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So, you just took a photo of yourself and now want it to give “main character’s dead wife in a flashback”? Well, you can, thanks to the film aesthetic.
The film aesthetic used to dominate our Instagram feeds in the past — and for a good reason. It’s cinematic, nostalgic, and, dare I say it, pretty.
While the film look has slowly faded from Instagram’s most popular aesthetics, it still has its rightful place among the carousel.
Thankfully, nowadays, it’s incredibly easy to make your photos and videos look like they were shot on film. Thanks to software like Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Express, you can quickly add the look, export it, and post it on your stories or main feed within minutes.
Keen to learn more? Of course, you are. Here’s how you can quickly get started.
What is the film aesthetic?
Alright, history lesson time. Pay attention; this will be on the test later.
Before the digital camera was invented, all footage was captured on ye olde’ film. It was that thing that would always catch fire in movies and look like fun tape. Film was unique in that it had a grainier texture, but the recording quality was unmatched. It’s why so many remasters of classic movies shot on film look stellar.
For that reason, plenty of photographers often still shoot on film or digitally edit their photos to replicate that vintage aesthetic.
So, how can you spot the film aesthetic for sure? Well, it’s simple. You can judge it based on a general “vibe,” or more precisely, on five key design features that help give a photo or video a “film aesthetic:” faded blacks (helping achieve that matte look), washed-out colours, desaturated skin tones, and increased grain.
These help to create that classic, dreamy aesthetic that film was known for.
Most movies and photographers now shoot with digital cameras because they’re affordable and easier to film with. For some movies, especially period pieces, the power of editing is often used to grade the footage to look like film. (You can see this in Ti West’s X or Safdie Brothers Uncut Gems).
So, how can you, an aspiring artiste, use this effect in your day-to-day creating?
How to make a photo look like it’s on film
If you want to tweak your photo quickly to have a film look, you could use a simple Instagram filter before posting. However, these filters don’t offer much room to tweak colours, change exposure in different places, and sometimes won’t match the expected look you were aiming for.
Thankfully, Adobe’s Lightroom software has plenty of quick mobile features that let you easily tweak your photos. Where Instagram only has a single filter that matches the film look, Lightroom has a bunch of different filters based on other existing film cameras to edit your photo’s aesthetic. If you decide one doesn’t exactly match, you can move on to the next.
Even better, if you notice that the colours in your photo aren’t working for you or the lighting is too dark, you can easily tweak that within Lightroom itself. Applying a film filter to an image can accidentally make it too dark and maybe sad-looking. With Lightroom, you can warm the photo up, turning it from a sad Gothic ’80s movie to fun, nostalgic home video vibes.
It’s fairly easy to get started if you’d like to tweak your photo without using filters and really get into the nitty-gritty of photo editing.
Simply start with your raw photo, import it into Adobe Lightroom, add a neutral colour palette, and start tweaking. If you want an exact film look, you should adjust your photo’s contrast settings, reduce tonal range, desaturate colours, and add grain.
The benefit of manually doing this is that you get to tweak everything individually rather than retroactively adjusting the filter to suit your needs.
How to make a video look like it’s on film
Okay, but let’s say you’re a budding short film enthusiast who wants to film an ’80s-inspired slasher movie and wants that grainy film effect. That’s super niche, but hey, man, you do you.
Well, you’ll be pleased to know that adding that grainy film texture to your footage is as easy as it was when adding it to a photo.
Thanks to Adobe Express, you can easily add a variety of film filters to your footage to give it that retro film aesthetic. Simply import your footage, select a film preset in the colour panel, and tweak to your heart’s content.
Of course, because video has different frames and lighting, you may need to make smaller tweaks. Again, this is really simple within Adobe’s software. Simply play around with the many different sliders in the colour panel and tweak your video files to make a cohesive colour grade.
And just like that, within minutes, you can have your very own Italian horror expressionist short film. Or, for the more reasonably adjusted among us, a nice, warm, wholesome Wes Anderson-inspired colour grading.
Where to learn more
Both Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Express have plenty of tutorials within the software to help teach you everything from the basics to industry-level skills for the software.
If you’d also like to learn more about using Adobe Lightroom and Adobe Express in your daily creative ventures, Adobe MAX Creativity Conference returns this October, and you can register for Adobe MAX online for free here.
Not only will they have some big names like Awkwafina and Devon Rodriguez speak at the event, but they’ll also have plenty of industry veterans give tips on the software and creative process.
So, if you’re stuck in a creative rut and looking for inspiration, you can find it there.
The post How To Create A Film Aesthetic For Your Pics & Vids Using Nothing But Lightroom & Adobe Express appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
