look, from film edges to white borders
and lightbox edges. They’re well worth
experimenting with.The old-fashioned look Transform your digital images by adding analogue effects
Montisi,
Tuscany
The final image
is worlds
away from the
original colour
photograph
and has a
wonderful
analogue feel
to it2
Check
your
options You
can see the
options here- classic camera, vintage camera, Wet
Plate and more, plus light leaks, Dirt and
scratches, Film types, Frames – your best
bet is to experiment and see what you like.
1
Open the
Image
Open your black
& white image
in Analog efex
Pro 2, via the Filters menu in Photoshop
(Filter>nik collection>Analog efex Pro 2).
A default preset will be applied, but you
can change that.
3
Try a
preset
This is with the
classic camera
9 preset applied.
it’s transformed the original image into
something much more dark and ominous,
with a distinct darkening of the image edges
and a cool tone.