This idea has caught on. The recent $1billion acquisition of Instagram by Facebook being just one indication of the popularity of the old-school look. It seems that everybody wants their images to look like they were taken with an old Polaroid then left in a shoebox for 30 years!

These Photoshop effects can be created quite easily, but, of course, this begs the question: why bother when you can get a free app that does all the work for you? Well, besides the fact that Photoshop is far more powerful, it also offers almost limitless variety and control over the end product that can’t be matched by a 
simple smartphone app.

In this Photoshop tutorial we’ll dissect and analyse the different effects that make up this popular retro photography look. We’ve divided these into seven categories. For each, you’ll find advice on how to apply various settings and filters to create a stylish array of retro effects.

1. Creative colour
The chemicals used to create colour prints are sensitive to light, moisture and temperature changes. After time, this inevitably leads to colour shifts and fading. We can recreate these colour shifts by using Curves Adjustment Layers. A drag up on the curve line will lighten the image or chosen channel at a specific point in the tonal range (represented by the X axis). Add more points along the line to tweak individual tonal ranges such as the shadows (to the left of the line) or the highlights (to the right). Target different colour channels by choosing them from the RGB drop-down menu.

Red Channel: Drag curve line up to add red, down to add cyan.
Green Channel: Drag curve line up to add green, down to add magenta.
Blue Channel: Drag curve line up to add blue, down to add yellow

Here, we’ve dragged down on the red and blue channels to introduce cyan and yellow into our image. You can experiment with all manner of different combinations to get a huge variety of results.

2. Light leaks
Light leaks occurred in traditional film photography when a gap in the body of a camera unintentionally let light reach the film. As the film was rolled up, leaks typically affected the edges of the frame at the top and bottom.

We can replicate the light leak look with a Curves Adjustment Layer. Click the Create Adjustment Layer icon and choose Curves, then select the Red channel and drag a point on the curve right up.

Next, go to the Blue channel and drag a point right down. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+I to invert the mask on the Curves layer and hide the effect, then grab the Brush tool and paint with white to reveal the orange light leak effect around the edges.

Experiment with different rough-looking brushes and lower the tool’s Opacity to make your brush strokes less uniform.

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Combining or ‘layering’ several images together is an excellent way to achieve a photo with real sense of mood, and is a great way to add another dimension to your work. The process used to involve complicated in-camera multiple exposures or even more difficult-to-master darkroom skills. These days, the digital darkroom makes things simple and in this Photoshop tutorial we’ll show you how easy it is to get amazing results with the minimum hassle. This video will show you to combine the imain image with a textured abstract image and a film effect border. Once you’ve mastered the art, don’t forget you can download 100 free textures and 50 free photo frames and borders – just follow the links on the right.

Professional portrait shots from high street photo studios are easy to create when you have Photoshop on your side. By removing the background from your subjects, correcting the colours and warming the skin tones, you’ll be able to present well rounded and polished portraiture with relative ease. This tutorial will also show you how to use a Levels Adjustment Layer to brighten selected areas of your image.

1. Isolate the figures

Duplicate the Background Layer, then hide it and work on the duplicate. Use the Background Eraser Tool, with a Tolerance of 50%, carefully brush around areas of contrast, such as the man;s shirt and hair. Reduce the Tolerance to 25% and brush around the other edges.

2. Correct colour and brightness

Make the Background Layer visible again and select it. Go to Levels (Ctrl+L), click the middle eyedropper, then click on a neutral grey area to remove the orangey colour cast. To brighten things up, move the right-hand (Highlights) slider to meet the histogram (about 200).

3. Boost the contrast

Duplicate the Background Copy Layer, then go to Hue/Saturation (Ctrl+U) and reduce Saturation to -100. Change the Blending Mode to Overlay and Opacity to 50%. Add a Levels Adjustment Layer, andfine-tune the contrast to taste; values of about 8 and 220, respectively.

4. Warm the skin tones

Now Ctrl-click the original Background Copy Layer thumbnail to select the couple, then add a Photo Filter Adjustment Layer using Warming Filter (85) at 25% to give a natural skin tone. Paint black into the Mask to remove the influence from the eyes and teeth.

5. Brighten eyes and teeth

Add another Levels Adjustment Layer as the top Layer and brighten the teeth and eyes – values of about 15/1.25/10 should do it. Now click this Layer’s Mask thumbnail, press Ctrl+I to invert, so the effect is hidden, then paint the whitening back in using a white brush.

6. Flatten and sharpen

Reduce the Opacity of the whitening Layer to 50% so the eyes and teeth don’t jar. When you’re happy with it, flatten the image and go to Filter>Adjust Sharpness. Sharpen using an Amount of about 80% and Radius around 1.6 pixels so you don’t over-sharpen, and you’re done.