TL;DR: Create a vintage film look by lowering contrast, lifting the blacks, warming the highlights, shifting greens toward yellow, and adding subtle grain and vignetting. Save these adjustments as a preset so you can apply the same nostalgic grade to any photo in one click.
Step 1: Start With a Clean Edit
Open your image in Lightroom’s Develop module and reset any existing adjustments so you’re working from a neutral baseline. Correct exposure and white balance first, because a preset layered over a poorly exposed photo will look muddy. Pick an image with visible skin tones or sky so you can judge color shifts accurately as you work.
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Step 2: Flatten the Tone Curve
Vintage film rarely has pure blacks or blown whites. In the Basic panel, drop Contrast to around −15 and lift Blacks into the +20 to +35 range. Then open the Tone Curve, click the point at the bottom-left of the curve, and drag it straight up to create a faded, matte shadow. Pull the top-right point slightly down for softer highlights. This single move does more for a film look than any other adjustment.
Step 3: Shift the Colors
Film stocks render color in distinctive ways, so use the HSL panel to mimic them. Push Greens’ Hue toward yellow (+20 to +40) and desaturate Greens and Blues slightly for muted foliage and skies. In Split Toning, add warm orange or amber to Highlights and a subtle teal or green to Shadows. Keep saturation low—around 10 to 20—so the tint stays believable rather than cartoonish.
Step 4: Add Grain and Vignetting
In the Effects panel, set Grain Amount between 20 and 40, with Size around 25 and Roughness near 50 to mimic silver halide texture. Add a gentle vignette of −10 to −20 with high Feather and Midpoint around 40 so the corners darken naturally. Avoid heavy vignettes; vintage lenses fall off softly, not abruptly.
Step 5: Save and Refine Your Preset
Click the plus icon in the Presets panel, choose “Create Preset,” name it, and select only the settings you adjusted. Apply it to a variety of images—portraits, landscapes, low light—and tweak per photo. A good preset is a starting point, not a final answer.
Tips for Better Results
Build separate presets for warm daylight and cool shade scenes, since one grade won’t flatter every white balance. Reduce Clarity slightly (−5 to −10) for a softer, analog feel, and add +5 to +10 Dehaze only if the image looks washed out. Test your preset on RAW files, not JPEGs, for the smoothest tonal transitions.
FAQ
Q: Can I create vintage film looks in Lightroom Mobile?
A: Yes—every adjustment in this guide exists in the mobile app, and you can save the result as a preset by tapping the Presets icon and choosing “Create Preset.”
Q: Why do my presets look different on each photo?
A: Presets are relative adjustments, so exposure, white balance, and existing color in each file change the outcome. Always fine-tune Exposure and White Balance after applying a preset.
Q: Do presets work on JPEG files?
A: They apply, but JPEGs have less tonal data, so lifted shadows and heavy grain can look blocky. RAW files give cleaner, more film-like results.
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