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.
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.
Here are the improved film styles in the free film pack.
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 Gen.3 Film Preset
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.
How do I decide what presets to use? The power of REAL Photos.
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.
Fuji Classic Negative updated in Filmist 2 Free Presets Pack
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 film looks for digital is more powerful and moddable.
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.
Agfa RSX 100 II Free Capture One Style and LR Preset
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.
A taco stand in Mexico. A real photograph taken on Portra 800 35mm Film and note editing.
On this weeks Pro Photography Podcast… Are photos even real anymore.?
On this Professional Photography Podcast we talk about photo news, the Cine Still scandal, and what Ai is doing to photography. The conflicts in the world are showing how deceptive it can be and new tech like Content Credentials is making systems to know what we are seeing.
Real photos from real people not from AI and we need to start using that. I shoot film and make things like Filmist film presets to keep a grounded focus on that.
Real photos tell a story of a person place or thing. They are the nouns of images and they matter. Ai-generated images will never be real photos. That does not mean they are not a real part of the market now. Only that we need to understand the difference.
The same scene taken on a Fuji X100 and edited with the Filmist Portra 800 preset. Still real.
Videos and other important things mentioned on this show.
Taken on film like this (Lokak Ultra 400), or on digital, it’s important to understand that the imperfections of real photos matter. Perfect is getting easy, real is getting hard.
We’re always talking about high dynamic range. But today’s videos are a keystone much like our = STOP using contrast from the last Masters Made Easy video. LoFi photography is actually fundamental to understanding your photos.
No LoFi Photography is not just a lomo camera or a filter on Instagram. It’s just as important to shadow hunting as the High Dynamic Range techniques as I explained in my recent video.
Many photographers no longer edit Low Dynamic Range.
LoFi Photography goes way deeper than people think.
LoFi Photography is often played as low quality, pinhole camera, etc. While those can be included, it’s a really low dynamic range technique and it’s important when you plan a shoot.
I know I say it all the time but this LoFi photography fits in with Shadow Hacking 101 so make sure you come to a Shadow Hackers online photo workshop.
LoFi photos take what everyone else throwing out and it often creates better photos. You don’t need to do all LoFi or all HDR. A lot of photos fall in between. But don’t be afraid to push the methods I show in the video to refine your style.
Reverse the things they teach you in LoFi photography
We’re almost universally taught to push sliders right in the digital world. A more is more kind of approach. That’s why most photos look so bad and even good photographers are ediuting to death. We went deeper into this in my post about how to ground your edits by using filmic presets.
I’ve been doing this since the start of digital. I’ve watched the influencers and experts nearly always selling the same ideas and repeating ourselves because they came from film and all the digital stuff was new and like candy. Candy sometimes lacks perspective.
Slowly that’s changing as digital matures and photographers realize that we still have a lot to learn from the past.
Stop speaking in just digitally.
We live in an analog world. The advent of Ai photography is reminding us just how fake everything has become and that the real world is often more magical. LoFi photography is not every part of the puzzle. But you nee to know it.
You can still do amazing complex edits. But by knowing all the tools in your box you have control. Yes, your capture can be HDR and your final LDR, or vice versa. When you know to hunt shadows and look for the atmosphere and life in photos everything starts to change. There’s not just one way and you need to know them all to master this. The good news is, it’s not that complex.
Stay tuned for more in the Masters Made Easy series.
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.
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.
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 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.
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…
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
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.
