How to Make a Faded 80's Photo Effect in Lightroom

Lightroom Post Processing

The aesthetics of the 1980s have a charm marked by vibrant colors and bold contrasts, but the photographs taken on that era have aged gracefully, displaying a worn and faded effect which style has become popular again, and recreating it digitally is easier than ever thanks to Lightroom. So today, I will show you how to capture that nostalgic 80s photo look, achieving a washed-out and softly faded effect changing a few simple adjustments in Lightroom to replicate that retro tone, making your modern photos look as if they’ve come straight out of a decades-old memory album.

Step 1

Open your image in Lightroom.

Step 2

Go to the Develop tab.

Step 3

Expand the "Basic" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 4

Next, expand the "Tone Curve" tab, be sure to have the "Parametric Curve" selected and apply the following settings.

Step 5

Still in the "Tone Curve" tab select the "Point Curve" and click 3 times anywhere on the curve to add 3 new control points.

Step 6

Set each control point to the following Input/Output values:

1. 0 - 35
2. 90 - 80
3. 128 - 128
4. 200 - 195
5. 250 - 250

Step 7

Expand the "Color Mixer" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 8

Expand the "Color Grading" tab, select the "Highlights" and apply the following settings.

Step 9

Now expand the "Effects" tab and apply the following settings.

Step 10

If you plan to use this effect on more images, a good idea is to save all of these settings as a new Preset. To do that, on the left panel, click on the "Add New Presets" icon and from the dropdown menu select "Create Preset".

Step 11

In the "New Develop Preset" window, give your preset a name and click the "Create" button. This will create a new preset that you can later use over any other image you want.

Conclusion:

Now that you know how to easily make a Faded 80's Photo Effect in Lightroom, you can use this new preset over any other image and, if needed, make some fine tune adjustments according to the final look you want to achieve.