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how to make your photos look more like film in lightroom - image edits film tips, film tricks in lightroom tutorial how to

By Ryan Breitkreutz

Lightroom Tutorials, All Posts, Video Tutorials

How To Make Your Photos Look More Like Film In Lightroom

5 Tips To Look More Like Film In Lightroom

How To Make Your Lightroom Edits Look More Like Film

Looking for the secret to making your photos look more film like inside of Lightroom? Or perhaps you’re wondering how photographers get their digital photos to look like film? Today we’re going to look at some easy tricks you can use to make your photos look like they were shot on film, using the develop module in Lightroom.

Video Transcript

Hey guys Ryan here at Signature Edits,
and today we’re going to look at how you
can make your images look more like film
inside of Lightroom. Let’s do it!
[Music] okay so we are here and we are editing
first off I’m going to make some basic
adjustments to this image and then I’m
going to show you some things you can do
to make your photos look more like film
tip number one take your clarity down
older film cameras actually have less
sharp optics that means when you’re
shooting with them you’re not gonna see
these super sharp detailed edges you’ll
tend to see a little bit more of that
weird hazy look going on now obviously
we don’t want to push this too far but
taking it down by seven eight nine ten
you can actually help you get that film
look next we’re going to jump into our
tone curve this is tip number two play
with your tone curve you can take your
blacks up and your whites down for more
vintage faded film look tip number three
HSL panel film and digital are known for
having very different tones certain
films have very specific color tones to
them and so one thing we can do is
change the tones within our HSL panel to
emulate film how do we do this well
primarily by desaturating our yellows
and our greens when we do this we’ll
tend to get a more film like effect tip
number four camera calibration this is
very similar to your HSL panel in that
it allows you to change the tones within
your image simply by dragging your
shadow tones your reds your greens and
your blues you can get a combination of
tones that looks more pleasing than the
original Lightroom image and gives you
more of that warm vintage organic look
and lastly we have film grain obviously
older film stocks have lots of grain in
them so we can take our grain put the
amount the size up and add some texture
to our image so that our photos look
more like they were captured on film
so there’s five quick tips to making
your photos look more film like inside
of Lightroom
so to recap take your clarity down use
the tone curve bring up your blacks
bring down your whites play with the
tones and bring your saturation in the
yellows and the Greens down make sure to
apply a nice film grain and use the
camera calibration to artistically dial
in your photos if this was helpful
please hit that like button don’t forget
to subscribe and if you are looking for
some great film like
Presets head his signature edits calm
today and download a free sample pack
alright I’ll see you next time!

Look Like Film Tip #1 – Take Your Clarity Down.

Making your photos more like film starts with copying the characteristics of film cameras. Camera lenses have come a long way since “the good old days” – Older film cameras used lenses that were less sharp and had more issues with contrast, flares and fringing. This means to make your photos look more like film, our first step is taking our clarity down a notch or two to copy this effect.

Lightroom Film Tip #2 – Play With The Tone Curves

Old film stocks have many different characteristics, but one of the more noticeable ones is the faded highlights and shadows in old photos. Using our tone curve to pull up the blacks and pull down the white in our images will give it a more faded, vintage effect. One step closer to making your photos look like they were shot on film.

Make Digital Photos Look Like Film Tip #3 – Use The HSL Panel

The HSL panel (Hue, Saturation & Luminance) might be the most powerful color adjustment feature inside of Lightroom – And its a big part of how to make your photos look like they were shot on a film camera. Different film looks call for different adjustments, but one of the keys to start with when making digital photos look like film is desaturating the yellows and the greens. Adjusting the hue to warm them up slightly will also give your photos a more organic feel. By now you’ll be noticing its pretty easy to make your photos look like film inside of lightroom!

Film Look In Lightroom Tip #4 – Camera Calibration Panel

The Camera Calibration Panel isn’t as scary or intimidating as it sounds. Think of it like the HSL panel, but instead of having a range of different colors to choose from, you’re only working with the 3 primary colors in your photos – Red, Green and Blue. These adjustments are powerful – We find tweaking the blues to the left a few degrees towards aqua gives the photos a warm rich feeling that makes your photos feel that much more filmic in Lightroom.

Make Your Photos Like Film Tip #5 – Add Grain

Grain is your friend. Todays cameras are getting to the point of having almost NO grain in their photos. This is a good thing, but also reveals they were shot on digital and not film. If you’re looking for how to make your photos look like they were shot on film, you’re going to want to add some film grain back into the photo inside of Lightroom. Grain is stylistic and will depend on your taste and each photo, however its a key step to adding texture, softness and a timeless look to your photos inside of Lightroom.

And that’s how to give your photos a film look in Lightroom!

If you enjoyed our 5 tips to making your photos look like film, make sure to check out our other tutorials. For a FREE filmic preset pack, head to our store and download now.

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