blob: fd78fafefe7407abb5d53aa86d4807553336f580 (
plain)
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
|
The Lomo camera was born in the early 1980s when the state-run Russian company LOMO created the LC-A Compact Automat camera. The Russian knockoff was partially based on the Cosina CX-1, but the Lomo version was quirky and often produced the kind of "happy accident" photos that have endeared it to camera lovers over the years.
But if you don't feel like ponying up for a vintage Lomo (or on the remanufactured versions offered by [http://shop.lomography.com/shop/index.php?artID=5759 Lomography.com]) you can fake the characteristics of the Lomo in Photoshop or the Gimp.
The Lomo is best known for three things over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposures, and severe vignetting (darkening of the image at the corners and sides).
To get started open your image in Photoshop or the Gimp (the follow instructions reference Photoshop CS2 +).
The first thing we'll do is simulate the over saturated colors of a Lomo image. Adjust the image as you normally would and once you're happy with it create a new adjustment layer for Brightness/Contrast. Bump the contrast about 20.
Create another adjustment layer for Hue/Saturation and increase the image's saturation by about 20.
Feel free to play with those numbers, some images may require more saturation and contrast while others will need less.
Now head over to the Rectangular Marquee Tool and set the feather amount to 1/12 the width of your picture (if your picture is 1048px wide then set your feather to roughly 87px). Select the entire image and resist the urge to use Select All since that won't work, you need to drag the selection over the image.
Now head up to the Select menu and choose Inverse. Add a new layer and make sure your foreground color is set to black. Fill in your selection and then deselect it. Change the blend mode of this layer to Overlay and then duplicate it.
lomo_vignette.jpg
Now we have the vignetting and over saturated colors covered. The last step is to partially washout the center of the image.
Grab the gradient tool and switch the Gradient Type to Radial (second form the left in the Gradient toolbar). Set your Gradient picker to Foreground to Transparent and then switch your Foreground color to white.
Now start in the middle of the image and drag your gradient tool out toward the longest edge. Once you have a white radial gradient in the middle of the image set the layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay, and decrease the opacity to around 50 percent.
And that's about all there is to it. You've successfully used the latest and greatest software to simulate what amounts to a broken camera from the '80s.
lomo_final.jpg
There are other ways to achieve the same results as well so feel free to play around -- for instance you could bump the contrast of individual color channels to create the hyper-saturated color effect. If you want to get extra fancy you can add a slight Gaissian blur to the vigentte to similuate the Lomo's tendency to go fuzzy at the edges.
Remember the Lomography slogan -- don't think, just shoot. The Lomo was supposed to encourage a lighthearted approach to photography, worrying about how closely your fake Lomo image matches a real is antithetical to the whole philosophy of Lomo.
|
