Goodbye Polaroid, Hello PolaDROID ! - Or : How to send your digital Disneyland pictures magically back in time

Sometime, during the week-end - when there is a good reason for - i'm doing a "tech" article. And today, there is a very good reason to do one, as i'd like to introduce to you a wonderful little application called PolaDroid. Don't go away, as you'll discover below how Poladroid will allows you to create fantastic "Polaroid" pictures from your Disneyland digital photos.

We all remember the fantastic Polaroid pictures and their unique colours. The digital era arrived and changed everything, and soon, even if you still own a Polaroid camera, it will not be possible anymore to realize Polaroid pictures. Simply because the Polaroid Co will stop this year the fabrication of the legendary Polaroid photographic paper...

And then arrived PolaDroid, a magical little software. Created by Paul, obviously a big fan of the old Polaroid era, PolaDroid will allow you to give to ANY of your digital pictures "Polaroid"-like colours in a few seconds. Suddenly, the picture you took last year will look like a 1960's picture, bringing you back in time, with colours that no camera is doing anymore.

The picture above of WDW Magic Kingdom look like an early 70's picture, doesn't it? Well, actually it's a WDW marketing photo probably shoot 10 years ago...



And this other famous photo of DHS Sunset Blvd...



...look now like a real 1950's Sunset Blvd picture!



I shoot this picture of the Walt Disney Studios last year. Two minutes in the PolaDroid...



...and we're now back in time almost at the real Walt Disney Studios old era...



Of course, the software re-frame each picture to the original Polaroid "square" size.

These pictures of WDS Tower of Terror were shoot on grand opening ...or back in 1928 during that fateful day?




Main Street buildings looks more old than ever...



It's also fun to see what we can get when you use the PolaDroid with already old pictures like these 1960's pictures of Disneyland...




These WDW pictures are only 10 years old, but now they look like early 1960's pictures...




Let's have a look to the effect of PolaDroid on very recent pictures, like this marketing shot of Expedition Everest...



...Or those from Hong Kong Disneyland.




This picture of Mission Space entrance shows how subtle the effect of PolaDroid can be on the colours.



Before i explain to you how PolaDroid works, let's end this series with this marketing picture of the Epcot Nemo ride - already a picture with digital special effects with the Nemo characters...



As you saw this PolaDroid application can create amazing effects, now here is how it works, and it's extremely simple: First go on the PolaDroid web site and download the application which works both for Mac and PC. The PolaDroid software is free, but if you wish to do a donation to his creator it will be highly appreciated. Once you've install the application, you launch it, and a little Polaroid camera will appear on your screen. Now, all you have to do is to choose any of your digital picture, and drag and drop it on the Polaroid camera. That's all you have to do, can't be more easy, isnt'it?



Ten seconds later a little picture will come out of the camera, and just like the real Polaroid pictures, it'll take the photo 2 to 3 minutes to appear! Actually, you'll see it appearing little by little, just like with the real one. Once it's done, the picture in big size and in jpeg file is waiting for you in the "Images" folder of your computer. Very easy, very fun, very magical. So, go ahead, try this amazing PolaDroid application, and enjoy it!

Pictures: copyright Disney