20090130

LR/ACR Preset: Fuji Sensia 100

Well, it is that time again...time for LIDF's next free preset. Tonight I bring you my version of Fuji's Sensia 100 slide film. It comes across to me as a very balanced slide film, not overly saturated, but has enough pop to bring it. To me it seems very similar to Provia, albeit with limited range.

When using this preset, do not be afraid to crank up recovery or tone down the black levels. The curve that simulates the films response is rather unforgiving, and will black out shadows and blow out highlights. I think this may be the same reason that the tonal range of the film seems smaller than that of Provia.




Just a reminder again to consider dropping a ten spot and grabbing my Cold Storage preset collection. I have buttons at the top of the blog on the right sidebar if you would be so kind to support LifeInDigitalFilm. To those of you who already have, thanks for the support. It is much appreciated. For more info see the post here.

And I have been asked why the set is called "Cold Storage". Carry over photogs from the film days get it, but some of you newer ones were scratching your collective heads. Simply put, to keep film fresh, keep it cold. Most keep it in a refrigerator or freezer. This keeps the emulsion from oxidizing and the colors from shifting. Cold stored film keeps its tone and color much longer than at room temp, and pro film left at room temp rapidly becomes consumer film. Cold storage keeps film fresh, and I like to think so does my emulations.

Until next time,
Michael

20090127

LR/ACR Preset: Rollei R3


LR/ACR Preset: Rollei R3, originally uploaded by GrayImaging.

Now for my next free preset. Tonight we bring to you a German gift. By way of MACO Photographic's Rollei R3. Distributed by Rollei, the film comes in all formats, and uses a classic cubic silver halide emulsion. Depending on the developer used the manufacture claims an ISO latitude from ISO 32 to ISO 32,000. The film has moderate resolution and good tonality. Grain is similar to that of Ilford HP5+.

Preset developed using Rollei R3 film shot at ISO 200 and developed in regular D-76 soup. Will retry this film again using the recommended developer when money allows.




On another note, I would like to point out a great group on Flickr. I have spend some time there discussing Lightroom presets and sharing my work. Presetting Lightroom is a community of preset users and developers that share their work and help each other out. We have a compilation of over 180 presets free for download made by many of our members, see the download banner off to the left sidebar to jump right to that.

Currently at Presetting Lightroom we have started a photography contest for the coming month of February. Look for it in the thread and submit an image...just make sure you used a preset. Currently we have three prizes up for grabs, 3 copies of my Cold Storage Presets Collection for Lightroom and ACR. Please come join us over at Flickr's Presetting Lightroom group.

On the note of my Cold Storage Preset Collection, please consider purchasing it if you enjoy my presets. You will get 12 exclusive presets that you can only get in the Cold Storage package, and you get to help me continue to develop the film emulating presets you love.

For those who have purchased my collection, THANK YOU!!! For those thinking about it, and even those who are not, ask yourself if you get good results from my presets. If so, consider that most software that does a similar service costs well over ten times the price I ask. And they won't do custom emulations if you have a film/developer combo you desire and don't keep giving you more free presets to discover more classic film stocks. So think about it a bit.

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Thanks,
Michael

20090125

LIDF Cold Storage Collection - 46 Film simulations - 12 Exclusive - $9.99

For a while now LifeInDigitalFilm has been the place to get Lightroom presets to emulate film. Recently I also added Adobe Camera Raw presets to the collection. Well as you have read over the past couple posts, I am not happy with the Blogger platform and I am ready to move on. I need to purchase hosting. I am not well-to-do, I live paycheck to paycheck, and I do my photography for money on the side. Hopefully one day it will be more, but for now I still have a day-job. I really cannot afford to outright buy hosting for my site, and pay for the expenses I incur developing these presets is getting immense. [Keep in mind, I have to track down old, sometimes rare film, shoot it and develop it to carry out a quality emulation] Something had to give, either the blog or my budget.

So I though of an alternative. I have bundled together every preset I have released on LifeInDigitalFilm since it's inception. From Kodak BW CN up to Ilford SFX, every release is there in both LR and ACR format. The only exceptions are my original B&W, print, and slide film collections, which were designed back in the summer before I developed my current procedure by which I develop presets.

I am calling this Set LifeInDigitalFilm: Cold Storage Preset Collection Vol. 1

The set is available for $9.99 for a direct download of the zip file containing all 34 film emulating presets I have release so far. So why pay for free stuff? First, think of it as a donation, no different than giving some money to your local public broadcasting station to ensure their excellent programming, a donation that gets you a DVD or maybe some tickets to an opera. Well for your donation you get every film preset on my site in one download. Second, do you really think I would ask for ten bucks just to give you what you can get for free? Hell no! I have created 12 new LR/ACR presets that are exclusive to the Cold Storage collection and only available to those willing to give ten bucks to help me offset the cost of this crazy endeavor of mine.

So a total of 46 film stocks emulated (actually 44, Polaroid 669 had 3 different presets), and each film stock has 3 presets; regular, auto and curve. That comes out to 138 presets for either Lightroom or ACR; they are both in the download!

Please consider supporting the site, I am not doing this to make spending money, I'm doing this to prevent me from choosing this blog or my dinner. Money is too tight for me to carry this on my own, and with your help we can keep it going.

Is this site worth $10 dollars to you? Does $10 sound better than $199.00 or $299.00 USD for some film emulating Photoshop plug-in? The plug-ins might do a better job at it than my presets do, I don't think so, but they might. If my free presets let you enjoy film emulation with out doubling down for expensive plug-ins, is it worth it to pay $9.99 for Cold Storage Collection? Or even worth tossing me a $5.00 donation? If you have enjoyed my work, please consider purchasing the Cold Storage collection.. it is the only way to get the following emulations.

FUJI NEOPAN 100 ACROS












FUJI PROVIA 100F - Cross Processed












FUJI VELVIA 100












FUJI VELVIA 100F












FUJI VELVIA 50












KODAK EKTACHROME 100VS - Cross Proccesed












Kodak Gold 200 - Cross Processed












Kodak Panatomic X - Expired in 1977












Kodak Panatomic X - Expired in 1986












Kodak Portra 160 NC












Kodak Portra 160 VC












Kodak Portra 160 VC - Bleach Bypass












And so you know what it look like before conversion SOOC


Hopefully the samples have enticed you, if so, you can find the order buttons on the upper right hand side of the page. Click add to cart, then click on the cart to order.

Or do it here.

Purchase Cold Storage Presets Vol.1:Add to Cart

Click on Cart to Complete:
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Thank you for your support,
Michael W. Gray

20090124

LR/ACR Preset: Ilford SFX


LR/ACR Preset: Ilford SFX, originally uploaded by GrayImaging.

Today I complete my run of Ilford films for the time being. Today I bring you Iford's SFX, one of the few remaining IR films. This film was actually discontinued, however Ilford is not making Limited productions of it, one batch a year.

As always, my emulation of IR films is designed to be used on regular raw files. I have not tested this preset with a IR raw file, as much I I would like to, I just don't have any IR RAW files. I have a few IR JPGS, and the results were alright with them, however, I don't preset on JPGS often and I was not overly impressed with the results.




On another note, I will be taking a few days off from the blog, hoping to expedite my migration over to WordPress. There will be no presets during that time, maybe an article or two, but no big releases. When I resume, I plan on releasing two presets a week, with other content on non release days. This really does not change the frequency too much, I have release 33 releases in 13 weeks, which is about 2-3 a week. I plan on new presets coming out on Tuesdays and Fridays (make note: I am in USA). Hopefully I will have my new preset out on this coming Tuesday, but if not, watch for it on Friday.

I hope this year brings much more content to LifeInDigitalFilm, and I really hope the upcoming switch to WordPress improves the quality of the site. I look forward to being here doing this for a while.

Michael

20090123

LR/ACR Preset: Ilford XPS 2


LR/ACR Preset: Ilford XPS 2, originally uploaded by GrayImaging.

Next stop on the Ilford train is XP2 Super. Ilford color processing black and white. Designed to be developed in regular C-41 chemicals at any mini lab. A decent film, much like Kodak's BW CN in many ways. Not exactly my cup of tea, but a good film for B&W shots when you don't have your chemical lab running.




Enjoy,
Michael