Photofiltre Tutorials

Jeffagogo reader Tom, recently sent me this technique for creating a Lomo style photo using Photofiltre.

About Lomo Photography.

The Lomo Photographic effect is based on the original Russian made 35mm LOMO LC-A compact camera. This camera was considered a cheap consumer level camera for the masses at the time and the final photographic results were far from perfect. Photos often turned out being overexposed, colour shifted and blurry. Despite this, Lomo photography has captured the imagination of photographic freaks from all over the world and has a cult following. Original LOMO LC-A cameras are highly sought after and command a premium price, when they come up for sale.

Fortunately, the Lomo style is easy to reproduce with Photofiltre. Lomo typically has high contrast, strong colours, and a noticeable vignette.

 

Photo Credit: slayer23 (Flickr)

 

Plugins needed.

For this you’ll need to download and install two plugins for Photofiltre:

• Histogram
• RGB Fantasy

1. Download the Plugins from the Photofiltre site here
2. Extract the files to Photofiltre Plugins directory: 

C:\Program Files\PhotoFiltre\Plugins

Remember to close and restart Photofiltre to make the plugins active.

The Technique.

Step 1.

Open your picture in Photofiltre.

Goto the Histogram Plugin: Filter>>Plugin>>Histogram

Apply the Equalization and click OK

After Histogram Equalization.

 

Step 2.

Adjust Gamma, Contrast and Color:

Gamma +6, Contrast +6,  Color +1 clicks

These settings are a guide only, use different settings for different pictures.

Remember rule 10of Lomo photography “there are no rules“.. so feel free to go crazy with these settings.

 Result after gamma, contrast and color adjustment.

 

Step 3.

Open the RGB Fantasy plugin

Filter>>Plugin>>RGB Fantasy

Settings: RGB+ 30/0/-20

Result after RGB fantasy plugin adjustment.

 

Step 4.

Add noise +25 ….and then soften

and then…

Result after adding noise and softening.

 

Step 5.

Adding the vignette.

The easiest way to add a vignette is to use the Photomasque. To do that you’ll either need to find a vignette mask or create your own.

Here are two I’ve created which you can use:

Right mouse click and save these to your Photofiltre masks collection.

 

Apply the mask by going to Filter>>Photomasque

The end result of a Lomo style photo created using Photofiltre.

 

Lomo photography links:

• Lomography
• Lomophotos website
• Wikipedia overview of Lomo
• Lomo group photos on Flickr

 

 

Tags: contrast, effects, histogram, LC-A, lomo, Photofiltre, plugins, rgb fantasy, vignette