How to make your photos look like they were shot on a vintage film camera

Creating Vintage Film Looks in Your Photos: With a few quick tweaks in Adobe Lightroom, you can use your smartphone to steep your photos in the grainy nostalgia of a 35mm film roll

A blogger or Instagrammer who wants to make their crystal-clear digital photos look fifty or so years older might use a preset, slap on a yellow filter, fade the colours a bit, and hit ‘Post.’ But these fixes may look clumsy and overdone to those who truly want to evoke the feel of 35mm film rolls when editing their photos.

With a free version of Adobe’s Lightroom mobile app, you too can make your photos look like they were shot on the film camera from your (or your parents’) childhood days.

Once you learn how to achieve a basic 35mm film look, you can use Adobe Lightroom’s colour grading tools to bring out the specific shades and hues you require to achieve the look of a particular film you had in mind. But to start off, this guide will teach you how to use basic lighting and colour effects for a generic film photo look.

Remember that photo editing techniques are highly subjective and that every photographer will edit their images differently. Some prefer shadowy photos filled with grit while others may want impressionistic sun-washed scenes. After learning the basics, you can explore Lightroom’s settings until you find your own aesthetic and artistic style.

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