Photo Effects Fun Without Photoshop Knowledge – Part 1

By Shari Bonnin, Contributing Editor

Maybe you’re like me and haven’t quite got the whole layers, cropping, lassoing and all other Photoshop intricacies and just want to find easy ways to achieve certain effects with photos or maybe you are great at Photoshop but want some shortcuts.

Recently I’ve become very nostalgic because of Facebook; re-connecting with many old friends, digging into my old photo boxes, pulling out my Polaroids and thinking how cool that would be to be able to have that look again. Well, I’ve done some research, and here are some *FREE* photo effect websites that can help you give those photos those old effects and they are really addictive. You’ve been warned. So set aside half of a morning, or more, and go play.

Poladroid.net is a free downloaded application for Mac and Windows. This is the only website I’m posting here that you actually have to download to your computer.
There is only one option once you drag and drop your original photo into the “Poladroid camera” but I’m sure you’ll be pleased with it, thumbprints, scratches, and all. The photo “develops” slowly before your eyes like an original Polaroid. That’s what makes it fun. Oh also, you can only “develop” 10 pictures per session, just like in the original Polaroid camera cartridge. There is a free demo on their site if you want to watch it in action.

If you want different Polaroid color and soft/sharp look options, you can go to Rollip.com and upload your original photo with 6 different choices of how you want your “Polaroid” to look in the end. You can also add edge decorations and/or text options as well. By the way, all of these pictures are taken by me except the one of me, which was probably taken by my dad. Gee, thanks.

Fotoflexer.com allows you to take your pictures make them look old and antiqued. You can just play with the effects until they are what you like. This one I softened first, then I added a bit of film grain, then I went to “old photo” and used the advanced options so I could adjust the levels how I wanted it to look. That’s it. If you don’t like how things look, you just click, the “Undo” or “Cancel” button.

Research for this blog article has been so invaluable to me. I’ve had such a great time finding new sites with new effects, so much so that I will be doing a part 2.  In the next article, I will cover fun effects to add color, texture, dimension, and something you won’t even believe! Stay tuned!