Addicted to Design Blog

We knew it would happen sooner or later. The weird thing is, this time machine only works on photographs. You feed it a sharp modern photo, and it comes back to you looking like it was taken sixty years ago.

Maybe it came from The Future! Or Outer Space! Or the Underground Lair of the Mole People (yikes)! We don’t know because, well, we can’t read Japanese.

All we know is, if you click “browse”, upload a photo, and then click on the blue button in the middle, the time machine magically oldifies your picture. It might also summon an army of cranky Mole People, we’re not sure.

Click if you must, just don’t say we didn’t warn you. By the way, there’s an “English” button at the top of the page!

Content and Images by Photojojo

We have another addition to the free Photoshop actions lineup: Infrared film (IR) action! There are 3 actions in the set: 2 infrared actions with different settings and our sky-enhancer action to make your skies look even darker. This fun to use Photoshop action creates the look of infrared film or photos taken with near-infrared filter. Our free infrared action works wonders on nature and landscape photos. Enjoy!

These Brushes are excellent and best of all they are FREE.

Use custom brushes and the smudge tool in Photoshop to create an interesting motion blur effect. This Motion Blur effect has been heavily used by Nike and many other Sport Brands and is usually achieved with multiple exposures while the subject is moving. In this video tutorial you will learn how to achieve the same effect from a single photo. (Video Tutorial by Corey Barker)

After watching the movie 300 we were so fascinated by the special effects and its very unique sepia look that we have decided to create a similar effect in Photoshop. Our new “300 Effect” Photoshop Action is great for both Portraits and Landscapes. It also works exceptionally well on Wedding photographs. We recommend using the Blue version of “300″ for the darker images, while our Sepia and Natural actions will work on almost anything. After applying our “300 Effect” Photoshop Action you can adjust the Grain layer and the Color layer to you liking. Our “Sky Enhancer” Photoshop Action was added to this set for dramatic sky effects (don’t forget to try it!). If you’d like to apply the “300 effect” to a specific area of your image you can paint with a black brush on the “Color Mask” layer available to you. There are 3 different variations of our “300 effect” action - Sepia, Blue and Natural. All 300 images used here are the property of Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. 300 Effect” Photoshop Action samples and original movie stills are included below for comparison.

We have a new free Photoshop action for you to download. It’s free Polaroid 600 Instant Film! Create high quality, life-size 3.5 x 4.2″ (300 dpi) Polaroid frame in seconds. Our action gives you an option to adjust your crop for more creative control and we have included a realistic drop-shadow. Polaroid 600 instant film is a fun action to use and is especially great for Digital Scrapbooking enthusiasts. Feel free to download it and share it with your friends.

There are several categories of camera gear available: there’s the sensible, the desirable and then there’s the stuff that you’d never even imagined. Here’s a selection of equipment that most definitely belongs in the latter category. Read more…

What you need for HDR Photography:

1. Digital Camera with “Manual Mode” or Auto Exposure Bracketing feature.
2. Tripod for appropriate image alignment.
3. The Scene Must be Still. Differences will show as blurs.

Step-by-Step HDR Shooting Guide:

• Mount your camera on a Tripod.
• Select either RAW (best quality), NEF, High Quality Jpeg or Tiff format.
• Set the Image quality to “Best”.
• Select the lowest ISO (typically ISO 100) to avoid digital noise.
• Set your camera to Manual Exposure Mode.
• Select a small Aperture if you need more Depth of Field. (f/8, f/16 or less recommended)
• If your camera has Auto Exposure Bracketing (AEB) set it to +/- 2 or more in 1/2 steps.

If you are taking shots manually and don’t have auto bracketing follow these 3 steps below:

1. TAKE THE FIRST SHOT and take a note of your exposure time. In our case it was 1/250 of a second (Image should look more or less normal)

2. Divide the first exposure time by 4 (Example: 1/250 : 4 = 1/60) and set your new exposure. TAKE THE SECOND SHOT (Image must be overexposed and very bright)

3. Now multiply the first exposure time by 4 (Example: 1/250 X 4 = 1/1000) and set your new exposure. TAKE THE THIRD SHOT (Image must be underexposed and dark)

This should be enough to cover the dynamic range of your scene. You are now ready to import your images into an HDR software of your choice and combine them into an HDR image.

More HDR Photography Tips:

• Start with slightly underexposed image and step up until your image is very bright.
• Use Self-Timer when shooting HDR with (AEB) to avoid the camera shake.
• Many cameras with Automatic Exposure Bracketing (AEB) will shoot 3 or more images automatically when Self-Timer is enabled (it’s “THE” best option for shooting HDR images).
• Use Mirror-lockup to avoid shutter vibration (available mostly on Pro and Pro-sumer cameras).
• 1 EV stop is the equivalent of doubling or halving the exposure time.
• 2 EV stops are the equivalent of dividing or multiplying the exposure time by 4.

By popular demand we have released a FREE Lomo action. Lomo is a stylish effect and it’s typical characteristics are: shifted and vibrant colors (cross-processed look), noticeable dark vignette in the corners and increased contrast. Lomo action set includes four Photoshop actions with various vignette settings to accommodate both smaller and larger images. It works well on almost anything, so try it on your favorite photos today!