I don't know about you, but I've probably spent way too much money on film emulation presets over the years. We all know the cycle: you see a beautifully moody, nostalgic ad for a preset pack, drop forty bucks on it, slap it onto one of your digital raw files, and immediately pull a face because your photo suddenly looks like a deep-fried Instagram filter from 2013.

Here is the reality about the "film look" that preset companies don't usually talk about: what we think of as a film look doesn't actually exist in a vacuum. Your film scans are ultimately just digital files interpreted by your lab's specific scanner—usually a Fuji Frontier or a Noritsu. Depending on how the lab tech sets the black point, the white balance, and the contrast curve, your roll of Portra 400 could look wildly different from mine. That's why generic presets never quite work on your images.

A few years ago, I started doing something much more fun and way more effective. I stopped buying generic presets and started building my own film simulations in Adobe Lightroom Lightroom by referencing my actual physical scans. The process is straightforward, incredibly rewarding, and will teach you more about color grading than a hundred YouTube tutorials. Here is exactly how I do it.

Step 1: The Control Setup

To do this right, you need a control test. You can't match a digital raw file shot at noon in bright sun to a film scan shot at dusk—the light will mess with the colors too much. You need to shoot the exact same scene, at the exact same time, with both cameras.

Grab your favorite film camera, load it up with the film stock you want to emulate (let's say Kodak Gold 200 for those warm, everyday vibes), and pack your digital camera. Try to use a similar focal length on both. Find a scene with decent dynamic range—maybe a portrait of a friend wearing some distinct primary colors (a red shirt or blue jeans) in open shade. Take the photo on film, metering carefully, and then immediately take the exact same photo with your digital camera in RAW. Send your film to your preferred lab.

Step 2: Enter the Reference View

Once you get your lab scans back, import both the high-res film scan and your raw digital file into Lightroom. Select both images in your library and press Shift+R. This opens the Reference View.

Your screen will split in half. Put the film scan on the left (the reference) and the digital file on the right (the active edit). This side-by-side view is the secret sauce. You aren't guessing what film looks like anymore; it is sitting literally right next to your digital file, daring you to match it.

Step 3: Dialing the Basic Exposure and White Balance

Before you touch any colors, get your lighting to match. Digital sensors capture a massive dynamic range that looks very flat and clinical out of the box. Film usually has inherently more contrast in the midtones while compressing the extremes. Roughly match your exposure sliders first. Pay close attention to the white balance. If your film scan leans a bit warm and magenta, push your Temperature and Tint sliders on the digital file until the overall neutral tones match. Don't worry about the greens and reds just yet; just get the grays, whites, and blacks in the same neighborhood.

Step 4: The Magic is in the Tone Curves

If there is a holy grail of the film look, it lives in the Tone Curve panel. Film doesn't have true, pure black or true, pure white. The shadows kind of fade out, and the highlights roll off smoothly rather than clipping harshly.

To match this, you want to create an S-curve, but with clipped ends. Grab the point at the bottom left corner of your curve (the absolute blacks) and drag it straight up slightly. Watch your digital file's shadows lift and turn into that milky, faded gray that film naturally produces. Then, grab the top right point (the absolute whites) and pull it straight down just a touch to soften the intense digital highlights.

Now, dive into the individual Red, Green, and Blue channels. Film stocks have distinct color shifts in their shadows. For example, Kodak stocks often have slightly blue or green shadows and warm, yellow highlights. To replicate this on the Blue curve, lift the bottom left point up (adding blue to the shadows) and pull the top right point down (adding yellow to the highlights). Tweak these gently until the contrast profile of your digital file feels just right.

Step 5: Finessing with HSL and Calibration

Now we get surgically precise with color. Scroll down to the HSL/Color panel. Look at the greens in your film scan. Digital greens are usually highly saturated and look almost neon or plastic. Film greens are usually nudged toward yellow and desaturated. Take your Green Hue slider and push it left (toward yellow), then drop the saturation.

Film skies also tend to look different. Depending on the scanner, the blues often lean more toward a teal or cyan hue rather than a deep, royal digital blue. Push the Blue Hue slider left toward cyan, and adjust the luminance so the sky feels dense but not artificially vibrant. Play with the Orange and Red sliders specifically to match the skin tones of your subject.

Pro tip: Hop down to the Calibration panel at the very bottom of Lightroom. Bumping up the Blue Primary saturation and sliding its hue slightly right is a well-known trick for separating warm skin tones from cool backgrounds, mimicking how traditional color negative film behaves.

Step 6: Softening and Halation

By now, the colors should be practically identical. But your digital file will still feel "wrong" because modern digital lenses are just too sharp and flawless. Film has grain, texture, and a slight softness.

Go to the Effects panel. Add grain. A good starting point for a 400 ISO film look is a Grain Amount of 30, Size of 40, and Roughness around 50. You want it visible but not overwhelming. Also, slip back to the Presence panel and pull your Texture and Clarity sliders down by about -5 or -10. This takes the harsh, clinical edge off the digital file, simulating the natural light bleed and softness of an analog emulsion.

Step 7: Save Your Work

When you sit back and toggle your edit on and off, it should look almost indistinguishable from your film scan. Now, go to the Presets panel, click the plus icon, and save this. Name it something like "My Noritsu Portra 400" so you know exactly what scanner and film stock it was modeled after. The best part? Because you built it yourself from scratch, you actually understand how the sliders interact, making it much easier to tweak when you apply it to future shoots in different lighting conditions.

If you love this hybrid approach to photography—shooting digital but striving for an analog soul—you can actually make your presets work even better by changing up your gear. Adapting vintage lenses to digital bodies is my favorite cheat code. An old 50mm lens shot wide open naturally creates the low-contrast halation and soft focus roll-off that we usually have to fake in Lightroom. It does half the work before the light even hits the sensor. Whether you're looking to adapt some beautiful manual focus lenses or you want to upgrade your current everyday setup with one of the many capable mirrorless cameras out there to act as your digital testing ground, Old Cams by Jens has plenty of gear to get your hybrid kit perfectly balanced.

Building your own presets isn't just about saving money; it is about taking ownership of your final image. Have patience, keep your film scans handy as references, and take the time to really study the colors. Happy adjusting!