In-Camera Old Photo

[Christopher Miller]

Lately, I've been experimenting with photos through binoculars to achieve an old-style photo in-camera. What I did was I held the binoculars backwards in front of the camera so that the wide end was facing the camera. I then zoomed in enough on the camera so as to fill the frame with the image but still be able to focus. In post-processing, I just converted to sepia, added a little noise, cloned out the power line running to the barn, and cropped to a square. I'm not sure I have it perfected yet, but I'm curious what you all think of it.

[denise ippolito]

Christopher, Very inventive. I like the idea and the results are terrific. Nice spotlight effect created. The age to the image is nice.:)

[Mark Fuge]

Nice image and application, Christopher.

Now if you could find a light stocking to put over the end of the lens, to add the right tone ... you wouldn't need to go back to CS4. ;)

[Indranil Sircar]

Agree with Denise. Very creative and excellent results.

[Julie Kenward]

It IS very creative Christopher. I would think a heavy piece of black posterboard with a circular cut out would give you the same effect (for those that don't have binoculars!) You've really got the "vintage" look down - the noise and toning and contrast all fit the image's vision.

[Christopher Miller]

Thanks for the suggestion, Mark. I don't think I could find a light stocking to use, but maybe I can find something else that would add a sepia tone.

Jules, I like the idea of using posterboard. That would probably make it easier to frame the shot, and it would also allow for square and rectangular formats.

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. I'll definitely be exploring this idea more. :)