Image Vintage Filter
Make a photo look like an old print from the family album. The vintage filter blends in 60 percent of a sepia color matrix for brown, aged tones, lowers contrast so blacks lift to a dusty gray and whites dim slightly, and darkens the corners with a soft vignette. The intensity setting mixes the effect with the original, from a gentle hint of age to the full faded print.
Frequently asked questions
What does the vintage filter change?
It applies three steps. First a color matrix moves the image 60 percent of the way to sepia, then a tone curve lifts the blacks to about 18 to 26 and lowers the whites to about 222 to 240, and finally a vignette darkens the corners by up to 45 percent. Together they mimic a faded, aged print.
How is it different from the sepia tool?
Sepia converts the image fully to brown tones with full contrast. The vintage filter keeps some of the original color, softens contrast and adds dark corners, which looks more like a real old photo than a pure tone change.
How is it different from the faded filter?
The faded filter keeps the original hues, only muting them and lifting the blacks with a slight cool tint, and has no vignette. The vintage filter turns colors brown and darkens the edges for a much older look.
How does the intensity setting work?
The filtered image is blended with the original. At 100 percent you see the full effect, at 50 percent a half and half mix, and at 0 the original. This also softens the vignette proportionally.
Why are the corners darker?
Old lenses let less light reach the corners of the film, which is called vignetting. The filter recreates this with a smooth radial falloff that starts about a third of the way out from the center and is strongest in the corners.
Which photos suit the vintage look?
Portraits, weddings, street scenes, travel photos and still lifes look convincing. Photos with modern objects such as screens or cars can look odd, which can also be a fun creative contrast.
Is transparency kept?
Yes, the alpha channel is carried over unchanged. Grayscale uploads are converted to RGB so the brown tone appears.
Which formats can I upload?
Upload JPEG, PNG, GIF, WebP, TIFF or AVIF files up to 5 MB. Animated files use their first frame and images larger than 4000 pixels on a side are scaled down to fit. The result is PNG.
Can I add film grain as well?
Yes, run the result through the Image Grain tool with a small amount for an even more authentic analog look. An amount of 15 to 25 with monochrome grain suits most vintage edits.
What engine is used?
The sepia blend uses the recomb operation of the sharp library, and the tone curve and vignette are calculated per pixel in the tool. The result is deterministic.