Get the Analogue Film Photo Look in Lightroom with the Earth Preset Pack (+ Sample Images)

Last updated on October 10, 2020

The Earth Film Lightroom Preset Pack by Aditya Varma will help you inject your digital photos with a little bit analogue heart and soul. Read on to find out why and how and also see a few photo samples.

Note: All photos in this post were shot on the Fuji XT3 and edited in Lightroom with the Earth Film Preset Pack.

Like many photographers who dabbled in analogue photography as a youngster – because digital photography didn’t exist yet – I secretly wish I had been born in the film era.

No, scrap that, what I secretly wish is that they’d never invented the digital camera in the first place.

I know, I know… the digital revolution has made photography more accessible, less costly and more efficient, but I can’t help but feel it has harmed the mystique and allure I/we once felt for photography as a result.

Digital photography is faithful to reality and what you saw. Film photography is faithful to your soul and how you felt.

Earth Film Preset Pack Photo Samples - Summer 2020 Photos Ben Holbrook & Edited with Aditya Varma Vintage Film Lightroom Presets from DriftwoodJournals.com

A lot of old romantics like me talk about the nostalgia that film photography evokes, but I think it’s more than that…

When you look at a photo of a moment taken on film, it sort of looks like your memory of that moment. Just a little more hazy, a little more dreamy, and a little more… tender.

When you look at a photo of a moment taken with a digital camera, it looks somewhat flat, almost clinical. There’s no atmosphere. It’s almost too… I don’t know… real.

Digital photography is faithful to reality and what you saw. Film photography is faithful to your soul and how you felt.

But like you, I live in the real world – the digital world – and I too have sold my soul and bought into the whole digital thing.

I shoot Fuji, though, which is about as close as you can get to shooting film with a digital camera, especially when you pair your camera with vintage manual lenses.

It’s not just the shooting experience of Fujifilm that feels analogue, the chunky physical dials and retro form factor. It’s also the film simulations.

From Classic Chrome (my favourite) to Provia, Acros to Velvia, the look of the photos you get from Fuji cameras are pleasingly reminiscent of old film stock from the moment you hit the shutter button.

Quick. Easy. Beautiful.

And as someone who doesn’t particularly love editing photos (actually I kind of hate spending time in Lightroom), I really appreciate being able to get my photos ready to go SOC (straight out of camera).

I mean, yes, I do still tweak my exposure and whatnot in post, but other than selecting a film simulation I do almost nothing to my photos.

In fact, I do as little as possible.

How to Get the Film Photography Look in Lightroom with Earth Film Presets

Although I am quite happy with my minimal shooting and editing workflow, I was extremely excited to hear that my friend Aditya Varma had created a preset pack inspired by the iconic films looks of yesteryear.

And they work a treat. Just select your film stock and the preset automatically adjusts colours, grain and the the tone curve, instantly making your digital files look like they were taken on old Kodak, Ilford, Fuji and Polaroid film.

Don’t get me wrong, they still need a bit of adjusting, and some images look better with some presets more than others, but they do exactly what they’re meant to do.

I’m not going to be using them all the time, as I like to keep my workflow as minimal as humanly possible, but I must say I feel a certain sense of relief that I can now get authentic looking analogue/film photos in Lightroom at the click of a button.

Maybe I won’t be selling my digital cameras after all.