Miss Behaving Workshops: Aging Gracefully

Hello my fellow scrappers!
This week we will explore the wonderful world of aging your photographs.
This first part of the tutorial will walk you through changing your photograph to both B/W and Sepia.
Let’s start off with the color.

: Monkeys or Males?

You know, there just may be something to the Darwinism Theory. Hmmmm.
To change your photo to black and white:
First and foremost, make a duplicate of your original photo. We don't want to lose the original. You never know when you may need it!

There are many ways to do this, but the most simple way is: Go to Image>Desaturation

: Desaturated

Instant Black and White.

: Basic Black & White

To change your photo to a nice Sepia color:
Go to Image>Hue/Saturation

First check the “Colorize” box.
Change the Hue to 45.
Change the Saturation to 25.

: Colorize: Hue 45/Saturation 25

Gorgeous Sepia coloring.

: Sepia Coloring

Wait … we’re not done yet! Now let’s start aging. The fun part! Never thought I would say aging was fun! ;)
Most aged photographs have a “rough” quality to them. To achieve this look, use a texture … or a background paper.
I’m using the Sepia toned photograph just because I like the colors better. However, you can do the exact same techniques with the black and whites.
I’m going to show you the aging process achieving two results with two different background papers.
The first will be using this paper from the Impressions of Spring kit by the Studio Girls.

: Impressions of Spring - Background Paper

Copy and paste the paper on top of your photograph.

: BG Paper above Photo

To get the texture, but not the color … Desaturate the colors. Go to Image>Desaturate.

: Desaturated

Change the Blending Mode to “Multiply”.

: Blending Mode: Multiply @ 100%

I love the added texture, however now the I think the photograph looks too dark.

: Nice but too Dark

Duplicate the photograph layer and place it above the texture.

: Duplicate Sepia Layer

Change the Blending Mode to “Screen” and change the Fill to 35%.

: Blending Mode - Screen @ 35%

Tada! One fantastically aged photograph.

: Results

The second paper I will be using will be from Lorie Davison’s “Window to My Heart” kit.

: Background - Window to my Heart - LDavison

I love the writing on it and the overall “grunge” look to it.
Copy and paste the background paper onto your original photograph.

: Layer Palette

Again, I’ve desaturated the colors.

: Desaturate

Here, because I want the words and grunge to come through on the photograph, I’ve changed the Blending Mode to “Hard Light”.

: Blending Mode - Hard Light @ 100%

Too light!

: Accck ... Need sunglasses!

Duplicate the photograph and place it on top of the background paper texture.

: Duplicate Original Photo

Change the Blending Mode to “Multiply” and the Fill to 53%.

: "Multiply" @ 53%

To make the colors more intense, duplicate the photograph again and change the Blending Mode to “Soft Light”. I left the Fill at 53%.

: "Soft Light" @ 53%

LOVE the results!

: Results = LOVE

You can stop here if you want to, although you know I’m not going to. Heh
To rough it up even more, I’m going to add some wonderful scratchy marks on the photo using Amanda Rockwell’s “Scratchy Brush Set”.

*TIP* Add your different brush strokes on separate layers. That way, if you want to make changes, you don’t get a finger cramp from hitting the Undo button. Just kidding!
I add my brushes on separate layers because what if I LOVE the brush stroke I made right after I decide the previous one doesn’t look right. This happens more often than I’d like to admit.
Knowing myself, I’ll never get it right again so having them on separate layers makes it easier to pick and choose which brush strokes I want to keep.

: Brush Layers

My photograph looks so old and I LOVE it!

: Almost there!

One final step … I want to add a vignette simply for aesthetic purposes.
Create a New Layer.

: New Layer

Go to your Tool palette and choose the Rectangle Tool.

: Rectangle Tool

Make sure to have the Paths Option selected.

: Paths Option

Draw a rectangle around the outer perimeter of your photo.

: Path (In Red)

Go to your Brush Tool and choose a larger sized Round brush with the Hardness set to 0%.

: Round Brush - Zero Hardness

I used a smaller size round brush because my photo for this tutorial is small.
Choose the color you wish to use for the vignette. Usually, I use the color #857a5e for Sepia photographs.