Cross-Processed Lomo Effect - Photoshop TutorialListThumbs

Cross-Processed Lomo Effect - Photoshop Tutorial

June 14, 2008

PauloGabriel's blog

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 the author

Hello, everyone! I'm Paulo Gabriel, a 25 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. Here in Abduzeedo, I try to bring only the hot stuff for you... and hope that all of you enjoy my posts! For more cool stuff, you may also follow me on Twitter.

Help us to share this!

33 Comments

2dsquid06/14/2008

This would be an awesome action! :D

Ps. Nice tut.

godonholiday06/14/2008

Great effect, without having to fork out on a lense. Nice result! and yeah, it would be cool as an action!
____________________
Learn it, pass it on.

Luigi06/15/2008

Helpful tutorial.
And what a nice cup of "mate" !

Silver-Solutions06/15/2008

Interesting tutorial! Found it useful for a few projects im doing at the moment. I've been looking into photo manipulation tutorials for a few weeks now after graduating and would love if you brought a few more to the table. Great tutorial though, very easy to follow and read.
___________________________________________________________________________
www.Silver-Solutions.co.uk - Award Winning Portfolio and Blog of Web Developer Anthony Woods

PauloGabriel06/15/2008

I actually thought people wouldn't like this tutorial, and find it useless, but it's great to see that you guys are enjoying it! :D

//Jay06/15/2008

thank you

really enjoyed this tutorial

Rickerme06/15/2008

Yo're mi idol!!!
i like so very much your tutorials, your designs, all!!
congartulations abduzeedo
please visit my flickr and comment my editions

Bady_qb06/16/2008

nice tutorial :)

come and visit my deviant
and also my flickr

Super Tej06/16/2008

Nice tut

canute06/16/2008

dude? are you from argentina or uruguay?
coss thats "mate"
^^

PauloGabriel06/16/2008

Canute, I'm from Brazil, from the southern side... next to Uruguay and Argentina. Rio Grande do Sul is the name of the State. Fabio, Fabiano and me, are from the same city, Porto Alegre. Cheers!

Johnny06/18/2008

hey! realy nice!
i love this website so much! browsing day by day =)
i found some more tipps on the WWW!
you should try to add a distortion filter (i think in english it means "objective correction") so that you have a kind of a vignette!

greetz from germany

otaviofortes06/20/2008

Thanks dude, my girlfriend really loves it!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/otaviofortes

ksteed06/20/2008

another technique I've learned is applying a simple gradient filter and setting the blend mode to screen (or you may want to experiment with other blend modes). Then you can adjust your opacity levels as desired. I think it works just as well and takes less time. But the great thing about photoshop is there are so many different ways to get a certain look.