A nostalgic retro image technique in GIMP (1)
Strange isn’t it, we’re all after the latest iphone/ipad/other gadgets and yet ‘nostalgic’ or ‘retro’ photos somehow seem better than the ones created by state of the art digital cameras! I’ve given the steps below to create a nostalgic (say 70s style) photo from a normal one, using the picture ‘Michelle’ from GirlReporter used from Flickr via the Creative Commons license.
(Smaller images open out to a full size version)
Open the image in GIMP:
Adjust brightness and contrast (option Colours > Brightness-Contrast…) of the image, as required. The settings I used are as below, these will obviously depend on the specific image as to what options need to be set.
I am aiming for an enhanced but not over-exaggerated increased contrast, as below.
Then adjusted the colour curves (Colours > Curves…) to split out the light and dark in the image further.
Resulting in the image below:
Next I added noise (Filters > Noise > RGB Noise…) to add some texture to the image.
Then applied the Softglow filter (Filters > Artistic > Softglow…), again the settings you need will probably differ depending on the image. This filter applies a pre-defined sequence of steps automatically to give a “soft glow” effect.
With result as below.
Then adjust the colour balance (Colours > Colour Balance…) to apply a warmer colour to the image. I increased the levels of cyan, green and yellow to the shadows, and red/magenta/yellow to the highlights.
Then apply a gaussian blur (Filters > Blur > Gaussian Blur…) to blur the image slightly.
A similar sequence can be applied to any suitable image, of people, animals, landscapes or whatever you like. For example the image below “cat no. 18″ from miss pupik on Flickr under Creative Commons:
