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Some of you may or may not know what Polaroid transfers are. Those that have done actual transfers may scream blasphemy! while those who haven't may rejoice in finding a decent tutorial on how to replicate the effect.
Real Polaroid transfers provide a very unique effect, most notably around the edges of the photo. As Polaroid film stock either disappears or stops being produced entirely methods like this will be the only way to duplicate the effect.
I was recently working on a shoot where the editing was leading me down a path that made the photo look a little "grungy" and I thought a polaroid border would suit it well. I knew at one time there was some nice soul who had posted up a psd template that was an actual scan of a blank polaroid transfer so I started looking. After 2hrs and many stock photo sites that were selling exactly what I was looking for I decided what kind of photographer/graphic designer/photoshop fiend would I be if I simply purchased this file. Luckily I stumbed across a post that mentioned using ink and some watercolour paper, that's all I needed to read and I was off to find the box with my drawing stuff.
This process is quite simple, there are probably a multitude of ways to do this and I encourage you to tailor this process to your own style.
Materials
Real Polaroid transfers provide a very unique effect, most notably around the edges of the photo. As Polaroid film stock either disappears or stops being produced entirely methods like this will be the only way to duplicate the effect.
I was recently working on a shoot where the editing was leading me down a path that made the photo look a little "grungy" and I thought a polaroid border would suit it well. I knew at one time there was some nice soul who had posted up a psd template that was an actual scan of a blank polaroid transfer so I started looking. After 2hrs and many stock photo sites that were selling exactly what I was looking for I decided what kind of photographer/graphic designer/photoshop fiend would I be if I simply purchased this file. Luckily I stumbed across a post that mentioned using ink and some watercolour paper, that's all I needed to read and I was off to find the box with my drawing stuff.
This process is quite simple, there are probably a multitude of ways to do this and I encourage you to tailor this process to your own style.
Materials
- 1 or more sheets of watercolour paper - others may work but watercolour paper has a nice texture
- Ink of some sort. I used fountain pen ink but you could probably use all sorts of other stuff like food colouring or maybe even fabric dye just make sure it is dark. Get creative. It doesn't have to be black, we can fix that in photoshop.
- 1 or more popsicle sticks - again other stuff could work, just get someting with a flat edge that you can use to transfer the ink.
- Scanner - If you don't have one see if you can scan documents to file using the copier at work. If all else fails I don't think Office Depot or Staples charge that much for this service.
- Image editing software that supports layers. Photoshop is preferred but GIMP (which is free) will work too. This tutorial however will be citing photoshop tools/commands only.
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Signing UpStep 1Prepare your work surface
Prepare your work surface. Lay down some newspaper so you don't get ink on your table. It may also be a good idea to wear some old clothes just in case you splatter yourself.
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*IF* you want to erase part of the new background image (to trim it to fit) you will need to rasterize it first (its a Smart Object, and therefore unable to be erased as such) by going to Layer > Smart Object > Rasterize
If so, and again please forgive my ignorance, is this what you do with the end product in this ible?
Also, couldn't a Photoshop brush be created that could create the border effect digitally (thus saving a few steps)? Again I'm a newb at photography and Photoshop but it's a growing interest of mine.
The end product of this instructable is a "border" that you can use to make your photos look as if they were a polaroid transfer.
A Photoshop brush would be a possiblilty but generally brushes are a lower resolution pattern that repeats, this would not really yield the quality of result this instructable hopes to achieve. My earlier attempts at faking this effect were similar to what you suggest, I used about 15 different "grunge" style brushes to essentially draw the border I wanted. In the end the limitation was still the resolution of the pattern the brush used, to make it as large as I needed it the brush's output was blurry.
I hope my explanation makes sense, if not feel free to ask more questions so I can try to clarify it further.
As for your interest Photoshop you're in luck, there is a plethora of information out there on this program (entire college programs dedicated to it) but all this information can also be overwhelming.
I've spent years working in Photoshop and still learn new things everyday, my advice is to play around and learn what each of the tools does, learn how the different blend methods work and just gain general experience with the software. There are always more than one way to do something in Photoshop, however one method is often much better than others and that's what takes time to figure out. Last year I completely changed the way I did portrait retouching after a colleague pointed out they way he accomplished the same things I was doing but his method was more consise and non-destructive (ie permanent).
This post is getting long so I'll stop now ;)
Let me know if you have any more questions.
Another question I have is whether or not you've ever used images, created via this technique, for printing on physical items (i.e. CafePress type output) or other formats (like printing to ceramic tiles for mosaics or similar)? Just a curiosity question to know how they turned out in the end. ;)
I should clarify that I'm a newb to photography. For Photoshop I'm somewhere in the grey area between beginner and upper-level intermediate. LOL I frequent a Photoshop Contest forum and have a couple 2nd and 3rd place finishes. I'm learning all the time! :D
Thanks again for the clarification and info! It's a great tip and technique!
As for being a newbie, well everyone's gotta start somewhere right ;) I always laugh when people state their skill level in photoshop, I often see people claiming to be Photoshop wizards just because they learnt how to do a little masking and compositing (often with crappy results lol). I'd say after 8-9 years of using it I'd probably be classed as an advanced user however I still have plenty to learn. Just when you start to get cocky you find someone that is lightyears ahead of you ;)
Often the best Photoshop work goes unnoticed because it doesn't look out of place (unless you're going for the surreal like this http://photoshopcontest.com/view-entry/87388/venus.html )
Best of luck and thanks for the comments.
You wouldn't happen to be a PSC alum would you? ;)
I make various backgrounds and I find that photographing them with my digital camera gives as good results as scanning.
I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on that.
As you see from my instructable on digitizing slides the quick and dirty way I'm all for using a camera in place of a scanner when you need speed over quality.
@ Kevin, the Bayer vs Foveon sensor debate, its like the whole HD DVD vs Blu-ray war. Each have its own pros and cons, Bayer is a more mature format with more generations backing it, Foveon technology is relatively new generation wise but is definitely making leaps and bounds. I think we'll soon hit a point (and we already are with some cameras) where adding more mega pixels actually reduces the quality of the image (too many photosites per sq in on a sensor) and the focus will shift towards improving other aspects of the sensors. Just my 2¢ ;)
Thanks for the comments everyone!
not you right
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