How to get M8 colors to be more like Velvia, Provia or Astia?

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drjoke

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I like the resolution and convenience, but the colors cannot beat slide film (in my subjective opinion). There are many plugins out there (Eye Candy Exposure 2). I use Aperture mainly. What do you guys do? Even searching for M8 pictures on Flickr results in images that look very digital.
 
Not to be a party-pooper, but the best way, IMO, to get the "look" of Velvia, Provia, or Astia, is to actually shoot with one of the above films in the appropriate camera. Otherwise, it's a matter of dealing with the color characteristics of the camera's sensor, and, if necessary, tweaking in PS (which is what I do when shooting digital, which isn't quite that often). Plug-ins can get you "kinda-sorta" where you want to go, but I find that a lot of work in the name of a "fast" digital work flow.


- Barrett
 
Perhaps getting them to look like Velvia, Provia, or Astia is a little bit too far, but is there a definitive guide to removing "flatness" of colors that I see in digital photos.
 
Check out photokit color plug in for photoshop. They emulate the color characteristics of almost all films. They have a free 30 day trial too.
 
It's not just colour, it's also contrast. I have been trying for quite a while to get my DMR shots (yah I'm trying to buy an M8) to look like Velvia. I don't think it's possible to do this, even if you get the colour balance right, because: a) the chip has a larger dynamic range than slide film; b) the behaviours of both media across any given luminance range are different, digital records shadow detail but blows the highlights, while film records the highlights but burns the shadows.

OTOH, if you like B&W, the Imaging Factory has a nice program that does a pretty good imitation of FP4 or HP5. Still looking for something that could do Tri-X/Rodinol though.
 
I know that this might sound a little absurd...

1. shoot with a higher ISO (so as to get a bit of grain)
2. nail your exposure exactly (because I find high ISO shots are less resilient to adjustments)
3. use photoshop to decrease contrast a little and adjust colour. I find that choosing your middle gray and adjusting curves so that the levels are all equal, and then tailoring your highlights and blacks the same way, can make film-like images.
4. photoshop has a feature under image>adjust>selective color... which allows you to target certain colours if you want to try an shift your photos to the biases that certain films have for colour range (i.e. those kodachrome reds and greens, fuji emphasis on greens and blues, kodak's emphasis on warm almost brownish tones).

To repeat what's said earlier on this page. I'm not really advocating imitating film. I think you can bring more tactile warmth to you photos with the above methods.

The more I see digital, the more it seems natural to me. After all, our eyes don't see with grain or in Kodachrome colour...

I hope this helps. cheers
 
drjoke said:
I like the resolution and convenience, but the colors cannot beat slide film (in my subjective opinion). There are many plugins out there (Eye Candy Exposure 2). I use Aperture mainly. What do you guys do? Even searching for M8 pictures on Flickr results in images that look very digital.
Click to expand...

You mean you're looking for something like this?:


M8 + 35mm f/2 Summicron pre-asph
 
cjm said:
Ask Gabriel M.A.

His color M8 photos on flickr are as saturated and vibrant as any slide film.

I'm not sure what is screen name is on RFF.
Click to expand...

Oh, hi 😀

Same name here. Yeah, when I go for the "saturated look", I like to go with a "slide look" of K64, Velvia or Ektachrome. Usually, "faux expired"...really underscores the feel.
 
Moto Mark said:
I like Color Efex Pro form Nik Software. You have alot of options there.

http://www.niksoftware.com/colorefexpro/usa/entry.php
Click to expand...

It's a good plug-in, but their film profiles are a bit restrictive. If I use it, it's because I'm in a hurry.

I have a few PS Actions which mimic Kodachrome and Velvia, which I put together after doing a lot of research, and trying some other actions that were floating out there.

A single push of the button is not going to get you there; sometimes you have to work within the limitations of the DR you have in your file; often, the highlights are either already blown-out, or if you're not careful, plugins will blow them for you.

When I process most of these, it's like when I'm cooking: no real recipe, but I go with the flow of what's in front of me with my available "ingredients" (being Niksoftware's plug-ins, my Actions, imagefactory's B&W plug-in, processing in Lab 16-bit rather than RGB...etc etc). Sometimes I like to go through the whole course. Sometimes I just prepare a PBJ sandwich. 😱
 
I've been attempting to get a little bit more organic feel out of my M8 lately. I'm not sure I do a great job of matching film types, but at least the pics feel a bit less flat to me.

Just tweaking in Aperture and Photoshop. I set Photoshop up to be my external editor in Aperture and the workflow works quite nicely.

A couple examples from my Flickr stream: (sorry if these suck, I'm still a noob)

2906036489_1570e57016.jpg


2904042964_de4040f43f.jpg


2902375394_52a8f9b327.jpg


2893064255_c19e3ba5fc.jpg
 
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