Most people use state-of-the-art digital cameras these days, but some others miss those good old photo cameras you had to use with film rolls. And if there’s one of those old camera models that’s still quite trendy today, that’s Polaroid. Even if you don’t have one anymore, you can still produce Polaroid photos with the help of Photoshop and a couple of easy tricks. Pay attention because they’re really easy to apply and produce very attractive results!
First of all, open the photo you want to transform into a Polaroid, unblock the background layer and add a new layer below.
Make sure the photo layer is selected. Then press Ctrl+T to bring up the Free Transformation tool, and while holding Shift+Alt, grab one of the photo corners inwards to make it smaller. When done, hit Enter.
Now select the new layer you created in the first step, and with the Marquee tool, draw a selection around the image that resembles a Polaroid frame. Go to Edit > Fill and fill the selected area with white.
With this layer still selected, use the Layer style button to add a nice Drop Shadow effect to your Polaroid.
Merge all layers and your basic Polaroid will be done, though you can still add some effects like a slight rotation or some text on the photo frame.
That was a quick way to create a Polaroid in Photoshop. An even easier way to do it is using Photoshop actions, which we alread mentioned a while ago. Simply download a pack of Polaroid actions (like these Polaroid Generators by Rawimage) and follow our instructions on how to install and use them.
With actions, creating a Polaroid only takes a couple of mouse clicks. In a few seconds, your Polaroid will be magically rendered right in front of your eyes.
