Today I’m launching a great new emulsion in FIlmist 2.3 The Fuji Pro 160NS preset to sit alongside the legendary Fuji Pro 400H. But even if you don’t use Filmist, the lesson from today’s video is big
I didn’t even know this. It took me years of creating this thing like this preset to understand how much we have lost. This really came to light in the latest update of my Fimist presets and Styles.
160NS is a great film. In digital terms, it seems close. Especially on some photos. But consider that Fuji did all the research and development to make this distinct film. There was reason for that.
As you watch look for the details. In a world of sledgehammer sliders, AI, supersaturation and synthesizes guitars. Everything has to be over the top. or does it?
The Fuji 160NS is not that far from the 400H. In today’s world, many might say, I don’t see the difference. But maybe something is deeply wrong with your edited photos.
Side by side you can see how the color tones vary and those can make a huge difference (click for larger).
Fuji spent millions to make a film just slightly different.
Why? We don’t think with that kind of detail anymore.
In digital the work I invest to make 400H and 160NS as presets is a lot for me. But nothing compared to what Fuji spent creating and marketing them. Even with all that work it was considered worth it to make another product that was just a little varied.
That should tell us something about how much more nuance photographers thought about back then. Film was the preset of the day and those little differences mattered.
Digital needs more nuance.
It’s there. The tools are powerful enough. The courses are at our fingertips.
But it’s hard to wow people on Facebook or compare with fake Ai photos with a slight tonal variance. We have changed our mindset from subtly to a sledgehammer. It’s a really good hammer.
Once you start seeing the nuance. It comes back. You value it again and you start feeling the little variables in color and tone. Just like when you Hack Shadows you quickly connect with how magical photos are created.
It’s another reason I love to edit with film, shoot real film, and study what makes it work. because it makes me a better photographer when I shoot digitally, and it will for you also.
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.
Should you use Capture One or Lightroom for your black and white edits? PLUS where does Photoshop for black and white fit in?
We’re going to test that in today’s video with direct comparisons. Taking the sale filed and editing them in each to see what gives us the best black and white in the least time. I’ll give you tips for all of them along the way.
Also, see my Lightroom vs Capture on 2022 video here for a general overview of these two great apps. For now, let’s watch today’s video and do some black and white tests.
Since I started digital photography 20 years I’ve seen just about every technique for Black and White in digital Some needless complex. some are just ugly. Simplifying that process led me to bypass plugins and create tools Like Silver 4 presets and Blackroom BW Actions.
Pure Capture One. While there are fewer BW sliders, you can make up for it with the more advanced color tools and get a stunning result.
Honestly we B&W lovers occasionally get a little snobby, so this question can be complex. But since we no longer have the chemicals we used to use in the darkroom the traditional color filters do not have the same effect. Today to take the same principle and make it work digital.
The best black and white conversions usually start for a color photo because with those color channels we can convert and extract the colors, much like we did with filters in the film days but with more detail. Darkroom like green filter, lighter reds, etc. If you bake black and white in camera, you lose all that power. That’s not to say your BW photos are wrong. Just that they are not as flexible.
So I usually convert on the raw file. In LR or C1. I use my SIlver 4 presets if Filmist. But whether you use creative presets to go further, or all manual. You don’t want to supply desaturate. Use those channels and the power of your RAW.
Watch today’s video above, because we’re looking at Lightroom VS Capture ON in a side-by-side level. Does one give you a better black and white conversion than the other and what are the advantages between Lightroom and C1.
After that, you can go deeper into your black and white edits..
If I’m going to edit my best work. I go beyond RAW. I’ll restore the color channels before going into Photoshop, leaving my other edits in place. Then I can go deeper with my black and white edits. But they are also more complex in Photoshop.
Sometimes it’s not even clear how you can make a better black and white in Photoshop. I use Blackroom to convert to a more complex BW because it always helps me find a way to improve the edit without stumbling around. That’s what it was built for.
Lightroom is a little more user-friendly compares to Capture One. But with Styles or presets, you can get your look fast in both.
In conclusion. Which is best? LR, C1 or PS
When it comes to Lightroom VS Capture One for black and white. I think Lightroom has the edge for ease of use and results that just work. Capture One with its other available tools can perhaps give you more options but with more work. Both are going to work great if you save presets or styles or Have a pack like Silver 4 or Filmsist on hand.
In the end, both are good and the results will be good.
But comparing both to Photoshop. Photoshop offers more options, but with a lot more time spent. Even if you use Photoshop actions to vastly speed up these more advanced edits, Photoshop should probably not be where you start.
Edit normally in Lightroom or in Capture one or another RAW-type editor. Then take the very best images you want to showcase to Photoshop to give them that edge that makes them win.
Lastly, plugins for black and white are heavily hyped. I used them when I all this starting out but native tools have improved a LOT since those days. As I mentioned in the video, a plugin adds another step and takes away control.
Yes, using presets and styles and actions help a lot because they make hard tasks fast. But they use the native app tools in Lightroom, Capture One, and Photoshop. So instead of a new file or a flat image. You just highly refined sliders, adjustable layers, and a totally transparent process. To be that’s a huger win.
Let me know if the comments what you think is the best black and white tool.
Gavin Seim
The detail in Photoshop is almost impossible to beat. Layers and details equal more refinement. So I still take by best photos here in the end after using a RAW style editor.Don’t be afraid to edit your black and white a little more. Whatever app you use. In the end, it’s all about shadow and contrast.
There’s a story here. But the real gold nugget is how to use GOLD tones with color photos. Here’s what I’ve learned…
My grandpa was always buying and selling antiques and taught me when I was young how to separate the value from the junk. At least he tried to teach me.
I remember him talking about the Curtis gold-tone prints long before digital was a thing. Little did I know that 3o years later I would still be obsessed with gold tones in the back of my mind as I developed my recipes. Maybe because they are so hard to get just right.
But today we’re in color, not re-creating early-era gold tones. Enter the Gold-Chrome.
As far as I know, there was never a Gold-Chrome film. But maybe there should have been. Now even if you’re wanting to create other tones and mixes, the tips I’m going to share today will work.
Once we know the settings we create, but sometimes we use the slider in a very basic way. Decades later I still find myself discovering formulas. The sliders are a lot like chemicals. While it may be less messy and costly, those curves and up and downs are not any less subtle.
Mount Rainier by Asahel Curtis – Gold Orotype
Since the early days of photography, it seems people noticed the magic in a gold image. From the Platinum pallidum to the Curtis gold tones that were actually processed with real gold. The Orotone!
Maybe it’s the romance that early black and white created with its impure and often tinted results. Maybe it’s just because we love warm tones. It’s a color emotion thing. It’s why in cinema styles there are a lot of looks with orange and blue hues. Being opposite each other on a color wheel, they pair well.
So I recreated the early era darkroom and platinum looks in my Emulsions actions. They take that toning and make it easy to manage in layers. The platinum has a warm tone, not always Gold, but sometimes it actually feels gold.. In the future, I might add an authentic Orotone recipe into Emulsion actions as they can do more complex things than we create with presets and styles.
Here’s our goal…
Create dynamic gold tones that are not monochrome.
Try to maintain a gold that feels natural with other colors.
Make the gold tones versatile across many image types.
The perfect COLOR-Gold formula is NOT Selective color.
Rather than tinted black and white, these are created by how color is mixed and by the natural light in a scene. So if you have a backlit sunset, gold warmth comes more naturally and feels more at home. Don’t confuse this with ugly 90’s selective color.
You may have used the popular Classic Negative if you use Fuji X cameras. This is based on Superia 200 film, but it’s actually a very low saturation looks, while still retaining colors. I have a preset of Classic Negative that also you can download for free here. that I made to use on any field, like this Fuji XE3 street photo, since this model did not include that profile in the camera.
Not gold – Street workers, Filmist Classic Negative look on a Fuji XE3 RAW file.
You’ve seen this approach used in golden warm sunset photos but may not have even known it. These are not selective colors or black and white. They are shot and developed to focus on the golden warmth, but the color still remains.
I have tinkered with getting this look for over a decade in Lightroom, going all the way back to the first version of Power Workflow. More recently I had a great portrait-focused gold effect in the Muse preset pack called Gold Dust!
UPDATE – Get my Gold recipes as presets for Lightroom and Capture One with my finished Gold-Chrome pack.
Level 1 Gold toning Warm like a sunset but maintains rich color.
Gold Dust – tone from the Muse presets pack. Sony FIle.
We want that look you see in iconic street photos or magazines. It always starts with light in the camera, but if you develop well, that gold can even be added to less warm images and still feel perfect.
Level 1 is gentle. It could almost be mistaken for White Balance but it’s much richer. Complicating matters more, each camera is different. Fuji tones lean redder, Sony more green etc.
We live in a world of internet marketers selling tools that leave people unhappy. I deal with the fallout of that, which is why I always guarantee my products. I am passionate and often obsessed with this kind of recipe. It cannot just work on one photo, it has to work on most of them.
In the Filmist pack I might spend an entire week focused on a single recipe to get it just right. Today I’ll show you progressively more intense gold recipes I’ve developed.
Don’t do this with White Balance!
Yes, it’s fine to warm or cool a photo a little with WB. It’s one of the secrets of making any6 color formula work for YOUR camera. But you can’t get a proper golden tone with a WB cast adjustment. White balance is often used for this, but incorrectly. Toning needs to come from the more subtle color channel and wheels.
Why? First, no WB setting will work in a Lightroom preset or styles for Capture One. They vary on a per-image basis. Second, you want more depth. When you use the color wheel and even more curves, you have dynamic toning that moves with the shadows and highlights.
Take all the colors away, then start from zero.
TIP: If you’re trying to make a color tone, go to the HSL colors and desaturate every channel.
This working in reverse will really well to help you find the goal. Pull them all down… Now start moving color back in a little at a time.
Next, you mix those with color wheels in mids, shadows, and highlights, then tones. As you progress you will see your effect come to life.
I kept thinking about how to explain more simply how to use advanced color features in Lightroom and Capture One. I’ll be making a channel a video and I’ll post it here in the future when I have
Elote Girl – Cine Soft Brown mi.
On the lighter gold side, we’re talking about a warm overtone that has hints of gold. Another level 1 like we see right here with the elotes girl happy over her corn. Yes, they love their Elotes in Mexico and they are always buying them on the street covered in mayonnaise and chili.
This gets more complex as we go to curves. You can do amazing things with the individual color channels in curves. But you can make a mess very fast. The adjustment in the color cruces, whether in Lightroom, Capture One, or Photoshop, is very finite but very powerful.
Level 2 Gold Toning Softer color and more expansive warm tones.
But let’s go to level 2 gold. This is not about a vintage look. It’s about feeling good. I did these with what I call my El Dorado process. This pushes other colors down a bit more and focuses on the gold tones and color wheels. But it’s still a full-color photo.
El dorado process
A Gold-Chrome has colors from every channel.
We’re trying to empathize with a tone and feel of a scene that complements the real-world light. Even at level 2, we have a full-color spectrum, but golden warmth is all over the frame here. Level 2 done right, is actually very versatile.
This works great in atmospheric street scenes. But also fashion portraits and beyond. What we’re doing is using color to extend the existing emotions but in a way that doe snot feel like a fake color. If all color is equal, the image looks rather boring.
The parking garage, San Juan Del Rio Mexico -El Dorado tone
Now it’s starting to go GOLD!
By separating color and focusing on a specific range, we control the hues of a scene. In the case of Gold, it tends to give a warm sunset romantic vibe
IN going further we’re going to take a queue from the Curtis Gold tone. Because gold was part of the chemical process, it results in highlights being ultra gold. We’re still working in color, but let’s curve down those highlights and go further.
El Doroado gold chrome process. Level 2 still retains color well.
Going to level 3 – Ultra gold chrome color
What we’ve done is push curves and colors and how they respond more and more without selectively reducing any one color. The sensation of color is soft, leaving you with gold and warm rays. But the influence of the color is still there.
The boy on the dock. Ultra Gold tone. The color is there but the gold is more intense. In some photos, it feels perfectly natural.
In this photo on the lakeshore where it;’s clear sunset, it feels almost natural, but looking at the original file, you see just how much gold we added. I think with any process this should be the goal. Adding your recipe, while maintaining a feel that does not distract and feels right.
Original RAW file from a Fuji X100V
And yet we’ve all seen an image like this. Radiant golden rays that are intense, but feel natural. Like they convey an emotion that we might have felt in the real place. That’s the goal of photography. We have to convey that shadow, the sensation and to me, that’s what a great color formula is about.
A good Gold process is such that you don’t think about it being processed, yOU think about the feel and the story of this boy standing at the end of a dock waiting for his ship to come in. Or maybe something else.
Yes, Use RAW files and presets!
With any of the deep edits, you want RAw whenever possible. It’s especially popular amount street shooters to shoot JPEGs. The Fuji camera for example has great in-camera profiles. But you throw so much away in JPEG and if you want to deep deep recipes like this, you will be glad you have a RAW file to start from. Take a look at my video… Raw vs JPEG 2022.
It’s also important to have these as presets. We talking about adjustments that take hours. Especially when you refine them. So whether you buy presets like mine or make your own. Save at each step so you can use and compare easily later.
Ultra Gold color in a night street scene. Highlights are deeply affected giving this scene a vintage vibe.
Don’t be afraid to level up and do more.
By being progressively bolder, we’ve created a look that can be intense and still feel right. This post was about creating color gold tones. But it’s also about pushing developing settings.
I admit usually start with a presets or action to help kick me in the right direction.
If I see ten variants of a photo, it’s like adding visualizations to my brain and those adapt to create new ideas that I otherwise would have not discovered.
The level 3 process tends to look natural in photos where there is already a natural gold glow on the boy on the dock. Note the extremes in the highlights where level 3 pulls the upper curve down and fills it with warmth. This can work in other scenes like the night shot above, but it tends to bring a vintage vibe that is clearly a color effect. That’s not good to bad, just be aware.
My Gold Chrome Conclusion.
I like this look, which is why I have chased it for so long. How to edit and tone an image is a very personal choice and often there are many approaches that will look good. But if we become less timid, will draw out shadows and tones in new ways.
This has perhaps been an overly intensive look at gold chrome toning. But I’ve been chasing these tones for over a decade, and really ever since my grandpa talked with reverence about early ere Curtis Gold-Tone prints.
As these formulas are refined enough to work in most scenes, you may see them come out in my presets packs. The first level 1 Gold Dust tone is also part of my Muse Collection so if you have them play around and make your own variants.
20 years later I feel like I am starting to understand what needs to be done to make gold work. I have failed many times to get it right. A really good process is one you will come back to. If I am not there yet, I am on the way and I wanted to share with you and I hope you will share what you have found in the comments below.
Gavin Seim
L3 Gold Chrome church in the square. This takes extreme measures on highlights to give a very darkroom-like gold flavor.
