The applications of Photoshop are unbound by its uses. The vast plethora of actions it offers makes it the first go-to software for us. From creating Black and white effects to making our photographs distinctly beautiful, the Photoshop software gave us everything we ever dreamt about editing photographs. The art of photo editing has been made simpler by this amazing tool, and now everyone is capable of editing photographs with considerable ease.
In this article, we shall discuss how to create the Lomo effect in Photoshop CS6. The steps discussed here to create Lomo effect in Photoshop CS6 are specifically designed for beginners and those who are not appreciably acquainted with Photoshop CS6.
- The first and foremost step before doing any action is to open the image in Photoshop. The next thing that we got to do is to readjust a number of colours present in the image. This can be used by the use of ‘Gradient Map’. For using the gradient map, first, go to Layer>New adjustment Layer>Gradient Map.
The next step to do is to click on the colour.
The subsequent steps have been lucidly explained in the images below:
The next step is to fill #030629 in the space of ‘colour code’.
Now proceed in accordance with the image.
Now fill ‘#40ffbe’ in the colour code box and click on Ok.
Now further change the mode of ‘Blend’ from Gradient Map to Overlay and then the value of the percentage of Opacity to 77%.
- Lomo images generally have a larger value of contrast in comparison to those images that are shot by DSLR cameras. For increasing the contrast ‘Curves’ is used. For this proceed as Layer>New adjustment Layer>Curves. Now change the ‘preset’ to Linear Contrast.
- The next step is to add a vignette effect to the image. Now press Ctrl + Shift + N/Cmd + Shift + N to create a new layer and name this layer ‘Vignette’. Now go to the tool panel and click on Marquee Tool.
Now proceed to the below-mentioned steps:
- Click on Select>Refine Edge. Now Increase the value of feather to 250 pixels. The feather value is dependent on the dimensions of the image. Now click on Ok. Then invert the selection by pressing the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + I/ Cmd + Shift + I.
- Then select black as the foreground colour and press Alt + Backspace to fill the foreground colour selected i.e. black.
- The next step is changing the blend mode of the ‘Vignette’ layer to ‘Multiply’. Then reduce the opacity percentage to 69.
- Now the next step is to stack all layers into a single layer. This is done by pressing Ctrl + Shift + Alt + E/ Cmd + Opt + Shift + E. This change is visible in the top of the layer panel only.
- Next, go to filter option>Blur>Gaussian blur and pick the value of radius as 8 pixels and then click on OK to blur the image.
- Now press and hold Ctrl/Cmd button and then click on the layer thumbnail of Vignette layer to load a selection.
- The next process is to go to layer option>Layer Mask>Reveal selection
- The final step of the action involves decreasing the vividness of colours present in the image. To do this, click on Layer>New adjustment>Hue and Saturation. Here decrease the value of saturation to -41.
This step marks the successful end to the action. You now have the desired result.
As we can see from the above, the number of steps here are quite large. However, for those who are new to Photoshop, practice will eventually make the process of creating lomo effect in Photoshop easier. So have patience and go through the steps systematically.
