I havent tried aging things very much but if i were to give it a shot id probably be playing around with selective color and color balance a lot maybe post a couple pics of what you're trying to achieve?

low transparency ~ 15% diamond gradient, with cmyk selected, go across the center, and then at random angles on a new layer. then apply a gaussian blur to get rid of the lines from the gradient. set it to overlay. that will give you the old polaroid style light leak effect. it also helps to desaturate the original photo a bit. really just keep playing around.

I found these: http://www.onextrapixel.com/2010/04/08/25-fun-and-time-saving-photoshop-actions-tutorials/ http://www.youthedesigner.com/2010/06/10/40-real-time-saver-photoshop-actions/

In my experience the only real trick to getting realistic looking effects is subtlety. There's lots of online tutorials which will tell you how to accomplish this type of effect - the best thing is to use them as a starting point and then experiment with your own techniques, and eventually you'll be able to refine things down to what works for you. A couple of small pointers - 1. have a play about with the Colour Curve, this will get you close to those saturated Polaroid colours (without looking obviously filtery); 2. Start keeping a collection of textures and overlays which you can incorporate into this type of work - if possible scan your own - then you won't be relying on the same old free textures you see floating around. Good luck!

thanks so much everyone! i appreciate the pointers. Bandjob is such a fun source for inspiration i thought i'd ask for some tips Derek: http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3052/riods.jpg i will definitely play more with selective color & balance more than i do, thanks! Randomentity: thanks so much! light leak is a big one, and i didn't just want to always be airbrushing a color all slapdash. thanks! Godmachine: those are a great starting point, makes me want to leanr this by picking up a real camera. thank you! Uzi: my browser isn't showing your comment, but your Caliban shirt bowled me over dude, we need to see more please ArmyofCats: you rock, thank you so much. experimentation has always been one of my best teachers. and i don't always succeed, but i try to worship at the church of subtlety. my goal is to try and work densely enough that it doesn't scream "photoshop!" but now that i've been lurking here and i'm so in awe of everybody here, i realize how very novice i still am now that my circle of peers widened so much. i really appreciate both your tips as well as your insight

I think you should experiment with curves, they're widely use to achieve a vintage effect. Move the just color curves, not b/w curve. I.E. if u pull down higlights in blue curve you'll get a yellowish cast, rising shadows (still in blue curve) will give em a violet cast. You can then add a lens flare & blur it out to get those white burnt spots...

All of the above. And I've always found just playing around with layer effects with some subtle textures does wonders. Use low opacity and layer them up on eachother while varying the types of effects. Endless possibilities. And, btw I don't know where I've been, but I had never heard of the hipstamatic app. I've been playing with that non-stop. Thanks for the indirect heads up.