Vintager 2014 lets you transform digital snaps into photos of yesteryear

There’s something to be said for the way old printed photos age over time, as they turn yellow or sepia, coloring our own perception of the past. With the rise of digital, of course, all that has come to an end, with photos promising to remain as color-sharp, bright and vibrant as the day they were originally shot.

If you wonder how those photos might look in the future had they been shot on film and left to fade over time, there’s no need to wait if you’re a Windows user. Simply install Vintager 2014 and you can see how they might have looked 20, 30 or even 40 years hence.

As its name implies, Vintager 2014 is all about the artificial aging of your digital photo collection. Filter-based image-editing tools are nothing new -- pretty much any image editor (free or paid-for) worth its salt will give you a range of filters you can apply to your photos to add various effects, but Vintager is fun because it’s so simple to use, and because it concentrates on providing effects that will help transport your digital snaps to another age.

It’s incredibly simple to use: load your photo, pick a preset filter (16 are available, with such memory evoking names as Lotus, Blossom and Pine), apply some additional tweaks, and hey presto, a photo that looks like it might have been taken decades ago, not last week.

The tool also includes some additional tweaks: depth of field lets you darken or lighten the edges of your photo to heighten the effect further, and you can frame your photo too. Additional buttons reveal cropping, rotating and flipping tools, plus the ability to adjust brightness and contrast and even resize your image if required.

It’s all very simple, and if you’re looking for an advanced tool with fine control over the filter effects you’ll be left disappointed, but if you want to quickly add a nostalgic touch to modern-day photos, Vintager 2014 won’t disappoint.

Vintager 2014 is available now as a freeware download for PCs running Windows XP or later.