Turn A Photo Into An Old Poster Part 1

You may have seen pictures of old-like looking pieces of paper on the Internet and you might have wondered how they had been made. In the following sections you will find a step by step tutorial about how to make an old poster. You can create such an image either from scratch, or you can very well apply the following tips to any existing picture (a postcard or a family portrait).We will begin with a new image which we will create from ground zero.

Step 1

You first need to create the basic shape. Let’s create an 800 x 600 image which we will use for our purpose. After you have created the shape you will work on, create a new layer (click the Create New Layer icon which is placed in the layers palette). Rename the new layer “Basic Shape”.

Step 2

Draw a rectangular shape using the Rectangular Marquee tool. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool and draw a rectangle. Double click on the foreground color in the tool bar marked with red. In the “Color Picker” window that opens enter the value “EEE0C5” (beige) in the area marked with red.

Step 3

Click “OK”. Select the “Paint Bucket tool” and fill the rectangular selection with the current foreground color.

Step 4

Go to Select / Deselect menu to remove the current rectangular selection. Now you have a rectangular shape having a beige color. It may have the old-look color, but you need some additional elements, such as some stains. Select the foreground color and instead of the “EEE0C5” color used above, use “EECE93”.

Step 5

Create a new layer by clicking the create layer icon which is located in the layers palette and name it “Medium Color”. Next, select the “Paint Bucket tool “and fill the layer with the current foreground color. Clip this layer with the previous layer by pressing the Ctrl+G command.

Step 6

Click on the “Add layer mask” icon located in the layers palette in order to add a mask to this layer. Make your fore- and background color white and black by pressing the letter D on your keyboard. Go to the menu and select Filter > Render > Clouds to add some clouds to your picture, clouds which will represent the stains in the final image. It is up to you the size and the location of the clouds added to the picture, to make the impression that there are big stains over the drawn shape. Click OK

Step 7

Now you need to repeat the steps above for the second layer.Click on the “Create a new layer” icon found in the layers palette to add a new layer while having the top layer active. Once created the new layer, name it “Dark Color”. Change the foreground color again like before and this time use a value of “C1A467”.Now select the “Paint Bucket” tool and fill the layer with the current foreground color. As done with the previous layer, clip it by pressing the Ctrl+G key combination.

Step 8

Add a mask to this layer. Do this by clicking on the “Add layer mask” icon found in the layers palette. Again, make sure that the fore- and background color or white and black by pressing the letter D on your keyboard.

Step 9

You can now create the clouds for this layer by selecting Filter > Render > Clouds. Adjust the “Levels” for the clouds so they are visible, but not extremely bumped up.

Step 10

The “Dark Color” layer’s opacity should be changed to 15% and the “Medium Color” layer’s opacity to 35%. Activate the top layer by clicking on it and create a new layer icon from the option found in the layers palette. Name the new layer “Dodge and Burn”.

Continue to Part 2

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