Classic Negative film simulation recipe with a burned out desaturated look

It’s obvious to anyone reading this site that I love nostalgic looks and especially filmic looks that resemble aged prints, found many years after they were developed. These styles can evoke more feeling than clean modern looks, and are a fun way to shoot, especially for social media galleries.

For this nostalgic film recipe, I wanted to explore the style of childhood holiday snaps, taken perhaps on a sunny beach, but where the details have bleached away and the prints are fading and losing their colour.

This fading is acheived through overexposure and a mix of other settings, and is based on the Classic Negative simulation, for a print like look. One note is that I works best with sunny weather and bright light.

Whilst it’s a specialist style, it’s so much fun to use that it’s quickly become one of my favourite creations. It really is like shooting old prints in the style of those you rediscover after being hidden and forgotten. I’m really happy with the result, capturing a mood like old vacation prints, and especially the burned out bleachy look. I hope you’ll have some fun with it too.

Childhood Vacation Film Recipe Settings

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Childhood Vacation Film Recipe: Sample Photos

Community Photos

Photos taken with the Childhood Vacation film recipe by members of the Film Recipes community.

Photos by Darren Urda

Photos by David Forsdike

Photos by Sabrina Magnusson

Using the Childhood Vacation Film Recipe

Each film simulation recipe has its own character and style. These features mean recipes are more suited to certain situations, or when seeking a particular look. Here are the categories that Childhood Vacation has been tagged with.