Exposure has hundreds of presets that span the entire history of photography. In this video we walk you through each category and point out some of our favorite looks.
Photos: Bernard Mesa, Andrea Livieri, David Mecey, John Barclay, Robert Coppa, Model: Elizabeth Krijnen from Devojka Models
Transcript
Exposure has hundreds of presets that span the entire history of photography. There are subtle modern films, vintage looks, many other effects. Presets are organized in categories, and most categories contain either color or black & white looks. Each preset is customizable using Exposure’s editing tools. Presets encompass beautiful finished looks, but you can also use them as great starting points for your edits. When you have a customized look dialed in, you can save it as a new preset to use again and again.
Color Presets
The tabs at the top of the Preset panel help you focus on specific types of presets without distraction. I’ll click Color to remove Black & White films from view.
The first category we’ll look at is Print Films. These are mostly modern films that cause subtle changes to your photo.
The Print – Low Contrast category has low contrast versions of presets in the Print category. These are good for portraits. One of our favorites is Kodak Portra NC. It lowers contrast and saturation to make skin look smooth and healthy.
Presets in the Slide Films category are generally higher in contrast and saturation than print films. Try these for dramatic landscapes.
When several preset categories are open, the collapse all button at the top of the panel is helpful.The Color Focus category has a variety of blurring and sharpening effects. Use the glamour shot presets for adding soft focus to a portrait. There’s also a black & white focus category with similar looks.
The Bokeh category has focus effects from Exposure’s Bokeh panel. Use these to draw attention to your subject or do creative blurring. After applying one of these presets, open the Bokeh panel on the right to adjust the location of the focus region.
The Polaroid category contains a wide range of classic Polaroid films. Many of them give a nostalgic, faded look.
The Cinema category has reproductions of classic films and screen processes. The most useful are the Technicolor variations, which feature highly saturated colors.
The Vintage category contains retro looks. Autochrome is one of the first color film processes. It features colorful grain. This category also contains a number of early Kodachromes.
Color Infrared has several Infrared film variations. Color infrared turns foliage red and skies dark. Give them a try on a landscape for a surreal look.
The Faded presets emphasize a clean, faded look without overlays or heavy grain. The emphasis is on lifted blacks to add a hazy or dreamy effect. Some common themes are tone curve variation, split toning and color casts, as well as subtle sharpening or blur effects. There are 12 color and 6 black and white looks. Many include a vignette and all include a small amount of grain.
Bright presets provide light, low-contrast looks that are great for outdoor portraits and weddings. The emphasis in these presets light and airy, with no grain or blur. Several of these looks feature subtle sharpening, vignetting, or brightened highlights.
Lo-Fi contains more extreme presets. These are toy cameras and cheap lenses, so you’ll see vignettes, light leaks, and lens blur.
Lo-Fi (Cross Processed) contains effects with even more dramatic color changes.
Black and White Presets
Now let’s look at Exposure’s black & white presets. The Black & White Films category contains modern or recently discontinued films. There’s a wide variety of grain and contrast in the presets here.
There’s a low contrast version of each of these presets in the Low Contrast folder here. These are great for portraits.
In the Vintage category are older films and photography processes. You’ll find more noticeable effects such as heavy grain and split toning here. Some of the presets have adjustable overlay elements, such as dust, scratches, borders, and textures. For example, Exposure’s Platinum Print presets provide delicate, rich platinum tones that imbue your images with warm blacks and expanded mid-tone grays, and border overlays that simulate a matte brushed region that surrounds the image.
The Black & White infrared category has monochrome infrared looks. Some presets, like Kodak HIE have an ethereal glow around bright areas.
The Fuji Camera category has fifteen presets that emulate Fujfilm in-camera simulations. These include both color and black & white looks like Provia, Astia, Neopan 1600, Velvia, and more.
Finally, the Split Toning category contains color toned monochrome looks inspired by chemical darkroom processes. Try Platinum for a subtle classic look.
