on my way home, redux

[squirl033]

so i went back and did a couple of edits to this photo, trying to bring out the "old film" feel. the first one was selectively desaturated, adjusted levels and contrast, and added some "grain" to make it look like an old 1940's vintage color photo. the second edit is essentially the same, but converted to B&W to capture that "old photo of Grampa's farm in the family album" look... i'm not sure which i prefer, they both look like the snapshots my parents' cameras took back in the 1950's...

 

[BobH]

Nicely done, I like them both. The color one is especially well done, it does indeed have that antique look, and it reminds me of a hand colored print.

Here's a few things I find that really help make look photos old:
Low contrast, no deep blacks for example, shades of grey instead.
Shallow depth of field, due to slower film speed back then requiring big aperatures.
No fast motion shots, for the same reason.
"Vignetting", either light or dark, in the corners.
Slightly soft focus. Today's cameras and lens are much sharper, so soften things up a bit if needed.

Here's an example (not by me, I think it's a real vintage photo)
http://www.watsonswildlife.com/civil_war_photographs/civil_war_2.jpg

Note that the men are obviously standing still, the depth of field is limited and the photo gets soft around the edges.

I like to work form a shot like that as example. Search on Google for "Civil War Photos" and you'll find plenty to pick from.
Of course you can also search for the era you're trying to duplicate, say "1940's photos" for example. However, the older
the photo, the more it's going to show the classic "old photograph" look, with thing like vignetting.

 

[squirl033]

"Search on Google for "Civil War Photos"

thanks, Bob. actually, i have a series of books, published in 1911, called "Photographic History of the Civil War". there are 10 volumes in the set, and i have them all, which makes the set worth a sizable sum. it's also a special print run, the 50th anniversary of the war, which adds to its value. the books are 8.5x11, glossy paper; each volume is a bit over 300 pages, and crammed absolutely FULL of photos taken during the war. simply amazing stuff. details and information in there that you would never in a million years find in any modern texts. my dad got the books sometime before WWII, and i managed to snag them shortly before he died, otherwise his wife and her family would have jacked them.

i also have a number of volumes (published in German, sad to say, with only partial translations) that show a similar pictorial history of several of the major campaigns of WWII, from the German perspective. lots of very early color film shots there, along with lots of B&W...

 

[BobH]

Sounds like you've got the "old photos" thing well covered.

Did you know that the civil war set is available in pdf format online? I guess because the copyright has expired they can do that. There's also a place selling it in CD form for $20. I'm pretty sure that doesn't detract from the value of your set, after all they're originals, not a scanned copy, and for photographs the quality difference would be significant. If anything, the fact that somebody bothered to scan that huge set of books indicates just how important that they are.

It's neat that researchers can find this info online. I collect railroad books, and once some of them go out of print, prices can get insane. It's common for them to go for $300 or more for certain subjects. Great for collectors, but terrible for the poor fellow who just wants a copy to read!