How to Make a Photo Look Lomo

Creating a Vignette

• 1

  Open your photo in the image-editing software of your choice. Most professional editing programs will have the necessary tools required for achieving the lomography effect.

• 2

  Select the "Layer" option from the top toolbar. Hover over "New" from the drop-down menu and select "Layer From Background."

• 3

  Choose the "Lasso" tool from the main toolbox. In most programs, this tool is an icon of a small circular rope. Enter "90" into the box labeled "Feather" at the top toolbar to soften the edges of your resulting vignette.

• 4

  Draw a circle surrounding the main subject of your photo. Anything outside the circle will be cloaked in dark vignetting, so position yours carefully.

• 5

  Right-click the layer in the Layers menu box. Choose "Blending Options," then "Gradient Overlay." In the prompt window that appears, tick the "Reverse" box and change the overlay style to "Radial" using the drop-down menu.

• 6

  Adjust the opacity of your vignette using the notch on the slider bar. To push the vignette further toward the edges of the frame, adjust the notch on the "Scale" slider bar.

• 7

  Save your image once you have achieved the desired effect.

Adjusting Color Balance

• 8

  Select the "Image" option from the top toolbar. Choose "Adjustments" from the drop-down menu, then "Color Balance."

• 9

  Adjust the notches on the three slider bars until the reds in the image have been suppressed. In lomographic images, blues and greens tend to dominate, so increase these values as desired.

• 10

  Select "Hue/Saturation" from the Adjustments menu. Increase the warmth of the image by moving the notch to the left of the "Hue" slider bar, or decrease warmth by moving it to the right. Saturate colors by moving the notch on the "Saturation" slider bar to the right.

• 11

  Save your new lomographic image once you have achieved the desired effect. To preserve the original file, rename the image before saving.