We show you how to edit digital photos so they look like they were taken on a film camera
Once you’ve imported your image and made some adjustments to the exposure and dynamic range as needed, you can add a little warmth to the image by adjusting the white balance.
2. Adjustments
We’ve also reduced the contrast, texture, clarity and dehaze, and made sure to turn the sharpening off. Check to make sure luminance noise reduction remains off. You can add a vignette here.
3. Pick a preset
Scroll through the presets on the left, and you’ll find a range of Retro / Vintage and Creative effects available. We went with Creative Turquoise and Red as this gave us a pleasing, but vintage-looking image.
4. Add some grain
Scroll down further and you’ll find grain options. We went for heavy, but medium might be good, depending on how strong you want the grain to appear.
5. Add a vignette
Heavy vignette was added to increase the film look further, and this can be increased if needed. For this image we didn’t need to adjust the background blur, because it was already blurred.
6. Reduce the overall contrast
We used the masking tool to select the subject/background, to tone down the brightness, saturation, and detail in the background, by adjusting the sharpness and texture sliders, and this has resulted in an image with lower contrast.
Get the film look using DxO FilmPack 6
If you’ve got access to DxO FilmPack 7 (a trial is available for download), you can try different film styles and looks.
We’ve taken the image that we edited in Adobe Photoshop and loaded it into DxO FilmPack 6. Selecting Kodak Kodachrome 200 gives us an image with a toned-down colour palette, and DxO FilmPack does an excellent job of adding larger film grain to the image.
There are options to add split toning, adjust the vignette, and add light leak effects (unfortunately the orange light leak typically found on the first photo in the film is missing, but similar effects are available), as well as add the film roll effect, or other borders to the image.
This makes it quick and easy to get the film look without having to go through the steps in Photoshop, and DxO FilmPack 6 is also able to make film noise appear at the right size for your images, whatever resolution those images may be.
After:
How to get the film look with a smartphone
With smartphone camera apps, you’ll normally be able to find a portrait mode that will automatically blur the background of any portraits you take. This is a great start to getting a more film-like look from your photographs.
You’ll also find different filters and effects in most social media platforms, such as Instagram. However, if you want to go straight to playing with different film looks, then the app 1998 Cam is designed specifically for you. Like DxO FilmPack 6, it’s got a whole range of film simulations which give an immediate look of film.
You can shoot with the app or edit existing photos. Once you’ve selected your preferred film, you can edit additional settings, such as vignette and grain. You can even imprint the date much like you would have found on some film cameras with date stamps.
The app is free but does contain adverts. For some of the additional film simulations you’ll need to purchase the full version, which is priced at just 89p. It’s available for both iOS and Android devices.
Print your pictures
The final step to make your digitally edited photo feel like a film photo… is to print it out on 6x4in or 7x5in photo paper!
If you have your own photo printer, then there is nothing stopping you. If you don’t, then you get to experience the joy of going somewhere to get your prints. Just as when you were shooting film! Luckily, these days photo printing services are available at most supermarkets, Boots chemists, and similar stores.
Cheat sheet: Buy a filter
Don’t want to spend ages editing photos? Want to get a more film-like look with your digital camera? Simply buy a Black Diffusion ¼, or Black Myst filter for your lens, and this will take off some of the sharpness, as well as add some extra glow to bright objects in your image. Although be warned, any effects added to your image using a filter are difficult, or impossible, to fix later.
Read more about lens filters and how to use them properly.
Read more about editing
- Editing photos in Adobe Photoshop
- Best Adobe Lightroom presets
- The best photo editing software
- Best vintage digital cameras to buy
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