Danjiella’s Wedding
Ever since childhood I have always had a fascination with vintage things. I used to snoop around my grandmothers, check garage sales and loiter in antique stores just to get a fix of the olden days. This fascination has never really gone away and now that I am a photographer I have developed a love for old photos. Since it can take a long time to sit around and wait for a photo to look old, I have started experimenting with ways of getting it done faster. There are two ways of making a photo look old. Digitally or “manually” (couldn’t think of a better word). I have been trying a bit of both.
To make a photo look old digitally it involves a lot of Photoshop. Generally you want to add texture by adding different backgrounds, then add tints, color casts, dodge, burn and vignettes. Basically doing the opposite of what I usually do to a photo to make it look good.
Now I haven’t quite nailed down the “manual” side of things yet but Ill keep you posted. This involves taking a photograph print and adding textures by using heat and abrasives. To add the old photo color I have been experimenting with soaking photos in tea, coffee, wood polish, lemon juice etc… After doing this then I would re-photograph the print and re-print it. This way you don’t have dried coffee and lemon juice on your photo. The bottom line is there is a lot of trial and error involved.
In the wedding market there is a huge demand for vintage weddings and I really want to reach these couples with photography. One thing I have learned since becoming a photographer is “Do what you love”, in my case its “Photograph what I love”. What I’m hoping to do with all this, is create a Vintage Wedding Album. I want to offer couples a custom wedding album that looks like it was made in the 1800′s. Right now I’m still developing the album with a friend of mine. I will keep you posted on our progress.
Take care everyone!