Vintage Christmas
The card that came in 1956
Period knitwear and tailoring, a tree hung with big painted glass bulbs, and the whole thing printed on faded card stock with the colour plates very slightly out of register.
7 free to start. Your photo stays on your phone until you sign in.
What the Vintage Christmas look does to a photo
The Vintage Christmas look doesn't just put a filter over a modern photo. It rebuilds the picture as a printed card that came through a letterbox in the 1950s, which means the period is in the clothes, the tree and the printing all at once.
Period knitwear and tailoring replace whatever anyone was wearing. The tree gets big painted glass bulbs and tinsel rather than modern lights. Then the whole image is rendered as offset-printed card stock: slightly faded ink, visible halftone dots, a soft shift between the colour plates, and a deckled white border around the edge.
It's the one on this shelf that reads as an object rather than a photograph. It runs in about twenty seconds and costs 7 tokens. Your first 7 photos are free, nothing renews, and tokens don't expire.
Every age, every face
Real results from this look. Nothing here is retouched afterwards.
Will they still look like themselves?
Yes. Here is exactly what this look moves and what it holds.
What changes
- Clothing and hair restyle to the period: knitted vests, ties, tailoring, set waves.
- The tree gets large painted glass bulbs and tinsel instead of modern lights.
- The image becomes printed card stock with visible halftone dots and faded ink.
- A deckled white border frames the picture, the way a printed card was trimmed.
- Colour shifts warm and slightly out of register, the way cheap offset printing did.
What stays the same
- Faces, entirely. The printing sits over them rather than redrawing them.
- Freckles, laugh lines and a missing front tooth all survive the halftone.
- Head coverings, glasses and flat caps.
- Everyone who was in the photo, in the same arrangement.
- Expression, including a laugh that no 1950s card would have printed.
How it works
- Step 1Choose a photoOne picture from your camera roll. Any phone photo will do.
- Step 2We make the Vintage Christmas versionAbout twenty seconds. Everyone stays recognisably themselves.
- Step 3Save and share itDownload it, send it to the family, or run the same photo through another look.
Which photos work best for Vintage Christmas
This look is not fussy, but these are the pictures it rewards.
- Anyone who has seen their grandparents' cards and wanted one.
- Groups on a sofa, which is exactly what those cards photographed.
- Photos you want to look like an object rather than a file.
- Children, who look startlingly convincing in period knitwear.
- Printing, because the border and the grain hold up at size.
How to get a better result
Four things that change the output more than anything else.
- Indoor photos take the period setting most naturally.
- Half length or wider lets the clothing read.
- Faces toward the camera survives the halftone best.
- Busy modern backgrounds matter less here, since the room is rebuilt anyway.
Your first 7 are free
After that each photo costs 7 tokens. There is no subscription and nothing renews. Buy a handful of tokens when you want more, and they never expire.
Questions
- Is this just a filter over my photo?
- No. The clothing, hair and tree are restaged for the period first, then the whole image is rendered as printed card stock.
- How is it different from Christmas Card?
- Christmas Card is a photograph taken this year in a modern room. This is a printed card from the 1950s, border and halftone included.
- Will our faces change?
- No. Faces are held as they are.
- Can I put a message on it?
- Yes. Type a short line before you generate and it's written onto the picture.
- Does the border come out white?
- Yes, with the slightly uneven deckled edge a trimmed card had.
- How long does it take?
- About twenty seconds.
Other looks
The same photo works in any of these. Closest to Vintage Christmas first.
See all looks
