Film Presets for Lightroom Archives

September 15, 2023

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…

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.
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.
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.

May 26, 2023

Film Presets for Lightroom, lightroom, special effects

Lightroom Running Slow, I tried every tip to make it FAST and I did!

Yes Lightroom needs every ounce of power. But when you have Lightroom running slow, your work slows down and drives you crazy.

In todays video we STOP letting lightroom RUN slow and make it FAST

I actually got fed up after last weeks video about Speed-Masks. I love Ai masking in LR but it was bringing my good system to a crawl. I decided it was time to review everything and make a video.

Check out Filmist and Elegance 4.5 Speed-Mask update that was mentioned briefly in the video.

Making Lightroom fast in 3 steps.

This 2023 video is everything relevant I could find to make Lightroom fast and it goes well beyond the basic Lightroom preference panel settings that you tweak when Lightroom is Slow.

This video has 3 segments. The first is the basics inside LR, then the factors outside of Lightroom and finally Advanced tips for your system to make it speedy.

Lightroom running slow? Make lightroom run faster

Lightroom is a log, accept that and make it fast!

Lightroom has always been a big of a hog. Lt likes lots of Ram, disk speed and now graphics. The Masking is epically heavy on graphics use so make sure you watch the external lightroom speed tips in the video because they really help.

Many if these will improve speed on other apps as well. So if you find Capture One is slow or you video editing app, many of the things I’ll share with you today still apply.

Check in with preferences first and often if you feel things are slowing down. We’ll cover those tips in the video. But don’t stop there, do the more advanced things to really make your Lightroom run faster.

I hope this helped you speed up Lightroom as much as it did for me. – Gavin Seim

April 15, 2023

art study, Biz Sense, Film Presets for Lightroom, Fine Art

How NOT using AI will make your REAL photos more valuable!

When you see a photo in 2023, do you believe it? I’ve just been watching the past few months and today am speaking because I think they missed the bigger part of what AI is doing to photography.

All the top photo channels have been talking about Ai.

But they are not talking about BELIEF! Don’t just watch today. Follow along with my demonstration by grabbing my free film presets and doping this yourself. This kind of photography can’t be ignored and has a big part in what’s coming.

Ai is not Photography.

Today I’m going to tell you what I realized about Ai in Photography, how it’s a repeat of the 2000’s and what you need to be doing to stay ahead and make your photos more real. Yes AI generation tools la Dall e and Stable diffusion will get better. But even when they do feel, real, they won’t be!

Here’s a few more examples. Look at one of my photos of El Trampolin Tamasopo Mexico. When I asked Dall e to make it, the scene actually feels like the right place. It just look very ,much like painting. Stable Diffusion made a scene that has nothing to do with the region. It’s just a river.

Misty river at sunrise in El Trampolin Tamasopo Mexico — My photo of the river at sunrise in El Trampolin Tamasopo Mexico

Don’t be like photographers from the 2000’s

I have some more examples in the video. But what it shows is that while Ai is nothing like the real thing, denial won’t save photography. So don’t ignore what I’m saying today. We have to adapt and make real photo that people value. Those will be the heart of photography future.

Ai will change the demand for many images and perhaps the world will become even more fake. But people will know it’s fake and that is where photography is still so important.

Life, death, , history cultures and people are real, not Ai. So NOT using ai will mean you have something unique in the coming world of Ai imagery.

IS photography going to die because of Ai?

Photography has to stand on it’s own. What Ai will take a giant piece of is over edited photos that are not real. The suspension of disbelief is going to het harder just like it did with Photoshop in the 2000’s. So more over the top things wi9ll soon just be seen al fake Ai things.

This leaves the value in photography in that it’s real. There’s nothing wrong with creating illustrated art. It beautiful. But it’s not photography. I remember this debate many time at international photo conferences and comps like PPA…. If there’s nothing of a photo left, it’s a painting people said.

Now that gets tripled. Now everyone will know the amazing thing they are looking at that seems to amazing to be true, IS NOT. It’s an image without belief and that leaves room for us to adapt with real honest photography that represents the world, the people and the cultures around us.

January 13, 2023

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.

January 6, 2023

capture one, Film Presets for Lightroom, Film Styles for Capture One, free capture one styles, free lightroom presets, lightroom, special effects

Classic Negative and Classic Chrome Like Gen.2 Capture One and Lightroom Filmic Presets.

Classic Negative and Classic Chrome are two very popular color profiles on Fuji cameras. It seems Fuji is the only camera maker who has managed to make its in-camera profiles iconic. That’s because they create their camera profiles from Film. The problem is they only work on some cameras

Filmic presets are the solution.

Classic Negative like capture one and lightroom film presets revised 2023 edition — The Gen.2 Classic Negative Like presets have been refined a lot since my first version a few years ago giving you the JPEG-like colors with the RAW advantages in post.

I just finished Filmist V1.8 with new Gen. 2 versions of my Classic negative-like and Classic Chrom-like presets, as well as Ektar Gen2 (I made a post about that here) With nearly 5 years of development, Filmist has become a king of great filmic presets, and I’m super proud of it.

I’ve been making master preset packs since Lightroom launched. But the hardest to create are my Capture One and Lightroom film presets, Filmist. Presets like PowerFlow and Natural HDR and great. But the film does something magical for digital.

Download Filmist Film presets/styles free Sampler here

IN it I’ve included the improved Gen.2 version of Classic Negative like for you Fuji lovers, PLUS a few other film presets to get you started. The improved Classic Chrome and Ektar presets are included in Filmist complete.

I love Filmic presets. Here’s why they work so well.

Overdriving sliders in an edit is a very common problem. More is not more in a great photo. That, I believe, is why people like these Fuji camera profiles—they are subtle.

It’s silly, but it hurts a little when my customers reject my recommendation to try Filmist as their next pack. I know they are missing out. I love film presets because when you shoot real film or edit with good film presets, it changes the way you create photos.

Things that were once boring become atmospheric and feel more real. It helps you gain perspective on every other process because film will always have an organic look.

Classic Chrome like capture one and lightroom film preset improved in all the details. — The JPEG Classic Chrom from my Fuji V100V next to the RAW file processed with the presets only. This looks was especially hard to re-create on RAW, but now that I have it I can use it on files from any camera.

I also love Fuji cameras and they have great profiles like Classic Chrome. But I don’t use them much. I nearly always apply the looks with a preset and not a baked-in look because it gives more control. Plus you can use filmic presets on any camera or even video thanks to LUTS.

PS: If you want to create your own Classic Chrome preset for free, you can watch the video I made on the Gen 1 recipe here to get a good starting point.

Filmist 1.8 brings better C1 and Lightroom Film Presets!

Lightroom Film presets and Capture One Film styles v1.8, Filmist has new Gen.2 film improvements.

In today’s post, I’ll share a variety of photos processed with these Capture One and Lightroom Film presets. Everything comes from my newly updated V1.8 and nearly world-famous “like” versions of these recipes as presets for any camera.

1.8 also has the new Gen 2 of the Ektar 100 which is a really great film. I’ll write more about that in another post. All these looks come thanks to many test images from the long hours, so they are more accurate than ever. The updated version includes the Lightroom Presets, the Capture One Styles, and the video LUTS.

You can also download the Filmist sampler again for the 1.8 version. If you own FIlmist Complete, this is a free update, and you can get your account for the latest install.

Classic Chrome Like Lightroom FIlm Presets — Classic Chrome Like, RAW File with preset

CClassic Negative Like Lightroom FIlm Presets — Classic Negative Like, RAW file with preset

A Classic Negative vs Classic Chrome Profile Review

Classic Negative – is a bit deeper and more intense. It has subdued colors but is more contrasty. It’s well-loved for streets for that reason, though usually, it’s not my favorite for portraits. Turn up the exposure a little on portraits to make it smoother.

Loosely based on Superia 200 and Classic Chrome is very loosely based on Kodachrome. I talked about that in this video.

Classic Chrome – is soft and gentle and sometimes you may need a bit more if your light is not contrasty. But it’s versatile.

While Classic Negative has an almost soft color look, classic Chrome is a bit brighter and more slide film-like, even though it’s not actually that close to the Kodachrome film it was inspired by.

Both produce great results and both can feel very natural. But if you look at these examples you can see how each has its own character. All these examples were done with the presets, which means camera type is not a barrier.

Film presets should be made with extensive testing to work well.

I do extensive homework for every film I make. In fact, making Gen.2 of these was hard because they were already good. I had to spend hours refining fine details in Lightroom and Capture One, and that’s the most tedious part.

When I shoot with Fuji cameras, I use both of these profiles. But in the post, I always take the RAW file and use the presets. Yes even before the built-in fuji-specific RAW profiles for better dynamic range and more accuracy.

It’s important that we can apply these looks to any file, any camera, old or new. Not just the latest model. Because when editing a project, you need consistency, not looks that are all over the map. If I shot part of a project on Fuji and another part on Sony or Canon, I want to be able to edit them with the same feel.

Presets make it easy and turn a recipe that requires dozens of hours to create into a single click. All while leaving you in control. By using presets on Raw instead of baked-in JPEGS, I get smoother highlight roll-off, I can increase or decrease the effect, and I can change my mind later.

Classic Chrome Like Capture One Film Style — The Classic Chrome-like presets on a SONY Raw File

Classic negative Like Capture one Film Style — Classic Neg-like presets on a SONY Raw File

Film presets solve a problem.

I made Filmist so we could better bring the darkroom to digital. Before, we had a limited number of films but a nearly infinite number of ways to develop them back in the day. Most are gone now. Today we have many ways to develop with a simple slider and while under-editing creates boring photos that lack atmosphere, over-driving a slider can take a great photo and make it bad instantly.

Film has an organic shadow-rich look. So Wwen you start editing with film presets you get more than just tinkering with sliders. Yes, you save time, but you try things and see things. Colors, shadows, various kinds of reds, and nuances can take a rather plain photo and make it seem like something from the pages of National Geographic. Color, Silver mix, and shadows matter.

You can see in just the Classic Negative and Classic Chrome looks that while the processes are not that intense, they are distinct and when you learn to make the destination or the nuances you become a better photographer and editor. Film makes that process a whole lot easier because it’s backed by hundreds of years of chemical processes and research into what makes our eyes respond to shadow and light.

Make sure you check out the Filmist film presets and at least download the free sampler pack to get some creative ideas.

Below are a few more examples of these modern film-inspired look

Gavin Seim