Like the allure of vinyl records, classic video games, and even the early Internet, the fascination with older photography standards like point-and-shoot cameras or 35mm film persists — even to people too young to remember when this equipment was cutting edge. The appeal of vintage photography goes beyond nostalgia and Instagram filters, judging by the sheer number of apps designed to mimic the film, lenses and visual quirks of vintage photos and movies.
Despite the irony of using a high-end smartphone camera to produce imperfect images that look oversaturated, jittery, low-contrast, unfiltered, or otherwise analog, the retro look can help you practice your composition skills. If you’re not ready to buy authentic gear, you can still evoke the creative sensibility of a different time period. Here is an overview.
Getting started
Before you dive in, here are a few things to keep in mind. First, make sure you can reverse any edits to an original image. Backing up your experiments is a safe backup. Second, be aware that some apps capture content with the built-in effects, leaving you with a permanently vintage looking photo or video.
You may not need additional software, depending on the visual effect you want to achieve. Apple, Google, and Samsung include a variety of filters in their default photo apps, as well as built-in editing tools. You can get good results by manually adjusting the color saturation, hue, and other elements to make the photo look like it was taken by an ancient film camera.
For specific historical looks (like a 1970s Polaroid, for example), there are apps with filters and algorithms designed to mimic certain analog film, camera lenses, and other factors, such as simulated light leaks and dust spots. Just type “vintage” or “retro” when searching the app store for camera or photo apps. Some apps charge for extra filters, require a subscription, or have technical requirements, so read the specs.
Hipstamatic for iPhone is one of the best-known retro camera apps — and it can be considered an antique itself, having first been released in 2009. Its original incarnation, now called Classic Camera (free trial, $2.99 ​​with purchases in-app ), still exists and uses combinations of filters to mimic the look of prints taken with a cheap plastic camera from the 1980s. Times photographer Damon Winter even used the app on a 2010 mission to Afghanistan . Last year, the company released Hipstamatic X, an update with hundreds of filters and tools and its own online photo-sharing community (free trial, $29.99 a year for membership).
But again, there are niche applications. Super 16 for Android and iOS (free trial, $23.49 for a six-month subscription) has about 70 customizable filters for photos and videos and can be used to record directly — or to apply effects to existing videos.
Similar software, Nexvio’s Vintage Camera 8mm app ($9.99 per year) for iPhone, lets you record clips in the style of a black-and-white film noir, a grainy ’70s art film, and more.
Update old photos
Just as you can make new photos look old, you can make old photos look newer — by coloring them. If you want to experiment, Colorize (free trial, $18.99/year) uses artificial intelligence to convert monochrome images, as does the Colorize Images app (free trial, $9.99/year). Both apps are available for Android and iOS.
Some genealogy services — including MyHeritage and Ancestry — offer a free photo coloring tool for subscribers to use on files they upload to the site.
Depending on the original, the results can be extremely strange or—at best—hard to distinguish from a true color image. This might be considered sacrilege to historians and black-and-white photography enthusiasts, but for projects like compiling a family tree, modernizing could make the people in the photos feel more relatable.
Shifting images into the past or present isn’t for everyone, but for the curious, the apps are generally less expensive than browsing eBay’s used camera section or developing film. Just remember, light leaks and dust spots are features (not bugs) these days.
