This past summer, Duncan was invited to be a ring-bearer for my brother’s wedding. The event was a country affair with the boys in vests and cowboy hats. And, it made for some beautiful photographs: Cowboys and girls surrounded by meadow with the impressive Sierra Nevada Mountains in the background. Only, I didn’t take the photographs for this one (I was in charge of music and making sure my son performed his duties as requested). The only photograph I have, is the one I took of my son to share with the bride and groom before the wedding — the one that was sent to ensure that his attire was appropriate.

While reminiscing the other day, I realized the image could use a bit of Western vintage to bring home the mood of the day. So, I set about playing and realized the effect was pretty easy.

The following recipe shares how…

Ingredients

1 Cute Cowboy/Cowgirl Photograph
Photoshop Elements

Steps

1. Open up your photograph in Photoshop Elements and press Ctrl-J (Mac: Command-J) to create a copy.
2. Select Filter>Adjustments>Photo Filter. Then, select the Color option and click on the color box to change the color setting. Next, enter 856542 for the # option and press OK. Finally, check to ensure that the Preserve Luminosity option is selected, slide the Density slider all the way to the right to 100%, and press OK again.
   
3. Now, to add a bit of contrast, select Enhance>Unsharp Mask and set Amount to 20%, the Radius to 250 pixels, and press OK.
   
4. Press Ctrl-J (Mac: Command-J) to create a copy of Layer 1.
5. Select the Rectangular Marquee tool (M) and set the Feather option (in the toolbar) to 100px. Then, create a frame by selecting a portion of the image. Finally, cut the selection (X).
   
6. Set blending to Multiply and dial the opacity down to 50%

And, there you have it: One vintage Western photograph of your favorite cowboy or girl!