Achieving a timeless, vintage look in your digital photography doesn’t require purchasing presets. Lightroom has all the tools you need to create that nostalgic feel from scratch. Whether you’re drawn to the faded tones of old film photography or the warm, earthy colors of retro prints, you can craft your own vintage aesthetic with just a few adjustments. In this article, we’ll guide you through techniques for enhancing your images with a vintage look using Lightroom, without relying on any presets, allowing you to maintain full control over your creative vision.
Video 1 | How to Edit Vintage Tones in Lightroom
In this video, photographer Julia Trotti she shares a few tips on creating vintage tones in Lightroom.
Here’s the Step by Step Breakdown
1 – Tone Curve Adjustment
- Lift the Blacks
- Reduce the Shadows (to maintain/restore contrast in the image)
- Reduce the Whites to mute the highlights
2 – Sharpen Image
3 – Basic Panel Adjustments
- Raise the Exposure and Highlights to create a slightly overexposed look
- Reduce the Blacks slider to restore some contrast
- Increase the Vibrance –impacts the cooler colors in your image
- Decrease the Saturation – impacts the warmer colors in your image
- Adjust the Temperature and Tint
4 – HSL Panel Adjustments
- Reduce the Saturation of the Green and Yellow sliders
5 – Split Toning
- Warm the Highlights
Bonus Example | Vintage Time Magazine/Nat Geo Look
I have this shot out here that was taken at a farm in a rural area in Canton. Awesomely enough, the farmer is actually smoking while farming. You know, puff and pluck, puff and pluck. Anyway, when looking at this image, it reminds me of a 1960-1970 era photograph that I might have seen in Time magazine or National Geographic. So, we are going to create that look and effect in Lightroom.
Hope you all enjoy!
