Learn to Photoshop
How it was done

There were dozens of photographic processes and techniques in the old days. People were always experimenting with new materials and chemicals. They all had their supporters and some could produce beautiful results, while many produced prints of archival quality.

A case in point is the bromoil transfer, where the silver image of the original bromide print is replaced by printer's ink, producing a rich colour. It's quite a long and messy process but to a large extent we can replicate the final effect.

• This process needs to start with a black and white image.

• To take off a bit of the crispness of a sharp image, apply a small amount of Gaussian Blur, maybe .5 or 1 .

• In the Layers panel, duplicate the image by dragging it on to the Create a new layer icon.

• Go to Filter > Sharpen > Unsharp Mask and and give high settings for Amount and Radius.
  The larger the file, the higher the settings.

  The idea is to go beyond sharpness to give extra punch.

• Go to Filter > Texture > Grain.
  For Grain Type, choose Enlarged, then pus up the Intensity and Contrast to high values.

  The grain effect for Bromoil needs to be quite clumpy.

• Go to Filter > Noise > Add Noise.
  Check the Uniform button and set Amount to 100%.

• Go to Edit > Fade Add Noise
  Drop Opacity down to 30% and set Mode to Lighten.

  With bromoil prints, a grain texture is noticeable in the midtones, but hardly shows in dark areas. Highlights tend to become rather bleached out.

• Go to Image > Mode > RGB Color;
  then click on Don't Flatten.

• Open Hue & Saturation with Ctrl + U / Cmd + U.
  This is to give the image a brown tone look.

  Check the Colorize box.
  Set Hue at 44 and Saturation at 35. OK.

• Reduce the Opacity of the top layer to 70%.

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