Bleached Photographs Tutorial Author - Andantonius (http://forums.biorust.com/member.php?userid=6113)

In this world of digital photography and optical storage it may be hard to remember the older traditional methods of photo development, which were as much an artform as an exact science.  Back then there were no such things as strong colorfast dyes, and color photographs were much more susceptible to the bleaching effects of strong sunlight, as well as other environmental damage.  This tutorial details a simple non-destructive technique for adding this bleached dye effect back into any stock footage of your choice.
 

Step 1: Open up a stock image in Photoshop of any size and/or format. The best results for this tutorial usually involve large images with a good mix of color.  Dark images will, of course, work too, but the results will be far less impressive.   I chose a picture of a girl that I took myself with a digital camera.

Step 2: Ensure your background layer is selected in the layers palette, and duplicate it by selecting Layer > Duplicate Layer from the main menu.   Select the new layer in the layers palette and remove the colors with Image > Adjustments > Desaturate, and then invert the layer with Image > Adjustments > Invert.  Finish this step by setting the layer's blending mode to Color Dodge. At this point you should have an image with very bright patchy color.  Don't worry, though, as this will soon change.

Step 3:  With the duplicated layer still selected in the layer palette, run Filter > Blur > Gaussian Blur, adjusting the radius slider until you have the ideal mix of detail and color.  Sliding to the left gives you less detail, and sliding to the right gives you more.  For reference, I set the blur radius in my example to 15.0px.  Press OK... and there you are!   See, I told you it was simple! This tutorial was written by Andantonius. If you have any questions or comments feel free to E-mail/PM him via the BioRUST wachamathingey. Have fun bleaching!