December 21, 2023

There are lots of free Lightroom presets around my site like Silver and Natural HDR. But my most popular ones are my free film presets and I’ve updated them today for Filmist V2.

Download this free presets pack HERE on the Filmist 2 page

In the FIlmist free film presets and styles pack you get the next-gen Portra 160, Fuji Classic Negative, and Agfa RSX 100 film styles.

Just using these film presets will give you edits that feel true to the film. Photographers are learning that real photos are what matters in this new Ai world. For more on this check out my post and grounding your edits with film styles.

Below is a hands-on video from my channel on how to use Filmist 2. If you need help installing the free LIghtroom presets or Capture One Styles, check out the videos on the help page.

The latest refinements of these film styles are like true film. I’ve shot more film, done more side-by-side testing, and made every film recipe in Filmist 2 better.

I hope you love these and buy the entire Filmist film presets pack. It’s years of work and it is the best lightroom and capture one film presets I know of. But for now, at least grab my free film presets pack and enjoy.

Oh, and you also get free film LUTS in the free and complete pack so you can get the true film look in video editors like Premiere Pro, Resolve, and other photo apps like OnOne and Luminar.

Portra 160 free lightroom film preset. The latest version is included in the Filmst 3 free film styles pack
Portra 160 free film preset is a classic and the latest Gen3 version is even more refined. Portra 400 and 800 are also included in Filmist Complete.

I’ve been making high-grade Lightroom presets and free Capture One styles for many years. So why am I obsessed with getting perfect film looks? It comes back to maintaining that natural real look that the film created and that I’ve managed to duplicate in Filmist 2.

I use the balance I learn in creating film presets to improve my other presets. That’s why they all play together well.

Some photos need a different look. I normally use films as a starting point. But depending on my photo I’ll also use Natural HDR, Streetist, and my other packs.

Each of these packs also has mods. So while I love the ChemKit2 mods in Filmist I don’t hesitate to go to ModKit from Silver 5 black and white presets or maybe GoldChrome for a rich color warm look.

The new fuji classic negative free preset from Filmist 2
The Classic negative look is inspired by Superia 200. One of my most requested presets and the new Filmist 2 version is even better and more accurate than what you get on a Fuji camera.

The thing with film presets is that you won’t edit this way manually. Digital sliders are designed to let us push hard and the nuance of good film styles can take weeks to refine.

In a real darkroom, we could manipulate how we develop and print. So I put a ton of time into the ChemKit2 mods in Filmist. They let you use a film look and then adjust it instantly with darkroom-inspired processes. I included of of these for tone in the free pack. Turn it up and down and see what happens.

The beauty of using Lightroom presets and Capture One style packs is that with well-made film styles, you get edits that take hours in seconds. Once you get used to the milder grounding look of film it becomes a go-to. But if you have a photo that is not working with film, don’t hesitate to branch out.

A bonus free film preset. The Agfa film styles are amazing.
Agfa series films are rare as digital film styles very much but they will soon be one of your favorites. I included Afga RSX 100 with stunning color and fine grain in the free film presets pack.

I hope you enjoy the Filmist 2 free film Lightroom presets and styles pack and that these filmic styles let you see digital in a new light and use the rest of your presets, actions, and tools better.

I’m here to help if you have questions.

Gavin Seim

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December 3, 2023

Making a preset and calling it a film is easy. But making a digital film look like film is really hard. It’s not something you do manually and most film presets don’t get very close. In today’s video, we solve that.

You can get Filmist presets complete or the FREE film styles sampler.

If you own FIlmist 2 Login here to update to the latets version.

The Filmist 2.1 Update Notes.

This update brings a lot of small refines and bug fixes to mods and film looks. You’ll find updated presets marked 2.1. With any color, tone and mod improvements across the film styles including subtle tweaks to make films like Portra and Ektar even more accurate to film. Also, the new Digital orange fixer shown in this training video is in 2.1 and very useful.

So when I went to work on Filmist 2 it was after 5 years of refining Filmist V1 and sending our many free updates. I wanted more though and that’s where the idea of True-Film was born.

I also wanted a cleaner pack of presets and better darkroom-inspired mods like push and pull tools that emulated the way contrast changes when you push and pull your ISO in the camera.

It meant shooting film and digital side by side with the same light and settings. In fact, in film tests, I use the same aperture, shutter speed, and often the same vintage lenses to get the exact result.

Still, that’s not enough. Many films are long gone and even films I can use vary by batch, how people scan etc. So I have to test not only my scans but also look at how other people are using that film and what its result should look like.

In case you missed the launch video it gives a lot of quick examples.

This is tough because this film is all about skin tones. You would think with the endless digital tools in Lightroom Capture etc that nailing out is easy. But getting a perfect film skin tone is super hard. I spend hours adjusting curves by one point and then another.

Sometimes I doubt myself and then I compare it to other products and presets to create a film that looks digital and realizes it’s working. It’s not that these are not good products, it’s that getting the film right is that hard, and in FIlmist it’s the entire focus.

Portra 400 Filmist vs Film Pack vs Mastin presets for lightroom

I’ve made videos about basing edits with film presets and how it stops you from pushing sliders too far. We’re used to extremes. From giant movie exposition to over-saturated photos. And it’s OK to push up your saturation. But start natural!

When people first try film presets sometimes they think it’s not enough of a change. It’s too flat or plain. This is because we’ve been conditioned by digital to over edit and it makes photos that seem fake and unnatural.

I think that’s why many film tools don’t look like the films. They are over-edited to try and please a before-after sample and make it look intense. But it’s not true to the film.

Vision 250 Cinema film preset is warm and versatile.

People are jaded by fakery. In an AI world, professional photographers need to take away the disbelief people have started feeling. real photos are becoming more valuable than ever.

I designed these presets to be adjusted. So you can push op the intensity or add a mod like the Push contrast mod that mimics how film contracts increase when you push in the darkroom.

The result of these true-film ideas is film looks that are true to the film as much as we are possible but that also can be manualized to your needs and still have natural real-world feelings contrast and details.

The new Ektar 1000 presets for Lightroom and Capture one is a great recipe alongside Natura 1600

With a mission of vitality and accuracy, I have a lot of free updates planned for my FIlmist users. My shelf is full of film right now that I’m doing more tests on. I watch countless videos old and new to try and refine films that are gone from shelves. These need to be preserved.

I’m working now on doing darkroom prints to further refine recipes because even scans are not always the same. Every scanner and software converts things differently. So I’ll be doing darkroom prints to reference and refine the recipes.

The Filmist 2 Velvia 100 preset on this street photo
Fuji Pro 400h is no longer available but it’s a classic much like Portra and is a powerful preset
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September 15, 2023

Ever feel your editing is messy, or you need a reboot?

Grounding changes your editing and improves your style. es, Filmic Lightroom presets and styles help a lot. But your style can still be whatever you want. Stay with me till the end and I will make this easy.

Why do most in-camera profiles look so bad? Why do I come back to an edit I liked and it seems gross? It’s because digital edits lack a reference point.

This is a Level 1 Filmic Lightroom preset from Natural HDR. That is it’s using film tone and color inspiration but not trying to be a specific film. I use these liberally but not as my grounding point.

Here are some free Filmic Lightroom presets.

I’ll also add some videos today showing how I create and use Filmist Lightroom and Capture One presets and some of the things I learned along the way.

To get staretd you can download my free packs…
Download my Free FIlmist Film presets sampler pack from the filmist page. Your grounding.
Download the Free Silver 5 free presets pack here which is Filmic black and white.
Get my Natural HDR free presets. Non-film edits, but grounded by filmic style.

I’ve made many videos over the years as I explored film stocks and created the Gen.2 looks of my film presets like Portra, Ektar, and Classic Negative which have become the go-to styles for many.

OK, let’s get started…

1. Grounding works because we exist in analog!

Ever come back to an edit the next day or week and thought? What was I thinking? I sure have.

You lacked a baseline and went too far. It happens to all of us. Filmic Lightroom presets and styles are not just a hipster fad, and if you’re still not using them you are missing out. So first we’re going the base our edits as close to real analog film as possible. Don’t worry you don’t have to stay there.

Much like Shadow Hacking, which brings you back to in-camera thinking. Filmic Lightroom Presets presets and styles seem simple but are not. I was a skeptic. But today Filmic Lightroom presets are my go-to for every session and for the past 5 years I’ve been developing better film and filmic presets to improve this process.

Here’s a video I did recently to explain how I use film presets overall in my work.

A film preset edit gives you a wide range of colors and tones but with a more subdued look that lets the truth of your photo come through so you can decide. When you add Shadow Hacking as I teach in my live workshop, you get photos that print nearly indistinguishable from film prints.

Level 2 filmic lightroom presets. This film style is the Ektar 100 like and
There is a shadow atmosphere happening here even though the EKtar 100-like. A level 2 film preset in Filmist is not super intense it constantly works and is a grounding development process.

There are two levels of Filmic Lightroom presets.

Both are important but you should know the difference between them because the second is better for rebooting and a lot harder to make. So much so that most presets sold don’t qualify.

The first is basic Filmic presets. Level 1:

These are most Filmic Lightroom Presets and Filmic styles in Capture One LUTS, etc. They have a film-inspired tone and look. What’s that mean when you are making them?

Usually, it means darker more obscured greens, and deeper shadows but not overdriving contrast and color using what we learned from over a hundred years of Darkroom to effect digital edits.

Filmic Lightroom presets and styles that are just inspired by the film are the easiest way to make your own. I use them all the time. But I don’t use them for a grounding base film process reboot my edits and they can quickly grow back into over-driven digital edits.

Street photography with level 1 filmic lightroom presets and styles
Street air is a prestige from Street’ist. This level one filmic preset has a lot of color and nuance like a chemical film, but does not try to be any specific film.

The second is true Film like presets, Level 2:

Film Lightroom presets, capture one style, LUTS etc. represent a much more complex edit. You could spend a week making a look like the Portra 400 presets from Filmist.

A Film preset is not just influenced by analog styles. It’s tested and refined to look like the film. That’s what I did with Filmist which is why it’s taken me 5 years and improves with every version. I watch the reviews and look for more information all the time. Real films reset your editing brain more because they ground you.

When I started trying to create film presets I was thinking more of filmic. Make looks that were inspired by my film. But it was not enough so I started digger deeper and studying the nuance of individual stocks to get a true-to-life representation of those films.

A level 2 film preset is about a specific film like the creamy shadows of this Delta 3200-like. You can mod or turn these presets up to enhance the effect. But I start simple and natural to get a good grounding.

2. This editing theory will reset your editing brain.

You might be thinking… Nothing new here. But the more you use this process in your edits. Level 2’s especially. The more you realize that these film stocks lasted decades for a reason. They seem simple at first you soon you realize well they are grounded and complicated.

Apply a film you like to every photo. Do your quick exposure adjustments and get the session looking balanced. When you edit with film-like presets and filmic styles you get perspective.

You might turn a filmic lightroom preset up or down. You might mod for contrast or transition totally different look. But your perceptions are grounded in the analog that is proven to withstand the test of time.

If you look at this session you can see the edit from when I first shot the session was ok. But it felt burned and it was inconsistent across poses and lighting.

Look how I came back and re-edited the session with Portra 160-like film preset and a few mods. Each pose is slightly different, but they all have a constant feel. I like them gentle like this but my old self would want to add more mods, saturation, etc. That’s fine, as long as you have grounding to keep you on point.

Soon you’ll find yourself going back to old edits and now they seem strange and overcooked. You reboot your brain in terms of editing. It does not mean other filters and edits are not important anymore. I still use Natural HDR or Bella 2 which are not specifically filmic.

How the session looks now after a more refined film edit and a good grounding from analog.

In this AI World, real things are gaining value.

And so we relate to and believe in analog things. Especially in this new AI-driven world where sometimes everything feels fake. This level of photography is going to become more important every year and Filmic Lightroom Presets help me stay focused.

Yes, there’s a level 3. Shooting digital side by side with the real film and using that as your grouping for shadow, color, and editing. I do this to practice and further refine Filmist for example but it gives you even more grounding and perspective.

Even the way we adjust exposure changes with analog. Pushing the exposure slider is not the same as pushing film and as I’ve become more advanced in my Film presets, even the mod presets, curves, and exposure settings have improved.

See this video from my channel after I created the Gen.2 the Portra-like pushed film style.

Creating pushed filmic looks in digital and why it matters.

You Ground with real film presets, then find YOUR STYLE!

Yes, editing with filmic styles and Filmic Lightroom Presets makes you edit everything better. Much like shooting film improves your understanding of shadow and creativity by resetting your brain to an analog state that lets you see your digital work from a new perspective.

But it’s important you ground to something solid. That means don’t just edit your first photo of the day and use that as your baseline edit. Start with an edit you know the analog human brain accepts. Film is a great start.

Start with a level 2 film preset. Not just a filmic look. That means using well-researched presets or spending the days of research you need to create one yourself that is accurately representative of a real film. Or download the free or complete filmist and that will get you started.

filmic styles and wet plate platinum in photoshop
It does not always stop at a preset. Sometimes I take go further into Photoshop and use chemical-based edits like this cyan plate platinum mix from Emulsion 4 actions. Analog just keeps giving.

3. Filmic Lightroom Presets and film styles. Then move outward.

The grounding keeps you constant even when you’re not doing the filmic style.

So for example I will go to Filmist and use Potra Ektar-like film lightroom presets. Maybe Fuji 400h. I know these analog looks withstood the test of time and that our minds relate to them.

I don’t have to stop there and I may not even stay with a film look. Grounding your edits sounds boring, but it actually makes you flexible and creative and keeps you out of a rut. So even when I go to HDR, that grounding is affecting my edit.

So I look at the mood and shadows of my shoot. I may decide to veer from film and use other effects, actions, edits, or presets. But now can really feel where I am in the edit better.

It’s about rebooting the brain to see past the temporary creative blindness that the ever-changing sliders and tools can give us so that we use those tools better with each unique photo session.

At least grab the free Filmic Lightroom presets, film styles, and LUTS I linked above and try them for a while. If they seem not intense enough that’s normal. Your editing brain will soon reboot and you will open up a totally new horizon.

So Let’s Recap…

  1. Ground the baseline of your edits with edits as close to real analog film as possible. Use Filmic Lightroom presets and film styles, or even create your own.
  2. Edit photos with favorite films and use that as your grounded starting point. I will often start with Portra 400 or Ektar as my baseline because these films work on anything and I can apply them to an entire session.
  3. You can expand out with mods, other filters, presets, actions etc., and the final look for your project. Use your first edits as a reference to not edit too far. Staying with the film is also fine. I often stay with the film look/

I hope this helps you refine your edit process as much as it did for me. Let me know in the comments and if needed I’ll do more videos on this. Gavin Seim

portra 400 as a filmic style is amazing and changes how you see tone rolloff on digital
With Filmic Lightroom Presets like Portra 400-like, you almost can’t fail. It was not until I discovered these processes for grounding that I realized the nuance of highlight roll-off and how we lost it in digital. Look at the before and after of this edit on the filmist page and you’ll see what I mean.
Expanding into level 2 filmic styles like Velvia 100 like let you stay creative and still know you’re on point.
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May 12, 2023

So today’s vlog is for you even if you use either editing tools. Because today I want to share my ESS theory. What I’ve learned in the process has changed how I create photos in a fake Ai world.

No matter how you edit, your street process matters a lot.

So today after over 3 years of pushing hard on my street photography here in Mexico, I want to share how that’s changed the theories of a guy who’s been a pro photographer for over 20 years. I’ll show you how to use my new Street’ist street photography presets. But I’ll also show you ESS.

Get my Street’ist presets here. Or get a free pack of my film presets here.

Thinking from start to finish.

The key is to know have a simple plan like ESS. Only you know what you are feeling and how you want to share that in a street photo. But with this simple process you start to focus on what really matters in a street photo.

Sure editing tools and tone and using lightroom presets or capture one styles to make you more creative and make you try more ideas are important.

But YOUR process is the most important. Just make sure you’re always asking yourself how you can improve your process and how you cam make it more ESS.

What makes your street photography have style?

Should you shoot black and white or color. Should you use the blue and orange tones or go natural. And and no, Tik Tockers didn’t invent that look.

The truth is that is you focus on ESS and how it can make your process better you will find your editing style. As a long time purist myself however I would encourage you to not get too focused on perfection. On only natural tones or colors.

Great street photographer have always pushed the edge of edits and presentation and shadow. That’s because a great street photographer knows that he’s not just taking a photo. Though we are journalists in a way, the purity of a scene is sometimes less critical than telling your story about what you feel with light, color, shadow and motion.

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May 10, 2023

Everyone is saying Ai these days. It’s the marketing gimmick. But Adobe is showing that when they say Ai, they mean tools that are actually smart. Like the Ai masks from last year made even better in 2023.

But what about Lightroom’s new Ai Noise reduction?

In today’s video I’ll show you how to use it and give it punishing comparison tests. Lightroom already beat Capture One in my Lightroom vs Capture one Noise and Worms testing. But for photos you need something extra on. This new button is more amazing than I expected. I’ll show you in the video below.

You can get the new Street’ist presets I mentioned in todays video. And you can also download the Free Filmist presets pack to see the grain technique in action. They work perfect to finish up after Ai noise reduction.

At this point we have to start asking how much noise even matters.

The early days if digital left us with lots of noise and artifacts that recent Noise tools and better sensors have mostly brought it up to the detail level that we had in film.

With the improvement this year from Ai noise tools like this, you have to ask how much ISO and noise even matters. You can clean it up so well it’s almost too clean, and adding in a little organic grain like I do in most of my edits is more important than ever.

Old RAw file with ultra high noise corrected by Lightroom Ai

Even on this old 5D MK2 file at ISO 25000, Lightrooms Ai noise using the settings I show in the video completely transformed it like no noise tool I’ve ever used.

ON this S21 Ultra RAW file there was not much noise but the Lightroom Ai Noise process still improved the detail in a way that amazing me. I’ll show you the side by side in the video.

This is the start of big changes in how we edit.

I predict that very soon these Ai editing tools will nor be long processing steps but just part of the system like any other slider. They will keep getting better and as photographer we need to focus on the value of using them but also keeping photos real.

In the end I think this tool is game changing and I hope we see more Ai tool’s make make our real images better rather than a focus on Ai tools making photos that are not real photos.\

Gavin Seim

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