AI and Lightroom film looks

[Henners]

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I wanted a Portra 400 film look for my M11 files and asked ChatGPT if it could help, turns out that it can and did a decent job. I thought others might have an interest in seeing what it could achieve. I can imagine someone making a Lightroom plugin that can apply any film style in different lighting conditions automatically in the near future.

Prompt:
I'm trying to get a really nice film look with my Leica M11, can you recommend lightroom settings to get a Portra 400 film look out of my raw files?

ChatGPT:
Certainly! Achieving the Portra 400 film look in Lightroom requires a combination of adjustments that emulate the characteristics of this popular film stock. Here's a step-by-step guide to help you mimic the Portra 400 look:

Temperature & Tint: Portra 400 is known for its warm tones.

Temperature: Slightly increase towards the yellow side.
Tint: Adjust based on your image. Portra 400 has a slight magenta tint, but this should be subtle.
Exposure: Depending on your shot, you might want to slightly overexpose to emulate the bright and airy feel of Portra 400.

Contrast: Lower the contrast a bit to mimic the film's flat profile.

Highlights & Shadows:

Reduce the highlights to retain details in brighter areas.
Lift the shadows slightly to emulate the wide dynamic range of the film.
Whites & Blacks:

Pull down the whites slightly.
Lift the blacks for a faded look.
Tone Curve:

Create a gentle S-curve.
Lift the shadows (the bottom-left point of the curve) for a faded look.
HSL (Hue, Saturation, Luminance) Panel:

Hue:
Reds: Slightly towards orange.
Oranges: Slight push towards red.
Greens: Move slightly towards yellow to get that golden look.
Blues: Slightly towards teal.
Saturation:
Reds & Oranges: Slight boost.
Greens: Slight reduction.
Blues: Moderate reduction.
Luminance:
Reds & Oranges: Boost slightly for luminous skin tones.
Greens: Increase for a brighter foliage.
Blues: Reduce for deeper skies.
Split Toning:

Highlights: Add a subtle warm tone (yellow-orange).
Shadows: Add a hint of blue or teal for a cooler shadow.
Grain:

Add a moderate amount of grain to emulate the film texture. Adjust the size and roughness to taste.
Sharpening & Noise Reduction:

Sharpen to taste but keep it moderate.
Add a slight luminance noise reduction.
Lens Corrections:
Enable profile corrections for your lens.
Vignetting: Depending on your taste, you can add a slight vignette to emulate some of the characteristics of older lenses.
Remember, these are starting points. Depending on the lighting conditions and the subject of your photo, you might need to make further adjustments. Always use the Portra 400 film as a reference and trust your eyes.

Given that you used to be a photographer, think of this process as similar to working in a darkroom. The initial settings give you a base, but the final look comes from your personal touch and adjustments. It's a bit like bouldering; the route is set, but how you navigate it and the techniques you employ make all the difference.

(For clarity, I do a fair amount of bouldering and ChatGPT seems to really like using it as an analogy any time it can shoe horn it in ).

Edited October 29, 2023 by Henners

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[Photoworks]

https://mastinlabs.com/collections/presets/products/portra-original-lightroom

this is the one I use most, but there are others like " Ted Forbes and RNI all Films.  

Mastin Labs are my favorite in Capture one.

[Likaleica]

We're doomed

[newtoleica]

2 hours ago, Likaleica said:

We're doomed

Why? 

Just think of it as 'instant perfect internet search' with some nauseating chat style laid over...

Can save a lot of time, but take care CGPT 'may' just tell you a load of bull... you have to spot that!

[Camaro5]

I think if I went through all of that to get a certain look I'd save it as a Lightroom preset.  It would seem that an image might look over-processed with that many adjustments.  

[Siriusone59]

1 hour ago, newtoleica said: 

Just think of it as 'instant perfect internet search' with some nauseating chat style laid over...

Can save a lot of time, but take care CGPT 'may' just tell you a load of bull... you have to spot that!

Are you saying that Chatbot posts regularly on the Leica forum?😉

[Henners]

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2 hours ago, Camaro5 said:

I think if I went through all of that to get a certain look I'd save it as a Lightroom preset.  It would seem that an image might look over-processed with that many adjustments.  

That's exactly what I've done, after a few tweaks for my own taste. I wanted to save it as a profile but you need Photoshop for that and I only have Lightroom CC so it will just have to stay as a preset. 

[Photoworks]

I remember an interview with this forum developer. They run many other forums, and they are focusing on AI too

https://www.ai-imagelab.de/index.php

I think this was the website

[Alberti]

On 10/29/2023 at 4:16 PM, Henners said:

Given that you used to be a photographer, think of this process as similar to working in a darkroom.

This really nailed it. This is for people who used to photograph . . 

[Savphoto]

Well this is what I use as a Portra 400 preset.

https://filmis.fun/products/portra-400-film-emulation

[jaapv]

umm-what about buying a roll of Portra 400 , load it into your film M and scanning it in?