Let me start by saying that I LOVE the VSCO Film presets. I’m obviously biased.
I’m not generally a fan of presets for developing my RAW files because well, most of them are quite bad. And I have tried them ALL. I never could stick with one because there was always this feeling that “something” was missing.
Then, and I don’t know how, I was introduced to VSCO and my photography has forever changed.
While I hardly ever use the presets as-is, I do always start with a VSCO preset as a base and then build on it / tweak it till I get the photograph JUST right.
This blog post was inspired right after VSCo announced the release of VSCO Film 05. They have four previous editions of their presets and I have all of them. As soon as I’d heard about 05, I bought that one too. ( Being an existing customer means you get a 50% discount on new releases if you purchase within a short time frame from the date of release – more details are mentioned on their website. )
I’m going to share some examples of my photographs before ( RAW ) and after ( using VSCO presets in Lightroom ). Since I’m working on editing photographs from a friend’s wedding ( I DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH WEDDINGS ANYMORE ), those are the ones I will be using to demonstrate.
Above, RAW, photographed on the FujiFilm X100 with flash.
Below, VSCO Film 05’s Kodak UltraMax 400 Night/Tungsten Alt with some of my own tweaks. Only processed in Adobe Lightroom mind you, no Photoshop.
Same for these two below. Left RAW and right processed with the same VSCO Film 05 preset.
Bot the above images were photographed outdoors. Following are some from indoors. The to-be-groom during his “haldi” ceremony.
Above, the original RAW.
Below, the processed and cropped version. I used the VSCO Film 05’s Kodak UltraMax 800 Warm + preset.
It’s been so many years since I photographed film / analog and these presets are perfect for someone like me. Someone who loves the romance of film but the economies of operating in today’s photography profession – especially for someone who doesn’t have decades of industry experience under their belt and also work as a professional blogger – VSCO Film presets are a beautiful beautiful substitute.
Above, the RAW, unprocessed file.
Below, processed using VSCO Film 05’s Kodak Ektar 100 ++ Blue with a few of my own tweaks.
This image below has been processed with VSCO Film 05’s Agfa Vista 400 Contrast + ( If you’ve been following some of my work, you will know that I prefer contrasty images. )
Then the VSCO Film 05 also has a few Black and White film emulations.
This one on the right, below has been processed using VSCO Film 05’s Fuji Neopan 400 +++
Above, RAW.
Below, processed using VSCO Film 05’s Kodak BW400CN Contrast + and a bit of a crop.
I don’t tweak the black and white presets too much and even leave the grain in because I think it adds to the “Feel”. Film was all about feel and I’m very happy that VSCO’s presets evoke those very same feelings when I use them on my images.
There are many photographers out there who have used VSCO’s Film presets on their much more stunning images and I would encourage you to take a look at the VSCO website and see for yourself.
The 5th Edition of the presets contain the following film emulations :
Agfa Vista 100
– / — / + / ++ / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Portrait / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm+
Agfa Vista 400
– / — / + / ++ / Contrast ++ / Cool / Cool + / Portrait / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm + / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten + / Night/Tungsten Alt
Agfa Vista 800
– / — / + / ++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm + / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten + / Night/Tungsten Alt
Fuji Neopan 400
– / — / + / ++ / +++ / Contrast + / Contrast/Fade + / Soft Highs / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten +
Kodak BW400CN
– / — / + / ++ / +++ / Contrast + / Contrast/Fade + / Soft Highs / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten +
Kodak Ektar 100
– / — / + / + Blue / + Magenta / ++ / ++ Blue / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm +
Kodak Gold 100
– / — / + / + Alt / + Alt 2/ + Soft Highs / ++ / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Portrait / Vibrant / Warm / Warm +
Kodak Gold 200
– / — / + / ++ / ++ Alt / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Green / Portrait / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm +
Kodak Max 800
– / — / + / ++ / +++ / Alt / Alt + / Alt ++ / Alt Cool / Alt Warm / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm + / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten + / Night/Tungsten Alt
Kodak Royal Gold 400
– / — / + / ++ / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm + / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten + / Night/Tungsten Alt
Kodak Ultramax 400
– / — / + / + Green / ++ / ++ Green / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm + / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten + / Nigh/Tungsten Alt
Kodak Ultramax 800
– / — / + / + Alt / ++ / +++ / Contrast + / Cool / Cool + / Soft Highs / Vibrant / Warm / Warm + / Night/Tungsten / Night/Tungsten + / Night/Tungsten Alt
Mobile Phone app
VSCO also has a mobile phone app called VSCOCam that you can use to process your mobile camera images. It is available for iOS and for Android. It has become my goto app for all my photography image processing needs. I hardly touch any of the other filters that I have purchased over the years.
In the interest of disclosure, I’m VSCO customer and have no affiliation / collaboration with them in marketing their product or doing their PR. I do love their product, which is why I think more people, especially my Indian audience must know about them and hopefully purchase these gorgeous presets. Everyone’s images need to be happy and they certainly will be when you process them with VSCO!
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