Lightroom should be easy. So I decided to take a step-by-step course to make it easy.
I’ve been looking for a way to teach Lightroom better because when it’s natural all your photos get better. So I’ve started this series, taking Lightroom step by step.
A Lightroom training and reference guide.
You can watch the parts you need. I’ll keep adding more chapters so they are all kept tidy in a playlist. As this project grows you will be able to come and review any part you need at your leisure.
That’s been my theory in making Lightroom presets and Capture One styles like Filmist, GoldChrome, PowerWorkflow, and more. The tool should work for you. It’s the same with software. If you know what’s happening, the tool will get out of your way and you can work smoothly and better.
I’m also considering a series like this for Capture One so let me know if you’re interested.
You tell me what you want to see.
I’ll keep expanding this. Next will develop settings. We’re going to create the largest free library of Lightroom training resources, so you tell me what you need and I’ll keep them coming.
Expose to the right (ETTR) has been preached relentlessly for years in digital photography. But does it actually help?
I think now. In my recent shadow hackers workshops (join the next class here) this has come up and it made me think about how prolific this dated technique still is. Tell me what you think in the comments.
In the video, I’ll show you why ETTR is not usually right. It’s not always wrong to be Expose To The Right to achieve something. But using this as a general exposure tool in photography will lead to worse images.
How did ETTR happen and should you actually use it?
When I made the Exposed workshop covering nearly possible approaches to exposure, we didn’t focus on ETTR because when you know what exposure or that light meter is telling you, you rarely need to expose to the right.
Like every idea or rule, it’s not really a rule. So in the end, if you get great exposures you win. But I think if you start hunting the shadows and exposing “right”, rather than TO the right you’ll see a transformation in how well you expose and edit.
It does not matter what you are shooting!
If you know the principles of exposure, your histogram, zones, and settings. They will soon become automatic. You’ll see yourself start to create naturally, knowing the light and the shadow like an old friend.
There are a lot of Lightroom Film Presets and Capture One Styles. But today I’ll show the films that keep me coming back for clean edits.
I did some street shooting and casual portraits over the weekend and it got me thinking about how my film edits get me shooting more and help me think creatively.
When things feel authentic, you want more of them. So I want to share with you how I use film looks for digital. These are my go-to Lightroom film presets and Capture one Styles for 2022.
I’ll share favorites emulsions from the Filmist presets project in no particular order. These inspire me to create better edits and shoot better in the camera. I encourage you to buy the actual films where possible and shoot a roll or two. It’s an amazing teaching tool. Classics Like Porta and Delta black and white can still be purchased. Others like Kodachrome, Fuji 400H, and Agfa are left to our digital edits which I’ll show you today.
Get Filmist presets here: You can get my complete Filmist pack which includes all these and a lot more. You can also go download the Filmist FREE sampler pack which has Portra 160 and a couple others to get you started and how good film edits actually are.
Classic Negative
This one is super popular in Fuji cameras. The look is actually based on Superia 200 film. It’s softer colored and moody and people love it for that. This preset lets me use the recipe on any camera or file and it’s actually one of the free ones in my film presets sampler.
I shoot better in the camera because of film presets.
Film has a special quality. The nuance of tone and colors. And even when doing that on digital, I find myself more confident in shooting and focusing on emotions. Knowing that I can choose my film after and get that atmosphere and mood makes me charge in. Maybe I’m crazy and that’s just me.
I created the Filmist pack a few years ago with one idea. To be the most complete and authentic film emulsion preset pack for Lightroom, Capture one and LUTS for video. I had tried others and they were not bad, but as the photographer who made professional presets since the very beginning of LR, I knew I could do better and make a film preset pack that was not just one or two films, but a complete chemical-inspired system The FIlmist project was born.
Let’s look at more film types…
Porta 400
Maybe the ultimate film classic and one that we film shooters can still get and always come back to. So I put a lot of time into getting all the Portra looks right. And I always come back to it.
It does not matter what Camera!
I was a film lover before I ever bought a Fuji Camera. And while their built-in color profiles are nice, they are locked to the camera. I see no need to bake in a recipe and throw away the rest.
When I create Filmist I, test on Fuji, Sony, Canon, Nikon, and others to make the looks as authentic as possible. Hundreds of hours go into this to make these film presets balanced on all images, not just a demo.
But even when shooting my Fuji X100V for example, I still shoot the Raw and add the preset from Filmist, not from the camera profile or a JPEG. This us all the control.
But I know Filmist will work on everything. Film colors and tones had creative twists and unique characters. But they give something that’s organic and make you want to shoot more and edit cleaner.
Agfaflex 45
It’s based on the early color film. So it’s a bit dark and faded almost lo-fi feel. I don’t use it on everything but when it works it’s amazing because the lights pop and the shadow and color are low. You’ll see what I mean when you try it.
Delta 3200
Another I always come back to. There are lots of other black and white films like HP5 and more in Filmist. But the Delta preset really does something rich with those shadows and tones and if the grain is too much I can just use one of the chem-kit mods to lower it. But honestly, I usually leave it grainy just like the real thing. I love it for portraits.
Fuji Provia 400
This classic was really versatile. While I will use it for portraits and especially streets if a want a bolder color than Portra, it works especially well in landscape photos giving a naturally rich color that feels straight out of the darkroom whether I’m using Lightroom or Capture One.
Natura 1600
This was one of the recent gen.2 updates. Natura is warm and grainy, but you can easily remove the grain. I like it myself and it really produces those on-the-go type street and portrait scenes that have raw emotion.
Fujifilm 400H
To be this was Fujis Portra. But its greens and tones are different. Like Portra however, it’s a wonderful go-to for when you want a clean organic feel without anything over-cooked.
Porta 800
All POrtra is good. I remember buying 800 in roll for weddings when I was starting out. It’s distinct from 160 and 400 and the presets and style is also. It works great on many portraits but it’s a tad more intense and greener also making and great street and journalists film.
Portra 160
All the Portra’s are in here for good reason. They are all amazing. !60 is a touch less warm than 400 with a softer grain. I would say I favor The 400 presets, but I will often use the 160 style as I did here, especially when I want a touch less warmth due to light conditions.
Agfa Vista
Based on Agfa vista and I love the way it uses greens give you a unique color mix without feeling over-processed. I use this everywhere, portraits landscapes, and streets, and also use the RSX variant quite a lot.
PoloColor S
Polaroid films vary because they are organic and their process can be altered by how chemicals are used. But polaroids can be all over the place and we still love them. So I have 3 Poloroud inspired looks to cover variables and the S variety is just soft warm goodness that works on a lot of things
Classic Chrome
Like the Classic Negative preset above, classic Chrome is another Fuji camera look but in creating it was a Lightroom Presets and Capture One Style we can use it on any file, not just Fuji. It’s very gentle so you can use it in batches and on anything for a clean look.
Classic Chrome is not actually based on Fuji films but on Kodachrome. Though it’s a loose interpretation. Filmist also has Kodachrome and that emulsion is a lot bolder. But at the right time, it’s amazing.
It’s not about faking it. It’s about growing your potential!
There are many ways to edit and refine a great photo. Using authentic film presets and tiles, lots for video, etc. It’s not about any sort of pretending. It’s about using the atmosphere and color our industry spent 100 years creating. You don’t throw out what works just because you have something new. And film works, the kind that comes on rolls and the looks that come inside Filmist.
With conditional settings, AI masks layer stacking, and more, I’m kind of blown away by what has happened to LR in the past year.
You can do amazing things with Lightroom masks and they keep getting better. So today’s video is all about how to make that easy and fast using the latest masking secrets in Lightroom.
I also updated my Elegance 4 Speed Mask presets pack to make what I show you in this video nearly instant as the Elegance mask presets will apply most of these combos automatically and leave you to simply adjust as needed. Make sure you have V4.3.
The latest Lightroom mask secrets.
At a glance, the mask options in Lightroom may seem confusing, But I’m going to show you how Lightroom masks and presets can save you countless hours of editing and get truly amazing results.
NOTE: Today’s masking techniques will work in LIghtroom Dekstop, Lightroom CC and Mobile as well as in Photoshop Via Camera Raw. This won’t work on older non CC versions of LR. Sadly unlike my other Develop presets, I can’t do these at Styles Capture one as it does not have these features.
A fast intersect mask here in Lightroom lets me do a deep sky edit without that unnatural banding where the edge of the AI mask cuts off.
In my Lightroom VS Capture One video that I do each year, it’s usually a close call. but with the power of Ai masks leaping beyond Capture One in a big way. Well, let’s just say there is a lot of opportunity for healthy competition in 2023 between Lightroom and Capture One.
Don’t stop here. Lightroom AI keeps giving us more.
Let me know what you think of these new Lightroom mask features and if you are using my Speed mask presets for Lightroom to make all this easy and fast, let me know how you like them.
This was all done with the new POrtrait Glamor mask combo on Elegance 4.3 quickly resolving a bunch of things in one click. There are various ways to do this. Like the intersecting of masks, I show in the video. ort this AI background separation that lets the boat stay warm and stand out. This was done quickly with the AI Cool Background mask preset in Lightroom.
Should stop buying Canon cameras, or is this fine?
Canon just pissed a lot of customers off. I don’t think it will make them more money in the end. We have a lot of Canon uses here and I was a huge Canon guy for years. But we have a problem and I want you to tell me what you think.
Companies may be able to make products that “prevent” customers. Like by killing lenses such as the Viltrox 85mm. But ignoring your customer can be a fatal mistake.
That’s what Kodak learned before they went bankrupt in 2012!
A lot of you know me for Lightroom presets, Photoshop actions, and Capture One styles. But you may not know that long before that I had the photo podcast and even now I do a lot of non LR/PS videos on my YouTube channel.
Kodak is perhaps one of the greatest marketing lessons in modern history. They were KING of moments for a century. They invented the digital Camera. Then tried to snuff it. By being out of touch with their market, Kodak fell from nearly 150,000 employees in the 80s and 16 BILLION in sales in 1996, to Bankrupcyin 2012..So how does that relate to Canon?
I’m going to talk about that AND show you why the expensive lens is not always the one you need in today’s video.
Imagine how the course Photoshop would have been different if they has locked of us creators, plugin developers, and third-party partners in the name of the intellectual property. You would not even be coming here for my Lightroom presets.
Since I’ve commented on Canon for many years and seen this arc. The truth is Canon is no longer king and they are lashing out! So I thought I would make a video and share of a few of those stories and what has led us to this Canon fiasco. I hope you’ll share your thoughts in the comments here or on my channel.
Respecting customers is first.
I don’t have a Viltrox lens myself as of writing this. But if you use my products you know that despite being a one-man band, I work hard to make sure customers are happy. Because without customers your intellectual property, your marketing. your tech is pretty much useless.
There’s nothing wrong with Canon cameras. or third-party lenses What’s wrong is Canon! Now Canon is about to find out if their customers will allow themselves to be treated this way.
