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The vintage photo effect: fade, grain, warmth, vignette

Old photos look old for four reasons: lifted blacks, a warm or shifted colour cast, grain, and darker corners. The one-click Vintage effect does the first, second and fourth; the Editor recipe adds grain, light leaks and a print border.

Beginner2 min readUpdated 27 September 2026Effects · Vintage, Film Grain, Film Burn

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By decade, roughly

LookRecipe
1920s to 40s printBlack and white adjustment, Sepia at 40 to 60, Film Grain, Vignette
1970s colour printVintage at 60 to 80, Colour balance towards yellow and red, Film Grain
1990s snapshotVintage at 30 to 40, slightly more contrast with Curves, Film Burn at 40 per cent opacity
Instant printVintage at 40, Faded film curve, a white border wider at the bottom

The layered version in the Editor

  1. Open the photo. Add Curves and click Faded film: the blacks lift and the highlights soften.
  2. Add Filter, Colour, Vintage and set Intensity to taste. For more control over the cast, add Colour balance and push the shadows towards blue-green and the highlights towards yellow.
  3. Add Filter, Enhance, Film Grain: Amount 15 to 25, a small Grain Size. See Add film grain that looks like film.
  4. Optional light leak: Filter, Enhance, Film Burn, then lower the filter layer's opacity to 40 to 60 per cent.
  5. Optional instant-print border: Image, Canvas size…, tick Relative, add 80 px to the width and 260 to the height with the anchor in the top-centre square, then add a new layer, Edit, Fill… with an off-white, and drag it to the bottom of the stack.

What makes a photo look vintage?

Lifted blacks, a colour cast (usually warm), grain and darker corners. Soft focus and light leaks help. Heavy scratches and dust usually look like a filter rather than a print.

Should I add a sepia tone?

For anything before about 1950, yes, on a black and white image. Colour photos from the 60s to 90s faded warm rather than brown; use Vintage or Colour balance instead.

Open Effects

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