Vintage, Cross Processed Photo Effect in Photoshop

The cross processed look comes from a old photography technique where you develop film in the wrong type of chemicals, which creates color shifts and changes in contrast.

This tutorial teaches you how to digitally re-create a cross processed photo effect in Photoshop.

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Step 1

Open your image in Photoshop and duplicate your background layer. Name the new layer "Sharpen".

Click Filter > Other > High Pass. Adjust the Radius until you see the edges of your photo with a slight glow. For our 1,920 x 1,080 pixel image, we're going to use 10 pixels.

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Step 2

Set the Blend Mode of your "Sharpen" layer to Hard Light and the Opacity to 50% in the Layers panel.

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Step 3

Add a Curves Adjustment Layer.

Increase the contract by giving the overall curve a slight "s" shape.

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Step 4

Select the red channel of your Curves Adjustment Layer and give it a more dramatic "s" curve.

Select the green channel and give it a very subtle "s" curve.

Select the blue channel and give it a "reverse-s" curve.

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Final Image

You can go back and adjust things like the curve shapes, the layer opacity, and more to tweak the final look.

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This is a super quick way to get a really popular photo effect. Show us your version in the comments.