Flat, low contrast film recipes for a cinematic or edit-ready look
Low contrast recipes flatten the tone curve, lifting the shadows and pulling back the highlights to produce an image that sits comfortably in the middle of the tonal range. The look is cinematic in the same way that log footage from a video camera is cinematic — understated, with room to breathe.
These recipes work well in mixed or difficult light where a high-contrast recipe would clip the highlights or crush the shadows. They also suit subjects and moods where subtlety is more useful than impact.
A shortlist of 40 low contrast recipes selected from the complete library across both the site and the Film Recipes App. Ranking reflects user popularity alongside a scoring for flatness of tone. App-only recipes are included and labelled — the full app library has over 800 recipes in total.
Low Contrast Film Simulation Recipes
These are the highest-rated recipes from the site and app combined. There are a further 113 recipes in this category exclusively in the Film Recipes App — browse them alongside the full library of 800+ recipes on iOS and Android.