Kodachrome the Presets and Jamie Windsor.
March 16, 2023I finished my review of the movie Kodachrome yesterday and now I am looking
for something to write about. The idea struck me with how to replicate
Kodachrome colors in the lightroom or Photoshop? We are in the technical
digital world. Has someone created a way to mirror the rich colors that were
the centerpiece of Kodachrome? Of course, someone has. I found a photographer
that developed presets for software like Lightroom and Photoshop. Presets are
programs you can add to software that can hurry a solution to a problem. Adobe
products, like Lightroom, Photoshop or Premiere Pro, use presets to create
desired lighting or color configurations. Lightroom, I have used presets for
black and white images. They use information in the image file to yield higher
contrast or lower contrast. It’s up to me to make a decision to use them or
not. Does result enhance the message I’m trying to project through the image? I
googled the idea and found a photographer in the United Kingdom, Jamie Windsor. https://jamiewindsor.com.
He has developed presets for Lightroom and Photoshop that when applied they
mirror Kodachrome colors. Jamie developed presets around a 1935
Kodachrome, 1961 Kodachrome, and 1971 Kodachrome films. Those are the years that
Kodak updated their film on its original product in 1935. I reviewed his
YouTube video, and he provided a link to his website where I could download
these presets. Of course, there is a fee. A little sidebar, I tip my hat to
Adobe software like Lightroom and Photoshop and Premier pro.
A whole cottage industry has developed supporting their software. It has inspired
an entire generation of entrepreneurs that provide these products and services
and resources There are a bunch of
products that add to the software and a bunch of people that are servicing
those using the software. Instructing you how to use the software is a primary
manner to catch your attention and earn a living.
If you haven’t heard me say this, I will repeat it. The software that adobe
provides is vast and deep. There’s so many things you can do and many ways of
doing the same thing. It is a steep learning curve, and it does take time.
Believe me, I access these entrepreneurs via YouTube.
Much of what they provide is free. This is reminiscent of my job as a
tax accountant. A whole cottage industry developed around the service because
of tax regulations.
So I downloaded Jaime’s presets and started working with it in my on my
laptop in Lightroom. I discovered all their creative possibilities were at my
fingertips. The presets register difference in the various the updates from
Kodak on its film. A whole world of images and creativity has opened up to me.
It all depends on what I want to say. For me, because of my age, I tend to lean
towards the older aged images. A lot of it is because I have worked in
black-and-white for so long and I’ve developed it in my own darkroom. Most of what
I render in Photoshop and Lightroom is black-and-white. I am challenged by
color. I am not as confident that I can express my idea and tell my story
through color. These presets allow me something to draw from and explore in a
way that will provide me a tool to tell my story. Thank you Jamie. This is once again about
one’s own creative process. Every creator has one. A process that is we all
have. Yes, we all can achieve satisfying results. I use the word satisfying
because for me I it is the satisfactions that I gave it my best and it tells a
story. Then I share it. And I no longer own it belongs to the viewer.