WINNER: PORTRA 400 For this shot, the sun had already set, but there was just enough light where I could boost my ISO to continue shooting until almost twilight. If you have ever shot at this time of day, all of sudden tones go from warm to VERY cool within a few minutes. If I had increased the white balance warmth to get to the skin tone I wanted with Fuji 400H, I was going to lose the cool tones of the water and grey jacket. So instead, I switch over to Portra as it does an excellent job of giving warm skin tones without making all of the colors warmer.

For this shot, my preference is Portra 400 as the Portra 800 over does it alittle for me on the skin tone warmth and saturation. WINNER: PORTRA 800 In this shot, I immediately went to the Portra presets over the Fuji 400H for the same reasons as I mentioned above in the shot where I preferred the Portra 400. The differences here in why I ultimately chose Portra 800 are alot harder to see right off the bat. The main reason why I chose Portra 800, was because I just couldn't get the skin tone to the warmth I wanted with Portra 400. The other is that the magentas were a little too dull in my opinion on the Portra 400. Look closely at the brides lips and pink flowers.

IMHO, they are a tad warmer and pop more with the Portra 800. Honestly I think you could go either Portra 400 or Portra 800 in this picture based on preference. Hopefully this has helped you to visualize the differences between the Portra and Fuji presets and why I highly encourage and feel like there is a place for both when editing.

Same rings true when shooting film. Also, if you are struggling in matching your scans or want to learn more about film, I offer Skype mentor sessions, which you can apply for. Since Mastin Labs is super awesome and amazing to work with, they are paying me a few dollars when you purchase presets!

Mastin Labs Review: We test the Pushed Portra pack of Lightroom presets by Mastin. See a live edit video, before/after images, and leave your own review. These presets are created to specifically emulate Kodak Portra film, when pushed in development, and scanned on the Fuji Frontier scanner. It allows hybrid.

To check them out, click.

A few weeks ago, we did behind the scenes showing before/afters of our digital photos processed with the new from Mastin Labs. We had an overwhelming amount of positive responses to the post, and several photographers requesting that we share some of our digital vs. Film examples! Though no film emulation presets will ever be identical to film, we feel like gets our images close enough, where we just need a few tweaks. Film has a really beautiful depth to it, and it's coloring can vary depending on where you get it scanned/developed. So those two factors will never get digital and film photos to look exactly alike with just one click.

Here are some of our digital vs. Film photos from Joni + Conner’s Joshua Tree engagement shoot we photographed this past Spring. The digital photos were shot on the Canon 5dMkIII with the 50 mm 1.2 or the 85 mm 1.2 and processed with Fuji Pro 400H Neutral and then tweaked from there! (Below: Left image is digital processed with, Right image is fuji 400H film shot on the Contax 645).

USING FILM PRESETS I have been using (film) presets for a few years now. Most of the times I use them as a starting point and make my own presets with a few tweaks. A lot of people have asked me if film presets can replace shooting actual film.

I don’t think so. Digital can never have as much depth as film.

And the process of film is different. Using a film camera is something special, you start to shoot with a different approach and you pay more attention to details and settings like exposure and composition during the shot. You have to get it right in camera and this makes you put more intent in your work. And more intent is such a good thing in photography. MASTIN LABS FILM PRESETS Although film can’t be mimicked with a digital camera, the presets from come pretty close.

As a hybrid shooter, Kirk Mastin was looking for a way to combine his digital and analog work for assignments and weddings and got himself a Fuji Frontier scanner to be able to match his digital with his analog photography. Yes, you read this right, he got himself a Frontier.

Each of these presets is crafted by hand from this Fuji Frontier scans to emulate actual film that is still used today. Film is timeless and beautifully subtle and Kirk worked hard to get his presets as close as possible.

Honestly I didn’t think digital could look this much like analog. But these presets are close, very close. Which is not only convenient for the hybrid shooters but is a big plus for anyone in general who loves the look of film. I always advise people to get a real film camera if they want their photos to look like analog or to experience shooting film.

You really should. But when you prefer to use only digital or want to be able to match your film photography with your digital work, you should really consider getting these. WHAT DOES MASTIN LABS OFFER?

Mastin Labs currently offers three packs: Fuji Pro, Kodak Portra and Ilfort B&W. Each pack gives you a few presets and some extra tools like tone profiles and grain and lens optimization to process the photo.

The packs are designed to work with.raw files of Canon, Nikon and Fuji X-Series cameras. And although Sony isn’t officially mentioned, the version of Nikon files works great on the Sony.ARW files. This is because Nikon uses the same Sony sensors in their cameras. Although Mastin Labs offer less presets in their packs in comparison with other presets they are worth every penny because Mastin Labs give you quality over quantity. While you might only use one or two out of 15 presets in any other preset pack, you definitely will use every preset in each of the packs made by Mastin. Less presets also make sure you get a consistent look of your work, just as it would shooting film.

Less is more. Each package also contains 19 blog templates for use in Lightroom. These blog templates make it possible to not only get a consistent look on your work but also on your blog. I have been using the 35mm diptych forever and love how clean this looks on my website. You can also choose to make a template with 35mm 4x4 grid, 66 2x2 grid and many other options.

You can check out their Instagram and very active group on facebook to see some more examples and you can also watch some great tutorial videos by Kirk Mastin to learn more about processing with the presets. CAN THESE BE USED FOR LANDSCAPE PHOTOGRAPHY? Buddyrider Installation Of Officers. Kodak Portra, Fuji Pro and Ilfort were films used for everything in the past and the presets can be used on every genre of photography today. While Mastin Labs is being used a lot by wedding photographers, as you can see on their Instagram, they look good on street, portrait or landscape photography as well. Here are some photos I have taken last month, processed with the Mastin Labs presets. I have used all three packs in these photos and all of these were processed with just a few clicks. Take a look at the and choose your favorite film stock!