This is by far my favourite Photoshop technique (you may have noticed that I slap it onto just about every avatar I make :P), it gives photographs an edgy, vividly contrasted look.
Of course there are about a million different ways to achieve this effect, depending on how much time you have and if you actually care :P
This is probably the quickest easiest way (it only takes me seconds to make a lomo-style photo now) but I’ll add in some extra steps at the end that you can experiment with. A true Lomo effect involves a lot of Sharpening and Blurring, so perhaps I’ll post a tutorial for that later.
So keep in mind that this is my own personal sort of technique, not a traditional Lomo effect.
1. First of all, choose your image. It’s better to go for something that has some natural contrast in it already; the more you Photoshop contrast into a picture the lower the resolution becomes. Image size isn’t all that important with this effect but it’s always better to have a larger image than a smaller one, so you have more to work with later.
For this tutorial, I’m using a photograph I took in a condemned building earlier this year (click icons for larger versions):
2. Adjust the Levels of your picture to give it more contrast. You can use the normal “Levels†tool, but I use “Auto Levels†because I tend to go a bit nuts with my contrasting and letting the program decide its own settings stops me from going overboard ::)
3. Change the Window from “Layers†to “Channels†simply by clicking on the tab.
Select the Red Channel, but to make sure you can still see all the channels whilst working, click the Visibility Box (the little eye icons) next to the “RGB†channel. This means you’ll be able to see the effect your photo manipulations will have on the entire image, not just the one channel.
Use the Levels tool to contrast. There are no definite input values you should use, just move the arrows around until they’re where you want them to be. For Red I usually put them about a third of the way along, midway and two thirds along. Click “OKâ€.
Repeat this step for the Green channel, keeping the RGB Visibility Box ticked.
Altering the Levels for the Green channel leaves you with the final result, so take time to get this exactly how you want it.
Remember, if you think you’d like to go back to the beginning of Step 3 again to re-do the Levels, you can always Undo steps.
And ta-da, here’s your simple Lomo photo!
...or you could put in a couple more alterations afterwards and make some different effects.
4. Create a new layer.
When the Layer window pops up, use these settings:
Colour: None
Mode: Normal
Opacity: 100%
5. Set the Foreground colour to Black by entering the value “000000â€.
Next select the “Fill†tool by clicking the paint bucket icon
~Link~Click anywhere on the image to fill the new layer black.
6. Change the Blending Mode to Hue.
And the Opacity to around 40%
Create another new Layer, using the same settings as before.
7. Select the Lasso tool.
~Link~If you can’t see the Lasso icon, then right click where it should be and a small list should appear.
Roughly draw an oval in the middle of your picture, it doesn’t need to be perfect. Select Inverse by typing “Shift+Ctrl+Iâ€.
8. Use the Fill tool again and click anywhere in the selected area of your image, then Deselct the area by typing "Ctrl+D".
Select the Gaussian Blur filter by clicking “Filter†on the top menu and then scrolling down to “Blurâ€
Set the Pixel Radius to “250.00â€. Click OK.
Then adjust the Opacity of the Layer until it’s how you want it to look, I’ve used 44%
And huzzah, you’ve created another cool style! :D
Of course, you don’t have to complete all the steps. If you manage to create an image you love and you’re only halfway through the tutorial, then keep it by all means! Half the stuff I come up with is by pure chance :P
Experimenting with the Levels, Opacities and using different Channel combinations with create different effects, so why not give that a go?
Here are some other images I’ve applied this technique to in varying degrees (all taken from the same collection as the tutorial image)
These are all photographs I’ve taken, so please don’t use them without my permission :)
Pml, this kind of changed from a "Lomo" thread to a "watch HotD get carried away on Photoshop and make something totally different" thread :P
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So, what do you guys think, any good? This is my first tutorial and I plan on doing more, I would love some positive/negative feedback!