Adorible Photography: Lomography

About Lomography
A while ago my attention was drawn to a type of photographic effect called Lomography. The name comes from either the camera manufacturer or the name of the camera - I can't remember which.

Lomo Camera

According to Wikipedia -
Lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique."Users are encouraged to take a lighthearted approach to their photography, and use these techniques to document everyday life, as the Lomo LC-A's small size, simple controls, and ability to shoot in low light.

You can buy a Lomo camera which will give various effects such as fish eye or 4 photos in one like I've shown below.

Lomographic Cameras

This camera takes 4 images but you can get fish eye ones as well

Examples of Lomographic images

Faux Lomography

Faux lomography is basically taking a normal photo and post processing it to give the Lomographic effect. The problem with this technique is I find that all the instructions are for Photoshop and I have Paintshop Pro. So I set about to find my own technique. My technique is not perfect and I'm looking to refine it if anyone has ideas.

Make a vignette - I use the Levels function
Increase contrast by 20%
Increase saturation by 20%
Make a new layer with opacity 40%
Flood fill the new layer with black paint
Merge layers
Do a gaussian blur with the factory default setting
Add noise at 10-20% depending on image size
Cut outline with rounded rectangle selection tool if you want

This is the effect the faux lomo technique gives me.