I’ve noticed lately that there’s a trend for photography with a dreamy washed-out rainbow effect which kind of apes a light-leaked film. I’m not generally a fan of faking the natural blips and errors that occur in 35mm film; it often looks overdone and obvious, but I just tried out this effect for fun. The results are quite pleasing, if not a little cheesy:
Here’s how it’s done.
Open your photo and create a new layer above it.
Now make a really gaudy colored diagonal gradient in the new layer – 2 or 3 colours. I used neon green-yellow-pink for this one.
Set the blending mode of the layer to ‘soft light’ and adjust the opacity until it looks a bit more subtle. All done!
Try different colours for a kinda cross-processed effect. Here’s blue-orange-red.
And a more subtle one, pinks and purples.
P.S. These photos were taken in Devon on my work weekend away – more photos from the trip on Flickr.
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Comments (8)
Michelle
April 29th 2010 at 9:51 pm
Thanks for posting this! I kinda like it. Will definitely give it a go!
SJP
April 30th 2010 at 10:16 am
Very beautiful – I agree that faking printing quirks are not as satisfying as genuine mistakes but these images look very natural – will def try this! x
Lolo
May 1st 2010 at 4:39 pm
I've just stumbled across your blog and it's really great! It's getting added to my google reader for sure :)
I like this effect on the last photo the best. I think because it's slightly subtler.
I love my digital slr but nothing beats using a film camera and then waiting to get the film developed!
http://www.loloholmes.tumblr.com
Samantha @ This Home Sweet Home
May 1st 2010 at 6:58 pm
cool tips, can it be done using any other photo editing thingie?
katie
May 10th 2010 at 10:39 pm
Hi Samantha, as long as your program supports layers and blending modes you should be able to create the effect.. I can't recommend any specifically as i only use Photoshop!
Weekend Reading: Faking Leaked Light, and Tiny Fimo Food « India's Roses
January 6th 2012 at 2:35 pm
[…] on Ford Island off the coast of O’ahu while my husband was in the Navy. I used this great tutorial that I found over at What Katie Does to add a rainbow, leaked light effect and I’m really […]
Charlie
May 21st 2013 at 1:29 pm
Thanks for posting this Katie. You have amazing, beautiful pictures that look brilliant even without the light leak effects.
Alex
October 26th 2013 at 9:33 am
Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work!