Comparing Our Filmic Presets
Photography began with the marriage of light and chemistry, with various forms of film evolving over its history. Now that most of our photo work is done digitally, we long for that timeless filmic nostalgia. Let’s take a deep dive into Quest Presets and Archipelago Presets that are inspired by film photography.
What is “filmic” editing, anyway?
Filmic photo editing refers to the process of digitally editing photos to replicate the look and feel of traditional film photography. This style is inspired by film stocks—the physical films used in analog cameras, which each have unique color tones, grain, contrast, and dynamic range characteristics.
Key Elements:
🎨 Color Rendering: Film stocks often have distinct color palettes. For example, Kodak Portra is known for warm skin tones and soft contrast, while Fujifilm stocks lean cooler and more vibrant.
🎛️ Dynamic Range & Contrast: Film tends to have a softer, more organic contrast curve than digital, preserving more detail in highlights and shadows.
📷 Grain: Unlike digital noise, film grain is often embraced for its aesthetic texture, adding a tactile, analog quality.
☀️ Halation & Bloom: Certain film stocks create glowing highlights or soft bloom effects, especially in high-contrast lighting.
🎞️ Fade or Matte Look: Many film-inspired edits introduce subtle fades in the blacks or highlights to emulate the tonal roll-off of film.
Image by Adam and Grace
Edited with Quest 06 Emulsion
Why Choose a Filmic Edit?
The filmic style is timeless and imitates the photographs we’ve been looking at throughout our lives.
Preferred for storytelling genres like weddings, lifestyle, documentary, and cinematic portraits.
Prioritizes mood, tone, and nostalgia to enhance the emotion of the image.
Image by Anna Gadalean
Edited with Quest 16 Riven
Our Core Filmic Preset Collection
If you want a generally filmic and clean preset for your images, look no further!
Available in the Archipelago Presets Shop
Image by Kate Cullen
Designed for lovers of analog film and hybrid film/digital photographers, Light & Legacy is a clean film emulation preset collection inspired by the film stocks and scanning characteristics that photographers have preferred for decades. Film chemistry made digital brings colors to life with vibrant pastel hues, clean bright whites, and accurate skintones.
Film chemistry made digital brings colors to life with vibrant pastel hues, clean bright whites, and accurate skintones. Using the included toolset, tailor your edit down to the finest detail, with adjustable preset tools to add extra pastel pink or yellow tones, customize blacks, greens, and saturation, dial in your preferred Grain to match your film ISO, and more.
Presets That Emulate Film
The following presets we offer are ones that emulate specific film stocks or film styles, like large format or wet plate.
Image by Anne Ucla
Inspired by 4x5 film, the FOURXFIVE collection aims to emulate the unmistakable richness and depth of large format film images. Featuring five color and one B&W preset, three unique film borders, plus Blur, Contrast, and Dark tools that add a unique film vibe to your images with one click.
With clean, color-accurate tones with a filmic quality, FOURXFIVE is perfect for weddings, editorial portraits, and more.
Available in the Quest Archive and Quest Public Shop
Take a step back in time with Quest 34 Collodion, a black and white preset collection that emulates wet plate collodion tintype photography. Popular during the mid-19th century, tintypes involve coating a metal plate with collodion, sensitizing it with silver nitrate, exposing it in a camera, and developing the image using various chemicals. The result is the celebrated and distinctive look featuring matte highlights, high contrast, heavy vignetting, and variations in black and white tone ranging from neutral to yellowed and sepia.
Quest 34 Collodion includes 4 unique presets with built in masks, 2 distinct profiles, as well as tools and 4 borders that help amplify the tintype aesthetic.
Image by Michele Klopfenstein
ExFilm Presets
Available in the Archipelago Presets Archive
Image by Diego Baptista
Inspired by the shifted, muted colors of expired film stock, ExFilm is the feel good, just right, balanced editing tool you've dreamt about. ExFilm feels like a brand new pair of cognac leather boots already worn and weathered in all the right places with a perfect, comfortable fit.
Fall in love with the soft details and subtle color cast, and finalize your look with the Character profile which gives complete control for a clean and modern feel or muted and vintage aesthetic. The ExFilm Set includes 2 BW & 6 Color Presets , plus a custom “Character” Profile.
We also have a Quest extension preset collection for ExFilm called Quest 10 ExFilm SE!
Filmic Toolsets
Add filmic characteristics like lens blur, dust & scratches, and film borders with these toolsets.
Ten unique dust and scratch presets modeled from real film scans. These effects add a filmic finishing touch to your digital photos in just one click - Self-adapting to cover the entire image, regardless of orientation or aspect ratio.
As these brush effects are resource-intensive, be sure to turn on “Smart Previews” under the Performance tab in your Lightroom preferences.
These brush effects will not apply as fast as regular presets.
Lens Emulations is a versatile toolset designed to emulate the distinct character of various lens types, capturing their unique depth of field, optical quirks, and lens coating effects. This collection offers photographers a powerful way to explore the aesthetic possibilities of modern, vintage, and creative lenses—all within a digital workflow.
Whether you’re seeking the polished precision of cutting-edge optics, the nostalgic softness of vintage glass, or the imaginative flair of experimental lenses, this collection delivers carefully crafted presets that replicate the nuances of real-world lenses. Each preset enhances your work by adding depth, mood, and personality, bringing your creative vision to life.
Modern Lens Presets - Celebrate contemporary optical engineering with presets that feature sharp detail, accurate colors, and refined bokeh for a clean, professional look. Ideal for lifestyle, architecture, and commercial projects.
Vintage Lens Presets - Channel the charm of classic lenses, complete with swirly bokeh, muted contrast and colors, and subtle corner darkening that evoke a timeless, filmic quality. Perfect for portraits, travel, and nostalgic storytelling.
Creative Lens Presets - Unlock imaginative possibilities with presets inspired by experimental and specialty lenses, offering warm, hazy tonality, painterly softness, and tilt-shift blurring for artistic expression.
Achieve the beautiful aesthetic of film combined with the flexibility and convenience of a digital workflow. These filmic border presets push the boundaries of what's possible within Lightroom, faithfully replicating the borders, sprocket holes, light leaks and dust reminiscent of film scans.
Each border is offered in a horizontal and vertical version alongside black and white versions for monochromatic images. These presets are resource-intensive due to the complexity of the hand-drawn elements, be sure to follow Adobe's guidance to optimise the performance of Lightroom.
In film photography, a light leak occurs when unintended light exposes the film, resulting in unpredictable streaks, spots, or fogging within the image. Rather than being considered flaws, these imperfections can inject a vibrant sense of energy into the frame, contributing to the overall narrative of your photograph.
Introducing Quest Tools 08 ExF Light Leaks — a powerful tool that allows you to precisely control the appearance of these nostalgic visual effects in your images using Lightroom’s masking capabilities. The collection comprises eighteen light leak presets, offering a diverse range of styles, colors, and placements of light leak effects designed for seamless layering and adjustment within the masking panel.
Additionally, the set includes a Vintage Tone tool that can be effortlessly layered over any other preset. This transformative feature turns your edit into an analog-inspired masterpiece characterized by desaturated colors, muted dynamics, a gentle haze, and filmic grain.
Please note: Due to current limitations within the Masking feature of Adobe Camera Raw, it’s not possible to move an entire masking group, as such, we recommend using Lightroom Classic for the best experience when using masking tools.
Filmic Vibes
These presets offer filmic tones without directly referencing a specific film stock or film style.
Available in the Quest Archive and Quest Public Shop
Image by Valeria Duque
Floresce brings you an ethereal collection of presets and tools, aimed at helping you achieve a stunning light & airy aesthetic with just a few clicks. The 3 color graded presets provide a strong base to work from, offering multiple dynamic options.
You can customize your look further from there with the included tool presets. Among the 7 included tools, Ethereal gives you a transformative look by lifting brightness while retaining contrast & exposure levels. Be sure to use the Skin Tone modifiers to perfectly dial in your subject. Lastly, the Pastelize tools allow you to filter tonality into your background while maintaining subject & skin tone accuracy.
Available in the Quest Archive and Quest Public Shop
Image by Gail Secker Photography
The Mythos black and white preset collection is an invitation to embark on a creative journey where the boundaries between imagination and reality blur. These presets encourage us to explore the depths of our creativity and craft rich, timeless stories within our images. Mythos transcends being just a preset collection; it’s a reminder that the power of imagination can transform the world into a canvas where every moment holds the potential to become a masterpiece.
The Mythos toolset includes:
BW Filters - Replicate the dynamics achieved using black and white lens filters. Use these 4 presets with the preset amount slider to shape the black-and-white conversion.
Low Mist - Offers 3 variations of a rolling mist-like effect that applies to the background of your photo. Move and adjust the intensity in Lightroom’s Masking Panel.
Quintessence - Darkens the background and brings focus to your subject.
Aether - Brings a magical softness to the background of your image, providing a dreamy aesthetic.
Mythos Border - Adds a gritty tintype-style border complete with dust and scratches.
Available in the Quest Archive and Quest Public Shop
Image by Kaya Amaranth
Drawing inspiration from the delicate color palettes of spring, Camellia bathes your images in soft pastels and warm peach undertones. Designed to enhance natural colors with glowing tonality, this preset collection infuses your photos with a dreamy, luminous aesthetic.
Adjusting the Camellia creative profile lets you fine-tune the look—lifting shadows and midtones while adding a gentle peach warmth, or dialling it back to restore depth and mood. The included Pastel Background tool increases luminance in background colors, creating a light, ethereal backdrop. Additionally, the two Light Leak tools introduce a soft, organic glow that enhances depth and ambiance.
Quest FILMIC Bundle
The Filmic Bundle of Quest Presets is available in the Quest Archive and Quest Public Shop
If you’re looking for the best combination of our filmic Quest sets to try, shop the true to color bundle and get Quest 06 Emulsion, Quest 10 ExFilm SE, Quest 11 Instant Film, and Quest 16 Riven.
Each of the above mentioned presets applied to one photo:
Image by Hansel Ferrón
Edits in order: Before, Light & Legacy, FOURXFIVE, ExFilm, Quest 06 Emulsion, Quest 10 ExFilm SE, Quest 11 Instant Film, Quest 16 Riven, Quest 31 Mythos, Quest 34 Collodion, Quest 24 Floresce, and Quest 46 Camellia
What is your favorite filmic preset? Tell us in the comments!