Grainy matte effects

Lauren Scott shows you how to give shots a stylish film like-appearance

The matte effect is bang on trend, giving style and dimension to the right images. Follow these simple steps to transform your photos. You can start with a Raw image and edit it in Lightroom. Or you could add the matte effect to a final shot that’s already been corrected for everything else.

We’ll use a shot straight from the camera, starting out by tweaking the Tone Curve of our image (this forms the basis of creating the effect). Our main aim is to reduce the black levels in the image, muting them down and also adding a little haze.

After the basic effect has been generated, the exposure settings need a tweak in the Basic tab and the last step is to get grainy. This effect is well-suited to lifestyle images and portraits, although be mindful of how skin tones appear as you edit. All the values we’ve chosen are just suggestions, as the specifics of settings and adjustments will vary depending on the specific shot.