December 3, 2023

3

film presets and styles, Film Presets for Lightroom, Film Styles for Capture One, free lightroom presets, presets, special effects

True Film recipes with Lightroom presets and Capture One Film Styles. How to edit in Filmist2.1

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.

I love film. But it’s expensive so I need film recipes that work.

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.

For example the new Gen2 Porta 400 Film preset.

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

Does that film feel boring or flat?

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.

2024 is a year where natural things win.

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

The future of making these presets more True-Film.

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

0

film presets and styles, Film Presets for Lightroom, Film Styles for Capture One, free lightroom presets, presets, special effects

Filmic Lightroom Presets and Film Styles Reboot your editingand this is why it works.

Grounding is having a starting point. Filmic Lightroom presets and styles help a lot. But your style can still be whatever you want. I’ll show you why in today’s video.

Ever feel like your editing needs a reboot?

To get started you can download my free packs…
Download my Free FIlmist 2 Film presets sampler from the filmist page. Your grounding.
Download the Free Silver 5 free presets pack here which is Filmic black and white.

1. Grounding works because we exist in analog!

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

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 to 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.

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.

2. 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.

Street photography with level 1 filmic lightroom presets and styles
Street air is a preset 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.

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.

A re-edit of a session 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.

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.

3. Edit grounded. 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.
Styles like Velvia 100 like let you stay colorful and still know you’re on point and not over-cooked.

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June 16, 2023

0

actions, film presets and styles, Film Styles for Capture One, Fine Art, lightroom, presets

Why I never use Photoshops built in Black & White Filter and how I updated BlackRoom 1.2

As of 2023, this is the absolute best way to get dramatic black and white I have discovered. Plus I just did a big update to my Blackroom actions (login here if you own Blackroom)

But today’s video will fill you with black and white-ness, even if you don’t use my actions.

I’ll show you the best way to create black and white in Photoshop and why it;’s better than doing it only in Lightroom as we edit a landscape and a portrait. Go fullscreen and watch this one in 4k.

You can get BlackRoom here and if you’ve bought it, login and download your update.

Improving your Dramatic black and white is about nuance.

New photographers often make the mistake of thinking that dramatic black and white is more about adding contrast. Something the opposite is true. It’s actually about using shadow correctly.

That’s why you see me in the video referencing to the Zones and thinking about where I want the tone to be placed. You control all of that.

Speaking on shadow, If you’ve never been to one of my free Shadow Hackers LIVE workshops don’t miss the next one.

This lovely portrait edited fine in Lightroom. But in Blackroom it refined much more.

Lightroom, C1, or Photoshop for Dramatic black and white?

Both work great as you’ll see in today’s hands-on video. If you have a good editing plan they bother convert beautifully. But I’ll show you in today’s video why you will always get a bit more if you finish in Photoshop, even if you started out in Lightroom or Capture One (which is what I do).

In the end, you can do all of this manually, create your own tools, presets, actions etc if you are really experienced, or use tools like my Silver presets and Blackroom actions.

The main thing is to try the methods I showed you today and your dramatic black and white photos will touch the sky sell more and win competitions. Really.

That is the power of the dramatic black and white. Let me know what you think.

Gavin Seim

Using a gradient map and layers in PS I had more control in this photo from Yosemite National Park
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January 16, 2023

0

film presets and styles, Gavin Seim, hogarths, Lighting, Software, special effects, video

S Curve Photography is OK. But the F Curve is way better!

Curves are how most pros and quality presets control the detailed tones in a photo. But in today’s short video, I’ll show you a better way to use your curves. We’ve been using S Curve in photography since the dawn of digital. But this is the F Curve!

Why did I stop using the S Curve in my Photography?

Because after years of editing, and studying dynamic range. Creating popular editing packs like Natural HDR and Silver black and white. I realized the S curve was often overdriving on our edits.

So I started creating the F curve in my recipes. It gives contrast control, without giving you a crunchy, overly processed look. It does this because it’s based on chemical film processing and is more flexible.

In this video, I’ll show you how to use the F Curve!

If you want Lightroom presets or Capture One Styles you’ll find great examples of the F curve in the free sampler packs of Filmist Film presets and Silver 5 presets.

Also sub my channel for more videos like this one.

How to use the S curve in Photography today!

It’s easier to add fine control to an F curve because we’re not always looking for that S shape. A film-like curve is useful not only for recipes that require a film-like feel. It simply works on nearly everything.

It might feel like an S curve when you start. But don’t stop there. Pull down the highlights and then lift a little in the middle, pull the shadow area a bit down and the black a bit up. You can vatu this any way you want. Just keep the curve smooth and maintain that highlight drop as needed.

I didn’t have a name for this, I just knew this simple course was giving me results that felt better in most situations, and I started using it a lot. It was only after years of applying this that I realized how simple it was and started calling it the Filmic Curve, or the “F” curve.

Gradually, I started using the normal photography S Curve less and applying variants that merged it into F curve. I watched as my own presets and edits got smoother, with better highlights and even better shadows and contrast.

It’s a simple tweak that transforms your edits.

Notice how the Filmic presets curve rolls off far more than a photography S Curve
An F curve can start like an S curve. But the way it drops on top is the key factor in the result. You can then mix shadow lift and drop.

But without Shadow, your curves mean nothing!

When I started developing Filmist film presets years ago, I realized that Film has a softer highlight roll-off than digital has a hard sensor. Contrasting lenses and easy-to-move editing soldiers were getting over-curved. especially with the traditional digital photography s curve.

A curve can add or remove your shadow. The S-curve in photography can quickly pop highlights or put some punch into shadows, and often it works well. The problem is that it tends to do the same thing to every photo, and while it boosts contrast in the edit, you lose fidelity in the roll-off details.

Tone roll-off is a big deal. And what most don’t realize is that you don’t always need to push up highlights because they are actually very perception based.

That highlight will seem BRIGHT depending on the tone of the shadows that surround them. To learn more about shadows watch this video on my channel. In short, combining smooth highlight roll-off with organic feeling shadow gives you a rich result.

A subtle Ektar based F curve is a lot like the S Curve in Photography but distinct
In this Ektar recipe from Filmsit the F curve is already part of the process giving a subtle highlight rolloff like film.

The F Curve will replace your S curve crutch!

So instead of the S Curve in your photography, us the F curve because you better control the shadow dimension and how that relates to your highlights as they roll off perfectly, just as they did with Film!

You also won’t always feel like you have to create that S shape will open up how you use the tones in each photo.

I hope you found this useful and will spread it around because the F curve really is better than the S Curve. Please spread this around and let me know what you think in the comments.

Gavin Seim

The s curve in photography works fine, but my changing to a filmic curve you improve everything like in this P\ortra look
A strong double drop at the top of this F curve softens the specular highlights that were a problem in the portrait processed with a Portra look.
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January 13, 2023

0

film presets and styles, Film Presets for Lightroom, Film Styles for Capture One, Fuji Classic Negative Preset, presets, special effects

This Ektar 100 film preset for Lightroom and Capture One is a game changer.

Ektar 100 is a classic among films. So I made a film preset.

It’s considered great for landscapes and street work and it’s one of the few films still available in 2023. But those who know it well, also love it for portraits. Lots of prestes have been called Ektar inspired. Today I’ll show you the essentials of this recipe of my authentic and detailed Ektar 100 preset.

Get this film preset in my Filmist pack. Or make your own based on what I show in the video. You can get Classic Negative and Portra 160 presets in my FREE Filmist Sampler Here.

Why Ektar over Portra or Fuji Film preset recipes?

The first version of the Ektar 100 presets I made for the Filmist film presets pack was good. But it was now perfect and may not have been your go-to like the Portra Gen.2 presets. When I want something a bit more robust than Porta, Finer than Natura 1600, and more complex than film presets like Classic Chrome, I’ll be going to Ektar.

Rather than being designed for people like Portra, Ektar is more of an all-use film. But despite its rich reds, it makes great portraits, streets, and landscapes all in one film.

Here’s How I made the Ektar 100 like Gen2

Kodaks Ektar has come in various versions, but the most famous and still made is Ektar 100. It’s not an easy look to replicate digitally, but it has complex color magic that is great. Most of the Ektar variants are no longer available, but you still can buy the 2000’s era Ektar 100 version.

So in Filmist v1.8 I went back to the basics. As I show in the recipe overview in the video, it’s mostly about ultra-detailed curves and HSL. I’ve shot Ektar myself in my 4×5 work so I am familiar with its deep colors and often slightly red tint. But the secret to really getting a digital film look right is to refine it tirelessly until it works on all image types.

I researched deeper and watched reviews on the film, and how different people use and process it. How each process works differently to get slight variants. Then you combine all that to make the look really good.

The warm skin tones in Ektar 100 look great if processed well and that reflects in the presets simulation of the film.

What goes a Gen.2 Film Simulation Preset Mean?

Most companies make presets, you buy them and that’s what you get. But I keep refining and updating them and in Filmist I’ve spent hundreds of hours creating free updates since it launched.

Every Gen.2 film preset I make takes more hours of tinkering and study to make that film look perfect on digitally. In Filmist 1.8 I finished the Gen.2 versions of Classic Chrome and Classic Negative presets as well as vastly improved the color nuances of these popular fuji profiles. More on that in this post.

But Ektar 100 is about making the presets for Lightroom and Capture One represent the actual chemical film in every use case. And it’s fantastic. This new version is so much more subtle, and you’ll find that whether you’re shooting the streets of glamorous portraits, it has that natural fine-grain film feel with deep reds and nuanced color gradients. It’s a true Gen.2 film preset and will quickly become a go-to.

The ways reds and blues are rendered is distinct in the Ektar film look presets but it looks amazing in most scenes.

Why should you be using Film simulations as your editing baseline?

I make a lot of good presets, like Silver black and white and PowerFlow presets and more. Then there are actions. You may have those or you’ve made your own.

The film is something special. Using film presets as a baseline for color and black-and-white edits make you see color and shadow. It will make your editing more subtle and you’ll see the nuance that gentle changes make.

Try the Ektar film preset or make your own from the recipe essentials that I show in the video. There are different ways to interpret this film look as a preset, but I this this Ektar 100 like Gen.2 really conveys it well. If you still shoot film, go shoot a roll and tell me how you think this rates.

Thanks for coming and keep shooting – Gavin Seim

Complex shadow definition, fine grain and color nuance make this film a favorite and I worked overtime to re-create that aesthetic.
This film preset give a magical undertone that makes ordinary scenes come alive. Film is good at that.
Subline reds are a distinct thing about the Ektar 100 feel, but they way they mix with blues in Lightroom and Capture one is great.
Like Fujis Classic film looks, Portra and Natura, Ektar Like Gen.2 will be a go-to film preset that you will come back to all the timer.
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