How to get a retro tone

[sunilnair15june]

Hi,

I am relatively new to photography and would soon be getting my hands on a friends Nikon D40. I have been shooting with my regular point and shoot till now. However, I am generally quite interested in a particular tone of the image rather than the regular bright colored or natural looking snaps (with no offence meant to anyone ). I was wondering how is it possible to get this specific greenish/slightly saturated tone in images. I do play around with the Hue/Saturation option in Phosotshop but still it is not as striking as we see in some snaps. I guess it also has to do with my point and shoot not producing great snaps and to a certain extent I guess, being new to this, my own mistakes.

Examples of images and the tone I am talking about are many. But one of them are here,

http://flickr.com/photos/meredithfarmer/3120918501/

http://flickr.com/photos/meredithfar...7607741759878/

I heard this is achieved using polarizers and setting saturation etc. I was wondering if anyone has knowledge on how this kind of images are achieved.

Thanks,
Sun

[Davey]

Might not be the answer you are looking for but hue/sat in ps is too dramatic to get that effect in the pics you linked. Well if you make major change it is, and too minor isn't that noticable. There might be better way to get that look in camera but I guess lenses or filters is not ideal if you are just using your friends (unless you're buying or keeping it sorry if I misread).

You can get that look in PS with any photo if you

1. Add an adjustment layer > photo filter. Keep it subtle level of % and possibly add more adjustment layers of another colour.

2. Adjust curves but for R G B independantly (eg. higher greens and drop reds etc)

3. Depending on version os PS you can change hue/sat and fade it or alternately duplicate the layer and change it and change the opacity or layer style.

Obviously I think the result can vary depending on the source image and there isn't really a post processing substitute for a good lens but if that's not an option it's the next best thing (I use cheap point and shoot and am not a photographer so pp is the route I go). Obviously with good lens and whatever filters etc you will get am image that's closer to your desired result making the post process stage easier (since you always need some I think) and better quality in means better quality out. Unfortunately as for what hardware you'd need to get that I'm not the person to help you but I'm sure many others here can tell you what you'd need. Hope this helps, Dave.

[Colin Southern]

The sky in the shot taken from the car window is typical of the effect caused by using a polarising filter, but the easiest solution may be to simply ask the photographer who took the shot.

To achive that kind of effect in photoshop you'd need to add a graduated mask with a bit of blending to darken the sky that much at the top.

Cheers,

Colin - flickr.com/photos/colinsouthern

[crisscross]

Hi Sun

I think the D40 runs to RAW=NEF!

Try downloading free trial version of Nikon Capture NX2 (my primer at www.pbase.com/crisscross/nx2 )

You can 'retro-fit' the effect of most filters in NX2, for what you are aiming at I suspect the Colour Balance tool is the right one, but also look at Filter>Photo Effects. Maybe in combination with altering the White Balance in the Camera settings (ie in NX2, leave the camera WB at auto).You get the effect of a grad filter by using the gradient selection. If really desperate, you can also download free trial of Efex filters. I binned them well within the 30 days, but others rave.

[The Blue Boy]

Hello Sun,

Yup, polariser for sure. If you want to replicate this in software I would suggest the excellent Color Efex pro by Nik software (compatable with Capture NX2 and photoshop)