How to Make a Photo Look Like a Polaroid? [Top Methods]

Part 1. Polaroid Vintage Photos: What Are Its Features

The polaroid vintage photos are still iconic due to the combination of spontaneity and nostalgic aesthetics, which provides them with an ageless appeal that other pictures lack.

Signature Features

• 1. Square Format:While most of the photos today are rectangular, Polaroids distinguish themselves with their square frame. This shape makes them stand out in albums, walls, or even digital recreations.
• 2. Muted, Low Tones:The polaroid photos are created in the light colors, which are slightly faded with a warm tone. It gives it a dreamy, nostalgic feel, as it reminds the viewer of moments that are stuck in time.
• 3. White Bordered Frame:Their thick white border is more than just decoration; it's a perfect design element that creates space for people to jot down dates, places, or personal notes.
• 4. Light Leaks and Flares:As polaroid cameras aremechanical and chemical, tiny flaws would slip through, such as streaks of light or soft glares. Instead of being errors, these imperfections gave every photo individuality and charm.
• 5. Instant Printing:After you click the photo, it instantly prints out from the camera, saving the time of processing, unlike other images.

Difference Between Original Vintage Polaroid Cameras and Digital Edits

Part 2. How to Make a Photo Look Like a Polaroid: 5 Top Methods

If you are ready to transform your shots into timeless keepsake vintage Polaroid camera pictures, let's explore a few simple yet worthy methods below:

1. HitPaw FotorPea

After returning from a trip, Emma is excited to share her pictures on social media, but they look dull to her. Instead of buying an expensive vintage camera, she plans to use HitPaw FotorPea (formerly HitPaw Photo Enhancer). This tool helped her instantly change her pictures with a vintage filter, giving a polaroid-like look. For enhancing the effect, she was also able to control the colors and add more adjustments which gave that instant old vibe.

Key Features

• 1.Provides filters with grains, faded colors, and leaks of light to imitate the visual character of vintage Polaroid pictures.
• 2.Offers a dedicated AI photo editing platform to make background adjustments and other AI operations.
• 3.Efficiently enhances the vintage photos up to 8K in quality with its Upscale Model.
• 4.Adds color to the vintage photos with the Colorize Model for instant image improvement.
• 5.Makes it easy to removes scratches from polaroid images with its Scratch Repair Model.

How to Make Photos Look like Polaroids With FotorPea

If you want to learn how to make a photo look like a Polaroid with FotorPea, follow the steps below:

Step 1. Launch and Navigate Into AI Photo Editor

Once you access the tool, click on the "AI Photo Editor" located on the FotorPea's interface.

Step 2. Add Image and Induce Vintage Effect

Here, add your image by selecting "Add Image," then click on the "Filters" icon to choose your polaroid filter.

Step 3. Preview and Export Polaroid-Like Image

Once you make edits to your vintage polaroid picture, hit the "Export" button to save it to your device.

2. Adobe Photoshop

This tool empowers creators to transform their polaroid old photo to another level with its advanced editing features, such as layer-based editing and an array of filters. Its powerful features allow you to control light, color and grain to transform your image into a vintage one. Photoshop comes as an all-in-one photo editing solution, allowing you to make your simple images into professional scores.

• Step 1.Upon launching Photoshop, add your photo and include a layer using the "CTRL +J" combination. To add an adjustment layer, select the "Curves" option and continue with the process. Adjust the bottom anchor point to exclude all the true blacks from the photo.

  

• Step 2.To make color adjustment similar to a polaroid, add more highlights using the curves and navigate to the "Preset" drop-down to manage the "Red," "Green," and "Blue" color channels separately.

  

• Step 3.You can add more color effects by adding separate "Solid Color" layers for a vintage look. Following this, lead into the "Filter" tab on the top, proceed to "Noise" and choose "Add Noise" option for a vintage effect. Once you are done,

  

3. Luminar

It is a powerful editing tool developed by Skylum, aimed at helping both casual users and professional photographers with their editing of vintage Polaroid pictures. With basic and advanced editing functions, you can easily set up the perfect vintage Polaroid land camera film effect across the platform.

• Step 1.First access Luminar Neo and import your desired photo into it. Next, you'll find multiple options in the side panel. Select the "Supersharp" option and select any option to auto-apply a perfect sharp texture to your picture.

  

• Step 2.Here, select the "Relight" option to adjust the background and foreground light for a vintage effect. Moreover, you can choose the "Magic Light" option to add light beams to your photo for a soft vintage look.

  

• Step 3.Navigate into the "Dramatic" section and adjust or mask this effect by a slight tweak to give the picture a dramatic look perfect for a polaroid image. Then, simply select "Export" to save the image to your device.

  

4. YouCam Perfect

YouCam Perfect is a coherent app developed by Perfect Corp, specializing in selfie enhancement with multiple options. It is a versatile app with advanced AI and AR technology, which people use for creating flawless portraits and images. In addition, it allows its users to develop Polaroid photo vintage with an easy-to-use interface.

• Step 1.First, download the app on your phone, navigate to "Collage" to finalize the collage and grid for your photo.

  

• Step 2.Here, tap on "Grid Storage" to find the Polaroid layout for your picture and select any Polaroid frame you want for your picture.

  

• Step 3.Once you create your Polaroid picture, tap on the "save" option in the top right corner.

  

5. VSCO

It is a popular desktop and mobile app that offers robust editing tools to its users to create various styles of photos. VSCO also acts as a social media site, where users are allowed to show their creative sides. When wondering how to make your pictures look like polaroids, VSCO provides the necessary preset effects and adjustment parameters which helps create the environment.

• Step 1.After launching the app, click on the "Upload Image" icon and choose an image from your storage.

  

• Step 2.Once you select your image, tap on the "Adjustments" icon to adjust colors, saturation, and grain for your image.

  

• Step 3.Here, review the image and choose the "Export" icon to save your image to your device or upload it to VSCO.

  

Part 3. Tips to Achieve Authentic Polaroid Style

If you are planning to make a vintage Polaroid picture, then follow these tips for perfect and authentic Polaroid-style photos:

• 1.Use a square photo format and white borders for your picture, as it will give a proper vibe of a Polaroid to your picture.
• 2.Choose warm highlights and muted colors, and a grainy effect as a subtle texture will enhance the retro mood.
• 3.Select pictures with high exposure, as it will help you while editing the photos for a perfect Polaroid-like look.
• 4.Blur backgrounds for a soft-focus look because polaroids are not razor sharp; they are meant to be smooth and a little blurred.
• 5.Select pictures taken in daylight or during the golden hour for a classic warm glow and keep them raw by avoiding heavy retouching.

Conclusion

To summarize, Polaroid photos are in trend these days, and people are seeking methods to know how to make a photo look like a Polaroid. To answer that, we have introduced you to five methods for creating your polaroids in this guide. If you want to enhance your vintage picture, then consider using HitPaw FotorPea for a great experience.