This simple and effective guide for how to make photos look like film and more professional, along with our recommendations for a new breed of lenses suitable for this task.
Scroll through Instagram or Pinterest; you will find those dreamy photos with the nostalgic, soft, and organic feel of film images. Everyone appreciates crispy high-images these days, but that good old classic feel of film photos gives a traditional film aesthetic vibe of films that is still very much mainstream.
The classic look of film photos is really about mixing analog roughness with the digital photos your camera takes, and the result is no less than stunning. Hence, many people are searching to learn how to make photos look like film with their camera systems.
So, the foundation of how to make photos look like film from your digital camera without taking them on actual rolls comes down to only two things: how you capture the image and your camera lens. This is how you do it:
1. Exposure: such images typically have a much softer dynamic range and slightly underexposing highlights to preserve detail in the image.
2. Suitable Lens: Older lenses, especially the ones that are discontinued, can be used to get that film look. Nowadays, new generations of anamorphic cameras are designed to give even better results for old nostalgic photos. Such as the SIRUI Saturn Carbon Fiber Anamorphic Lens, which is great for getting those soft edges and subtle aberrations to get a film look.
3. Slow Shutter speeds: In digital photos of today's standards, high def and crispiness is the way to go but when it comes to film look from old cameras, blur gives a sense of movement and excitement. To achieve film vibes, slow down your shutter speed; you will be surprised to see the creative possibilities.
To do this, lower your ISO along with a small aperture ranging from f/8 to f/16; this will balance the light entering the lens. Now adjust your shutter to somewhere between 1/30s to 1/15s, or even slower if you want more blur. If you are into a more dramatic look, grab a tripod, too, and try to capture at 1/5s or even less.
4. Mimic Film Stocks:
And you can do that in software like Adobe Lightroom. Introduce lower saturation with boosted warmth during pictures. You can also find LUTs to do so, which replicate the tones of classic films available back in the day from photography brands of that time, Kodak being the most prominent one.
You can also use the dehaze tool (in the opposite way of how it is designed) in Lightroom, which can imitate a vintage glass or promise filter. Adding grain to some extent will also give the photo film feel; film grains of 35mm emulation or 16mm coarser for a vintage look in the final result. Also, you can add softness to specific parts of the image using software tools.
Next, check the contrast and blacks; lower contrast slightly to create a more natural and softer look in the photo. Introduce a gentle fade (to mimic shadows in film photos) which can be done by lifting the blacks in curves.
5. Changing Shape:
Digital photos from most of the camera systems of today usually come in 3:2 format or 4:3 if you use your beloved iPhone. Changing the aspect ratio and introducing fake borders can make the photo look more like it was taken with a film camera provided you followed the above suggestions too.
Above is how to make photos look like film in the least possible time, but to get even better results with less error, we recommend using a specialized lens that is factory-optimized to make those classic films feel like the SIRUI Saturn Carbon Fiber Anamorphic Lens. It adds a smooth cinematic character to your digital photos while introducing a stretched aspect ratio that mirrors classic film aesthetics.
The great thing with current digital camera technology is that the photos you get from them let you play with different editing styles during post-processing, which is one great advantage here. You can gradually learn how to imitate your photos exactly the way your parents or grandparents used to take them without ruining a one-time chance to capture a memory.