The Home of the Hybrid Photographer

Alright, here is a preset I had mentioned I have been working on for a little while. Today I release my version of Fuji’s Fujicolor Press 800 film, which was design to be a high-speed film primarily for media use in adverse lighting conditions. The emulsion is rather grainy, but grabs sharp, clear images. This was one of the first Fuji film emulsions that utilized their 4th color layer, leading to vibrant images even under bad lighting without sacrificing shutter speed.

A warning up front, my presets are primarily designed from me physically shooting a roll of film and then further analysis. Sometimes this can lead to unique effects from roll to roll. I feel this is a case of that, the blues in this roll and emulation are really washed out, as you can see in the image above. I could correct this, and make the blues look more “correct” however that would be an inaccurate emulation of this roll. I emulate actual film, not the average look of the film. As I shoot more, there will be new emulations of every film I have done so far. It is the way I am choosing to do this project…there is no end all be all emulation for any film, each batch of film created will differ in appearance and reaction from batch to batch…therefore my emulations retain the quirks of each individual roll and each processing method used.

To compensate for the washed out blues, I recommend that you first slowly lower the Blue channel Luminosity, bringing some more depth to the color. If that is not enough, increase the Blue Saturation slowly until you get what you are looking for. Only do this if you really nee to do the blues, as most other colors look accurate compared to other samples of the film I have encountered. Enjoy the preset.

That is all for today, quick post just to make the release. Enjoy your day, and if you have any beautiful photos that you have just process with my or anyone else’s preset, please consider entering it in the Presetting Lightroom contest on Flickr. Just a few days left to enter!

Until Tomorrow,

Michael

Ah, it is Friday, my work week is over. Hopefully I can get some articles written…I can hope. But anyways, I did not even try to write an article for today, I decided to complete my trio of RSX II presets. Today I present my Agfa RSX II 50 preset. It completes the set, and is the best looking one on the vast majority of my images. Enjoy.

More and more photographers are using my LifeInDigitalFilm presets, and as I discover them I am going to keep sharing them with you. Today I would like to ask you to drop by Nate Lawson’s photoblog Phototerium. Today he posted an interesting photo entitled “Learning Curve” utilizing my Adox CHS 50 preset. When I look at his image I have to say it screams art…look at it close, you will see what I mean. If you like his work, please follow him on Twitter @nate_lawson.

So, with that I am going to get back to my text editor and get to work on some articles I hope to eventaully complete and get up on LIDF. Also I am going to spend some time getting my WordPress theme worked on, and iron out some bugs in my “sandboxed” version of the new LIDF. Hoping to get it live in the next month or so.

Back tomorrow!

Michael

So, I am suffering from writers block and having an issue finishing off the article I planned for today. So instead of beating my head into the wall, I am going to let it slide another day and release my new preset a bit earlier.

Recently I received a small collection of older film. In that small collection, I received 9 rolls of Agfa RSX II film, 3 of each speed. This emulation is of the 100 speed that I shot and got developed at my local photo lab. I plan on shooting another roll and cross-processing it and shooting the final roll when I get started devloping E-6. So I shot a roll of 50, 100 and 200 and sent them all off at the same time. This is the first one I completed.

RSX II was designed as a low-contrast, neutral color film. It may have been where I got it developed, or just the fact it is expired, but the colors were fairly neutral but did run a bit toward red. Also, it is more contrasty than what I expected, but that could also be due to a slight underexposure in my test frames shot for emulation.

Please try it out and see what you think.

Before I log out for the morning, I would like to point you over to an interesting 365 photoblog I have stubled across. Julie McLeod has been working on her 365 Photos in 2009 blog, aiming for 365 photos, most of which shot in accordance with a list of themes. I find the concept fun, but I don’t think I could ever to it with the style she has done so far. Also a few of her images have used my presets and I really loving seeing them in action. She is a very talented photographer with a great eye for wonderful images, so do me a favor and hop over to her blog and leave some kind comments. Click Here to make the hop 365photosin2009

Anyway, that is all for today, wish I had an article for you, but I’m sure most of you would rather have the presets. And if you ever have any questions about my presets feel free to reach me at help@lifeindigitalfilm.com, I check the mail in the account once a day in the evening and will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks,

Micahel

Another day, another preset. And today is Valentines Day, so I am releasing a special release of one of the most popular emulations from my original Slide Film Collection. Kodak Ektachrome 100VS was the one emulation in that pack that I received the most compliments on, so recently I went out and bought two fresh rolls of E100VS and set out to make a new version, using my new emulation procedure.

Six hours went into this preset, starting with the analysis and general development to get it close, finishing with 3 more hours this morning fine tuning it. I hope everyone enjoys this as much as my first attempt.

For those of you still using my original MikeyG!s Color Slide Film Collection, those presets are still fine, however they are not as accurate as those being released on LifeInDigitalFilm currently. While developing my Kodak B&W collection I developed as more through and accurate way to simulate film, and that method is being utilized in this preset. (More Information on my development process can be found at the Flickr Presetting Lightroom Group) If the old emulation still works for you, wonderful! I just ask you give this newer one a shot, as I feel it is much more accurate in it’s depiction of the capabilities of this film stock.

Also, this can be a finicky preset under certain circumstances, so I highly recommend reading the readme.txt file in the download archive. You may find it of help, however I don’t feel like getting technical on the blog today.

This preset was not free for me to make. I used 2 rolls of E100VS and Lab processing to get the final results. Between film costs and development costs this emulation cost about $25 USD to develop. I can back that off to about $12-$15 when I consider that about half of each roll got shot on personal projects, however ther was still a definable expense to do so. I would like to thank those who have purchased the Cold Storage preset collection for helping finance my site and emulations. For every 1 purchase made, I make enough to be able to purcahse and develop a roll of B&W film (lower since I do my own devloping). For every 3 purchases made I can develop 2 Color (C-41 or E-6) emulations (as I am currently still sending this out to a lab until I get better at color development). The purchases are also helping to purchase hosting for the blog, which will be migrated as soon as I finish getting my WordPress theme the way I want it.

If you have not done so already, please consider buying the collection for $9.99 USD. There are links at the top right side of the blog, or click the following link for more information on the 12 exclusive presets available within: Cold Storage. Also included in that preset is a version of this same E100VS that I had Cross-Processed at the lab a while back.

Thank you,

Michael

Will be back tomorrow, I am getting better at these regular posts!

LR/ACR Preset: Daguerreotype, originally uploaded by GrayImaging.

Here is one from my experimental preset collection. Been working on it for a bit, as I have no access to an actual Daguerreotype, or means to create one, I was doing this with only the aide of pictures of Daguerreotypes. Not opportune. Well I don’t feel I completely nailed the look, however I don’t think it can properly be done in Lightroom currently. This preset gets everything looking right, but it needs aged. I feel that this is a good jumping off point for making a simulated Daguerreotype.

My biggest recommendation is to adjust the Contrast, Recovery and Fill to get the balance you are looking for. Don’t forget to use some negative clarity to get that soft look on portraits. Also try getting prints of these images made on metallic paper, such as Adorama offers.

Hope you enjoy this one off project. Back to proper film emulations with my next release this weekend. In the mean time, I will beat a dead horse a bit. If you haven’t done so, please get the Cold Storage collection that I have for sale here on the site. When you purchase you get a complete archive of my presets up until January and 12 new, exclusive presets. As an added bonus, I am creating new presets that will be exclusively sent to those who purchase the Cold Storage collection. Just another reason to support LIDF. Look on rightside bar to purchase or click here for more info.

Thanks,

Michael