I've worked with photography manipulation for over one year, and during that time I've learned some cool techniques that I would like to share with you.

Two of my favorite techniques are the Lomography effect and the Cross-Processing effect. Then, someday I thought: how about mixing those two? What I got was a major kickass technique that will make any of your pics pretty awesome.

Step 1

For this tutorial, I'm gonna use a personal picture. So this is the original picture.

Now create a new fill or adjustment layer > curves. Make a soft curve just like this one. That will work for the brightness and contrast.

Step 2

Now create a new layer above all and fill it with black. Blend mode: Hue, Opacity: 40%.

Step 3

Ok, now you must merge all layers into one. After that, go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mark. Set the values like mine. You may use your own Radius value... that's what will make any difference. Now you got a cool sharp looking pic.

Step 4

With the Elliptical Marquee Tool make an oval selection on the picture... you may select the main subject of it for a better result. Now invert the selection going to Select > Inverse.

Step 5

Go to Select > Modify > Feather. High Resolution pictures may use higher values. For this one, use 20.

Step 6

Don't lose the selection. Got to Image > Adjustments > Levels. You may change just the middle value, making it 0,45. It will dark the edges a little bit.

Step 7

Now go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur. You may use these exact values to get the right effect. The only value you may change is the Radius, depending on the effect intensity you might want.

And now you got finished the Lomo effect! You should have something like this now:

I really love this effect... I use it in most of my pictures.

Step 8

Now we're going to add the Cross Processing effect, using nothing but curves. Got to create a new fill or adjustment layer > Curves. First, we're going to adjust the Reds. Make a curve just like mine.

Now, the Greens. Make a soft curve just like this.

And now, the Blues. This, people, is what will give your picture a vintage, yellowish look. You may adjust it to make a light cross process if you wish.

Final Result

Done! So here is our final result!

And here are the original and final result, side by side. Hope you all enjoy this. Cheers!

About author

Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo, a 24 years old designer from Porto Alegre, Brazil. I work as a webdesigner since 2006, but websites and blogs have been a hobbie for me since 1999. At Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you guys... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! Cheers!

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