How to Create a Vintage Photoshop Effect in Camera Raw

I love this vintage look! The best part is, this Photoshop effect is super easy. And it is all done in Adobe Camera Raw.

This is my original image that I took at Bannack, Montanna a few weeks ago. I though a vintage look would go well with this cowboy image.

My image is a CR2 raw file, so when I open it in Photoshop, Camera Raw automatically opens. Click open image, which will bring you into Photoshop. To turn your layer into a Smart Object, so you can easily adjust your edits and keep your original image intact, right click on the layer and click Convert to Smart Object. Now go to Filter in the menu bar and click Camera Raw Filter to open it in Camera Raw again. Now we are ready to make some vintage edits.

The first thing you’ll need to do is change the Treatment option to Black & White.

Then open the Split Toning panel where we can add a great Sepia tone. For the Highlights, I changed the Hue value to 40 and the Saturation value to 20. As for the Shadows, I did a value of 45 for the Hue and 50 for the Saturation.

Now go to the Effects panel. There are 2 things we are going to add here: Grain and a white vignette. To add a Grain, I set the Amount value to 60, Size to 70 and Roughness to 75. Below the Grain settings are the vignette settings. I changed the Amount value to 50.

Now go back to the Basic panel. To make the image look worn and old, the highlights need to come down and the shadows go up. Overall, the contrast needs to go down. I also brought down the clarity. Here are the settings I put for my image.

Last, go to the Black & White Mix panel. Here you can adjust specific colors. Play around and lighten/darken areas you think look good. Here’s what I did.

Now when you open it in Photoshop, you have the option of going back to Camera Raw because your layer is a Smart Object, and also adding Adjustment Layers in Photoshop to further edit. I added a Brightness Adjustment layer and used the Brush Tool on a Layer Mask to lighten a few dark areas. Here is how my final image turned out.

Remember, all the value settings I used are not necessarily the ones you should use. They are a good starting point, but make sure to do what you like and what works with your image. I first learned how to do this Photoshop Effect here, and I made modifications where necessary too.