Experiment with vintage film effects

James Abbott goes back in time with these quick and easy vintage Photoshop effects

- James Abbott

The magic of film photography isn't for everyone; it’s expensive, slow compared with digital and the results aren't guaranteed. Despite this, it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy some of the characteristics of film with your digitally captured photos. Sure, the results are fake — that’s the nature of the beast — but the advantage you have here is greater control over how the effects look.

I grew up shooting film and used both colour and black and white darkrooms, but I have no desire to shoot film for several reasons. I do, however, enjoy some of the characteristics of analogue photography and occasionally apply them to photos; I’ve selected four that are used in a greater variety of ways than shown here, but the basic application we'll explore will hopefully inspire you to experiment with them. An example of this is applying typical colour effects to black and white photos, and vice versa.