Retro photo technique - Rachel & Sister (Click to enlarge)
Oh yes, you’ve seen one of our favorite visitors, Sister, several times before (just type her name in the handy-dandy search feature on the upper right), but you’ve never seen her with her mom. Aren’t they just stunning!
When trying to give a photo that retro or vintage feel, there is a range of digital techniques you can use which will accomplish this. If you are processing your black and white photography in a darkroom, you will be seeking a sepia tone to your image. This will be accomplished by giving it a warmer tone and converting from a metallic silver to a sulphide compound. Not doing that? Most of us are using digital cameras now and our post processing techniques are accomplished in a computer program.
If you use a processing program other than Photoshop, you probably have a button you can select that will single-filter the photo with a sepia tone. I’ve used Photoshop to adjust the tone by converting to black and white, then using the Photo Filter adjustment to lay a sepia tone on it as I’ve done in How To Convert Your Color Image To Black & White or Sepia.
There’s another way to play with tones in Photoshop. Find Image/Adjustments/Black & White. There’s so much you can do with tinting using Hue and Saturation. Sliding the Hue slider to the left about 16° or so with not too much saturation, about 12%, will result in an image like Rachel and Sister. This gives the portrait an ageless and vintage feel that I quite like. Try it.
I love how Photoshop can make ordinary pictures look stunning. I’ve taken quite a few pictures of my pets, as well as some other people’s. I find it fascinating to photograph animals.. your photos are beautiful so your tips are helpful in me becoming more skillful in animal photography as well.
Voice For The Animals
Welcome to my blog, jenn. I hope you find some useful tips here. Perhaps you’ll share your pet and photographic experiences as well.
I visited your blog and wish you luck with your endeavor. Please visit Sisters Pet Pics Facebook page and you’ll notice that we are keeping up with the wild Mustang herds “managed” by the BLM. We’re asking people to please act to stop the removal of these wonderful animals from their protected lands. As you say on your blog, there are free ways to help stop animal abuse. In this case we’re asking for people to please, please sign petitions and write the noted authorities. I’ll be posting more updates but visit The Cloud Foundation to find out more.
Thanks.