It's been a while...


Since I've surfed, photographed surfing or done any photography for that matter, but I'll be back and getting out there again in the next week or two.


Why ? It's been a combination of a super busy time at work and also ensuring that the entire family was protected, I really wanted to wait until we all had been vaccinated - just to reduce any unnecessary risks.


So, I put that spare time to use and I have been analysing, learning and experimenting with different editing styles that are the 'film look'. I've definitely been captivated by this style and have re-edited some older images and some old unpublished images. If you follow me on Instagram you would have seen those styles reflected in the recent posts.


The 'film look' is the style of photos before digital cameras. It's when you put actual film in the camera and developed the images in a lab (or dark room). There is still a lot of people who use film, in fact, it has also become somewhat popular again. After a lot of research, it seems as though the characteristics of certain film stock change depending on each persons perception. For example, for Kodak Portra 400, some say that there are greens in the shadows and some say that there are purple/red tones in the shadows - so narrowing it down to one set of characteristics is difficult. I suppose the original conditions, and some of the chemicals, and the ageing and handling of film may affect the final image. That aside, there are some commonalities such as warm milky skin tones, muted colours, low contrast, a slight fade and some fine grain.


As part of understanding what were those characterises, I built my own preset (and profiles) that are a starting point, from which I can edit further. These presets encapsulate my view and understanding of what this style is, the images below are edited using those preset with some further tweaks depending on the image.


Did I capture the essence of film in these styles ? DM me on instagram and let me know what you think.

Taiyo - Morning Shaka

Tim - gliding

Michelle - navigation the early morning lineup

Caelan and Matt - Narrabeen 2021

Tom and Matt. Dee Why Winter 2020

Nick

Andrew