Creating a vintage photo effect in fireworks

This tutorial shows how to give your photo a vintage style, including a jagged border and a brownish tone: you’ll learn how to convert your modern-day digital photo into an old, dusty photograph from your grandma’s album!

I will use a picture of Rome (size: 280 x 210 pixels, resolution: 72 pixels / inch). If you want to practice on it, download it here. If you have a photo of your own, just check its pixel dimensions and its resolution before you start.

1. CREATING A NEW FILE

We’ll start off by creating the background for the photo and its jagged frame, in a new, separate Fireworks file. After that, we’ll import our photo into it.
So, launch Fireworks and select Create New > Fireworks Document (PNG).
In the New Document dialog box, under Canvas Size, enter 340 pixels for the width and 270 for the height. Since this file is going to serve as the background for our photo, it has to be bigger than the photo itself: if you’re using your own photo here, just make sure the canvas height and width are both about 60 pixels larger than the photo.
Set the resolution to 72 pixels / inch, to match the resolution of our photo.
Set the Canvas color to Custom, click the Canvas color box and pick a light grey color from the Swatches pop-up window or type the hexadecimal value of #999999 (it's always good if your canvas color matches the color of your web page background). Finally, click OK to create the document.





2. CREATING A RECTANGLE

Once inside the document, select the Rectangle tool. We’ll create a rectangle that will act as the border surrounding the photo.
Click and drag on the canvas to draw a rectangle of any size. Make sure it is selected, and then slide down to the Property inspector to change its appearance and position.

Click the Fill Color box next to the bucket icon and type #EFEBE8 in the text box at the top of the pop-up window. This gives the rectangle a pale sepia hue.
Click the Stroke Color box next to the pencil icon, and click the Transparent button at the top of the pop-up window to remove the outline.



Now we’ll set the size of the rectangle: again, it has to be slightly bigger than the photo – about 20 pixels larger in width and height, to obtain a 10 pixels thick border around the photo. For me, it will measure 300 x 230 pixels.
To resize the rectangle, type the new dimensions in the width box (W) and the height box (H) in the lower left corner of the Property inspector, pressing Enter after applying the values.
Finally, we’ll enter the X and Y coordinates to specify our rectangle’s position: to place it in the center of the canvas, type 20 for both the X position and the Y position. Again, press Enter upon applying these values.



3. IMPORTING THE PHOTO

We can import the photo now. Select File > Import (or click the Import button right above the Document window) to open the Import dialog box.



Navigate to the folder containing the actual photo, select it and click Open. Then click anywhere on the canvas to insert the photo. With the photo selected, enter the X and Y coordinates of 30, 30 to place it in the center of the rectangle.



4. RESHAPING THE RECTANGLE

Now we’re ready to reshape the rectangle’s edges, i.e. the border of our photo, to give it a jagged look.
Note that our rectangle is actually a grouped object, because the basic shape tools in Fireworks draw shapes as grouped objects. To be able to reshape it using the Freeform tool (which alters the shape of objects by editing their paths), we must first ungroup it, i.e. turn it into a vector object (a vector object is a graphic whose shape is defined by a path, a series of points plotted along its outline).

Select the rectangle (being careful not to select the photo), and select Modify > Ungroup. Our rectangle is turned into a path.



Zoom in for a closer view: select the Zoom tool, and click over the top left edge of the rectangle to magnify it. Then select the Freeform tool from the Tools panel.



In the Property inspector, enter a value of 10 in the Size text box, to specify the amount to be reshaped.



Now move the pointer over the top edge of the rectangle, and place it directly over the path (our rectangle’s outline): it changes to the pull pointer. Click, hold the mouse button down and drag the path down a little, toward the photo, then finally release the mouse button. You have just pulled a path segment down.



Repeat this process all along the rectangle's edges. This may take a while, but remember that you don’t have to be extremely careful or slow here: you don’t need to pull all the segments equally, or space these distortions evenly. It’s even better to keep it slightly irregular: it will result in a more realistic look.



6. APPLYING A SEPIA TONE

To apply a subtle brownish tone to the photo, select the photo, then select Commands > Creative > Convert to Sepia Tone. You’ll notice the preset Hue/Saturation filter added to the Filters list in the Property inspector.



7. ADDING NOISE

For a more realistic look, we’re going to add some noise to the photo: select the photo, click the Add Live Filters button in the Property inspector, and select Noise > Add Noise.



Enter the following settings in the Add Noise dialog box that appears: set the Amount value to 5, verify the Color check box is unchecked, and click OK.



Now go ahead and apply the same filter to the jagged rectangle behind the photo!



8. APPLYING A DROP SHADOW

To make it appear as the photo was exposed to a light source above it, we’ll apply a drop shadow filter to its jagged frame.
Select the jagged rectangle, click the Add Live Filters button in the Property inspector, and select Shadow and Glow > Drop Shadow. Then enter the following shadow settings in the pop-up window:

Set the distance to 8.
Select the Color box to open the color pop-up window and set the shadow color to black (#000000).
Set the Opacity to 50%.
Set the Softness to 5.
Set the Angle to 315.
Make sure the Knock Out option is deselected (this option would hide the object and display the shadow only).


To close the window, just click outside of it or press Enter.



9. ROTATING THE PHOTO

As the final touch, we’ll rotate the photo a little to add some movement to the composition.
Take the Pointer tool and drag it across the canvas diagonally to include every object on it inside the selection area (the jagged rectangle and the photo). Then select Modify > Group, to group them and enable us to rotate the whole as a single object.



Making sure the group is selected, take the Scale tool.



Now, place the cursor near any corner of the photo until the rotation pointer appears, then drag to rotate. Rotate it for about 10° counter-clockwise.



There you have it – it’s a picture of Rome from the 1950s!



10. SAVING THE FILE

You can save this file in any format you want. If you select File > Save, the document will be automatically saved as a PNG file (it is the default Fireworks file format). By using the Save As command, you can save it as a JPEG file, thus obtaining a much smaller file size.
It is certainly a good idea to keep a PNG copy of this file – since this format remains editable, you can always go back and make additional changes, or you can even use it as a template - just replace the current photo with another one!

Torture a Man and Stitch Him Up

Transform a man into a torture victim with a couple tricks and some basic tools.

Step 1: Put Him in Stitches

This man will soon have a life-changing experience.

The color in this picture is a little intense, so first thing we’re going to do is lower the saturation. CTRL+U and drag the Saturation slider down to -75.

Adjust the levels and intensify the image. CTRL+L and slide the sliders around until you get a nice effect.

Duplicate the layer (I like to keep duplicates of layers we’re going to alter in case we make a mistake – it’s good practice). Hide the bottom of the two layers.

Create a new layer over top of the man.

Use either the Pen Tool, or the Brush Tool and draw some lines/shapes where you want the stitches to go. This is just a guide to help us, so it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Download a couple packs of Stitches Brushes from deviantART.

After you install them, (you might have to save and exit, then reopen Photoshop for them to appear), go through and select a stitches brush.

Create another new layer, over top of the lines you made. What we’re going to do is create a new layer for each length of stitches, so if we need to we can edit them later on.

Change the color to black and stamp the stitches anywhere on your layer.

CTRL+T to transform, so you can skew and scale the stitches. Position them along one of the lines you made.

Then, stamp another set of stitches. Use a Marquee tool or a Lasso tool to select around your newest stitches. Then, CTRL+T to rotate, scale and skew if needed – match it up with the other stitches you already placed.

For each line of stitches, create a new layer, and then repeat these steps until everything is covered.

Be sure you switch up which stitches you’re using, you don’t want them to all look the same.

Step 2: How to Kill an Appendage

We’re going to kill this man’s pinky. To get a nice dead flesh look, select the Sponge tool to begin with. Soft Round brush, Mode: Desaturate, Flow: 50%. Scale the brush down so it fits neatly inside of the finger. Do a once-over with the brush.

If you want a little less color in a specific area, carefully going back in with the brush and absorb more of the color.

Now, select the Burn Tool, Soft Round brush, Range: Midtones and Exposure: 10%. Start at the finger tip and go over the finger several times.

Be sure to go along the stitches as well, and darken the area around the stitches, on both sides. You want it to look infected and rotting at the same time.

Use the Lasso Tool, with a 7px feather and draw a shape around the finger. We’re going to add some green/yellow color to the finger now. CTRL+U and up the Saturation a little, and slide the Hue slider around until you find a nice sick yellowy color.

Use the Eyedropper tool and pull some of the greenish colors from the finger and paint the fingernail, with a small Soft Round brush, 20% Opacity so you don’t coat it too quickly.

Step 3: Infect the Stitches

Since a lot of his skin is a little browner than it is pink, we’re going to add a little pink to it. To do this, select a bright red color. Using the Brush tool with a Soft Round brush and 10-20% Opacity, color up and down the stitches, on the man’s layer. You don’t want it too intense, we’ll do that later, we just want to add a little color to it.

Using the Burn Tool, go along the stitches on the man’s layer. We can to actually change the color of his flesh, and adding the red to it will help it more easily look infected.

Keep going along the stitches until you get a good dark color. Add some extra darkness in some areas.

While you’re at it, you can kill another finger if you want.

Step 4: Rough Him Up and Remove Some Skin

Find a large picture of raw meat. For this, I searched for “raw steak”. Cut out the meat and copy and paste it onto a new layer in our project.

Duplicate it a couple times and cover all of the space that the man’s body exists in. Move the pieces of meat under the man’s layer.

Now to make a skin-removal device, AKA the Eraser.

Select the Eraser with a Chalk brush. Go to the Brushes options and click on Scattering and Shape Dynamics. In Shape Dynamics, increase the Angle Jitter some so it produces more jagged edges. Change the Opacity to 9%.

To remove the skin without putting a huge awkward hole in his face, we’re going to start with a larger brush, and scale it down a little a couple times as we go over the same area. This will make the skin look more worn from the center of the area, and fade into solid skin.

Duplicate your current man’s layer, hide the original, and do your erasing to the new one.

Begin removing skin in one area to see how it works. Every time you click you’re going to remove 9% of the skin. So, as you continue to go over the same area several times, you’ll lose more skin and reveal the meat under the man’s layer. By exposing the meat, it’ll look like you have removed the top layer of skin.

Branch out and start removing the skin from other areas of his body: hands, ears, etc.

Keep going until you take all of the skin you want off of him.

As you go through, use the Burn tool occasionally to darken the shadows and such, to get a really rich looking picture.

Step 5: Roll Him in the Dirt

Do an image search for “texture” or “rust” or “dirt” and find a good large texture. Select the entire texture and copy it. Go to your man’s layer. Use the Magic Wand and select the white space. Invert the selection CTRL+SHIFT+I, then paste your texture into that space CTR:+SHIFT+V. This will automatically create a mask for it and only put the texture into the shape of the man. Now, if it is now, move this layer above all of the others.

Change the texture layer’s blending option to Soft Light, in the Layers window.

Step 6: Make Him Look Like He Belongs

Find another large texture. Do a search for “wall” or whatever you like to put in for his background.

Select that white space again with the Magic Wand tool. Hit delete to remove the white area. While you still have the area selected, you’ll probably notice there is a lot of meat visible. Select each one of their layers and hit the delete key to trim them up.

Now, on a new layer under all of the meat, paste your new background texture.

Adjust the Hue/Saturation CTRL+U. Decrease the Saturation and decrease the Lightness.

Step 7: Some Final Touches

This poor man we have destroyed still has nicely manicured fingernails, and this just won’t do.

Take a large piece of the texture you put over his skin to make him dirty.

Select each of the fingernails, using whatever method you want with whichever selection tool.

Once selected, drag the selections down to the texture.

Copy the texture with these fingernail shapes. Hide your texture. Paste your fingernails into a new layer.

Position over the fingernails.

Use the Eraser and trim them up so they fit on the fingernail surfaces well.

Change the blending option to Multiply on the fingernail layer, and lower the opacity quite a bit. Use the Eraser with a lower opacity and erase some of the fingernail texture so it doesn’t look like the nails are completely coated.

Now, we darken the fingertips.

Use the Lasso tool with a 3px feather and select around a fingertip. Be sure you’re on the man’s layer, or this won’t work.

Adjust the Hue/Saturation CTRL+U and lower the Lightness to about -20.

Do this to each fingertip.

And We’re Done!

Hope you find this useful!

By: Kirin Knapp