Well, often name this Gingham effect, you will think. Same thing I thought when I saw it. Although it sounds a bit exotic and distant, the truth is that you have used this effect many times. The Gingham effect is nothing more than one of the favorite filters of Instagram users.
Does it sound better to you now? 😉 But then, what if we don’t want to submit to the “yoke” of Instagram to achieve this effect that we like so much? You already know that this platform resizes the images, which inevitably compresses them and makes us lose quality. So it doesn’t seem like a good idea to use it to apply filters to images that are not going to be exclusively designed and used for this social network.
What we want then is this effect on our images, without compromising on resolution or quality. So let’s learn to mimic this effect in Photoshop. It is very simple and I will explain it to you step by step.
Characteristics of the filter or Gingham effect
To know what exactly we are talking about when we refer to this type of filter, I will tell you that the Gingham effect is ideal for vintage lovers, of that touch of somewhat faded photos of our childhood. The Gingham effect achieves retro-style images through desaturated colors, low contrast, and a touch of cool or bluish light.
You are interested, right? The truth is that you can get very cool effects with it. I show you how to do it in the next point. Keep in mind that you can customize each step to your liking, it’s the good thing about taking charge of the entire photographic process 😉 .
How to get the Gingham effect step by step
The first thing you should do, logically, is to choose an image in which you think this nostalgic effect can suit you. Summer photographs, rural settings, portraits, etc.
1. Open the image in Photoshop
After choosing a possible candidate, open your image in Photoshop. If you are in Lightroom with the shortcut “Command (⌘) E” the image will go from one program to another automatically.
2. Add an Exposure layer
Once you have opened your image in Photoshop, go to Layers > Exposure. The layers are located in the lower panel in the right area and correspond to this symbol:
Within it you will find the different layer styles that I will be talking about (exposure, tone, etc.).
Within the layer you will be able to modify the “Offset” and “Gamma Correction” parameters. By moving the cursors slightly to the right, you will see how the blacks are softened.
3. Add a new Levels layer
This layer will serve to add some contrast to the blacks. Within the “Levels” layer, move your cursor slightly to the right to do so. You can see it in the screenshot below.
layer levels
4. Create a new Hue/Saturation layer
We keep adding layers. This time, we’ll add a Hue/Saturation in the same way we’ve been adding the rest.
In this new layer, we will slightly decrease the saturation of our image, similar to the image that I attached in the screenshot.
Hue/Saturation Layer
5. Finally… Create a color fill layer
Within this layer, choose a dark blue color. I have used this one, but you can completely customize it to your liking.
Color fill layer
Once the color is chosen, we will lower the opacity and change the blending mode to «Soft Light». To do this go to the top panel, Layer > Layer Style > Blend Options. Within merge options you will find the Fusion mode. Click on the dropdown and choose “Soft Light”. Then lower the opacity.
layer style
Et voila! You already have your spectacular Gingham effect.
Result when applying the Gingham effect
This is the image that results after applying the different layers and adjustments in Photoshop.
To make it clearer, here you can see the original image (left) and the image with Gingham effect (right).
- original image
- Result of applying the Gingham effect in Photoshop
Original image (left) Gingham effect image (right).
Don’t tell me you’re not going to dare to try it 😉 .
I really hope you try it because following the steps that I have been detailing is very simple, fast, and has no loss 🙂 And the more tools you have to encourage your creativity, the better.
If you found it interesting, do not hesitate to share it on your social networks to help us reach more creative and nostalgic people who may be interested and, above all, practice! See you in the next article.