Video Editor With Film Effect
Darios Uclaray
Make photos look as if they were taken with a film camera. This effect adds grain, dust and scratches which enhance the feeling of traditional photograph. You can also choose between vivid, natural, sepia or black & white colors.
Recreating the LOOK OF FILM in digital photography is quite the trend at the moment, with an increasing number of people taking and posting Film-type photos to their Instagram and other social media pages! The main reason for its popularity stems from a sense of history and nostalgia most of us feel when seeing an actual film photo that has aged over time.
Unfortunately, film cameras can be expensive, and disposable cameras create unnecessary waste. For a digital photographer, it may not feel worth it to invest in new camera gear just to produce a different style of photos.
I love being a digital photographer, but I have always thought that some of my digital photos would look great if captured in a film-photo style. Since I don't currently have a film camera, I needed to learn how to edit my digital photos to look like film photos.
There are generally 24 to 36 exposures when using a film camera, meaning there are a limited number of shots available before needing a new roll of film (or disposing of a non-reusable film camera). Having a limited number of photos forces us to focus more on the moment, story, and composition and less on color science and sharpness.
Remember, every photo is different, so how much the exposure and contrast are changed ultimately depends on each individual image. However, these general Lightroom Mobile settings can act as a baseline which can be copied and pasted into a preset (for future use), and then you can do further editing from there.
Film photos typically appear more exposed than regular photos, giving them a fairy tale, mysterious look. To make these adjustments, go to the light section of Lightroom Mobile. For my image, I increased the exposure, contrast, highlights, whites, and shadows a tiny bit. I also decreased the blacks, so the photo retains some dimension.
The next step is to add some grain. With modern digital photography, most people strive for crisp, tack sharp photos as a goal. Film photography is often the opposite, as the grain typically found in film photos reduces sharpness and adds an element of imperfection. Yet, this imperfection is IMPORTANT because it allows the viewer to FOCUS ON THE BEAUTY OF THE MOMENT and the STORY BEHIND THE IMAGE rather than the photo itself.
How much grain you add is entirely up to you, but keep in mind the larger the size of the grain, the less detail of the photo will remain. Here are the Lightroom settings I generally use for grain:
The third step is to adjust the color. Even though I'm striving for a film look, being a digital photographer, I still love to play with the colors to make certain objects in a photo stand out. This is my personal preference.
I like my photos to be on the warm side, so I always increase my temperature a little. To avoid the image being too orange, I want to add some purple tint. Color theory tip: to reduce a particular color found in an image, consult a color wheel to find the opposite color and increase that "opposite" color in Lightroom.
The edits that we already completed did most of the work, so you CAN END YOUR EDIT HERE, but I like to do some additional color editing to make my images really stand out. To do this, I will adjust some of the individual colors found in the photo.
I want the sunlight shining over the person in the water to stand out a bit more, and I want the blues found in the mountains and water to pop. I achieve this primarily by increasing the saturation of the blue, red, orange, and yellow colors and making more minor adjustments to hue and luminance (see settings in the image below):
Lastly, I will make some adjustments to the color grading panel. I want the shadows and highlights to show more reds/oranges/yellows to reflect the sunlight of the photo and capture its warmth. I also saturated the mid-tones to a green-blue hue to brighten the water and trees.
As an additional step, I want to remove the second person and dog from the photo so the viewer's attention will focus on the main subject. This is easy to do using the healing brush in Lightroom Mobile.
If you want to try film photography but lack an actual film camera or don't want to deal with the additional expense of real film, look to the POWER of Lightroom. It will help you turn regular photos taken with a digital or phone camera into FILM PHOTOS that tell a story and capture that nostalgic look.
Do you have any questions or comments about Editing Photos to Look Like Film in Lightroom Mobile? Leave us a comment below - we would love to hear from you! And PLEASE SHARE our tutorial using the social sharing buttons (we appreciate it)!
Film photography has made a comeback in recent years, with many professional photographers, enthusiasts, and hobbyists exploring ways to replicate the distinct film colors of old film stocks and vintage cameras.
The first thing to mention is that it is best to shoot photos in RAW format. Images in RAW will have more data, allowing you to work better with color correction tools, color grading, and other effects. With RAW, you ensure that you won't have any undesired noise or banding and make your photos look like film when you export them.
A simple way to make a photo look like film is by making color adjustments. Back in the old days, stock films had unique colors that digital photographers try to replicate today. You can find different tonalities depending on the stock film. Playing with the basic color settings, you can make your photos look like film. In Lightroom, you can find these settings in the Develop module.
In the HSL/Color tab, you can further adjust each color's hue, saturation, and luminance to have more control over what colors to enhance. In general, you need to increase the temperature and saturation of orange and yellow hues and reduce luminance.
Old film photos have less balance between highlights and shadows due to the low dynamic range of vintage cameras. Go to the Tone Curve in your photo editor to mimic this film look. In Lightroom and Photoshop, you'll find it under the Tone Curve tab.
Start by increasing your shadows and dark tones and adjusting the highlight lower. You can use sliders or click on the curve to add a point and drag it up and down to increase or reduce its values. Using the tone curves instead of sliders allows you to add the faded effect of film photos.
If your photo editor does not have filters or effects, you can download texture images and blend them with your photo to add noise. Also, shooting with a higher ISO can add natural grain if you cannot apply grain with the other methods described. However, in this way, the noise will be in the original photo, and you won't have much control over it.
Film presets. Some video editors will have film stock presets. You can quickly apply one to your photos without adjusting everything yourself. Apps like Instagram and other mobile apps feature these filters to make photos look like film with a simple touch.
Optics is a Boris FX plug-in for Photoshop and Lightroom and a standalone application for Windows and Mac. Optics features many presets and tools to produce stunning images, add effects, and edit photos to look like film. It's simple to use and lets you get creative layering effects and photo filters.
Open your photo editor of choice and import your photos. If you're using the Optics' standalone app, go to File > Open and browse for the image you want it to look like film. Remember that importing RAW files is best to get the best of the filters on the film look.
In Lightroom, select the photo and right-click it to display the dropdown menu. Then, choose Edit In > Boris FX Optics. A pop-up window will ask you to edit the image in Lightroom in three different ways. If you have done some color correction and edits in Lightroom, use the first one to see those changes in Optics. Click Edit and wait for Optics to open.
Optics has ten categories for filters. You can find the effect to make photos look like film in the Film Lab tab. Here, you have the Film Stock effect, which includes thousands of presets for different types of film stocks and looks.
Optics includes some Sapphire effects like S_FilmDamage, S_FilmEffect, Grain, and S_VintageColor2Strip, which you can stack with a texture or film effect. To stack filters, create a new layer with CLTR/CMD + L and add the filter on a separate layer.
Lightroom Mobile features all you need to create film photos with the quality of the desktop version of Lightroom in the palm of your hand. The mobile app version of Lightroom allows you to edit with basic color settings and add effects and presets to make your Android and iPhone photos look like film with simple touch controls.
Huji Cam, developed by Manhole, is an app that helps you take photos with your mobile phone and replicate the film look of the 90s vintage film cameras. Huji Cam is simple to use and allows you to select the photo quality and random light effects to add film colors. Huji Cam is available for Android and iOS in their respective stores.
RNI Films is a film camera app with state-of-the-art film effects and claims to have the most authentic film camera emulation of all mobile apps. Its friendly user interface helps you make your photos look like film with a few taps. RNI Films is available for Android and iPhone mobile phones.
VSCO is a mobile app for Android and iOS that edits your photos with professional results in an easy-to-use interface. You can use VSCO for free with limited editing tools and presets or upgrade to a higher plan to obtain over 200 premium presets and more editing features such as HSL, film grain, and Lightroom compatibility.
Dazz Cam mimics film photos from the 90s and 80s film cameras. It features AI-generated effects, film effects, film grain and dust, light leaks, and more filters to make photos look like film. You can shoot from your mobile phone and use photo adjustments to create the film color from vintage images. Dazz Cam is available in the iOS and Android app stores.
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