VSCO Film Recipes

I've been using VSCO Studio Pro to create custom film recipes to emulate the unique visual styles of legendary photographers I deeply admire. Photographers like William Eggleston (for color), and Lee Friedlander, Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and Daidō Moriyama (for monochrome). While VSCO offers a range of presets that pay homage to analog film stocks, the real magic happens when you begin tweaking those presets—adjusting grain, tone, contrast, and color balance—to build a look that reflects your influences and creative goals.

For Eggleston’s color work, start with a preset that mimics Kodak Ektachrome or Kodachrome—those vibrant, richly saturated stocks he often used. In VSCO, presets like C1-C8, or even K25 (based on Kodachrome 25) can serve as strong bases. From there, push the contrast slightly, elevate the saturation, and pay close attention to the warmth and tint sliders to get that particular reddish or magenta cast seen in Eggleston’s images. His colors are bold but natural—there's no Instagram gloss, just everyday scenes transformed through intensely attentive color use.

When emulating Friedlander, Arbus, and Winogrand, you're diving into a distinctly American monochrome tradition. VSCO’s B-series or X-series black-and-white presets can serve as excellent starting points. Arbus’s work benefits from a high-contrast, mid-tonal emphasis with fine grain; Friedlander might require slightly lower contrast and a more expansive dynamic range to allow for depth in his complex compositions. Winogrand’s street photography, often shot at high shutter speeds in bright daylight, looks great with crisp highlights, hard blacks, and some added grain to recreate that Tri-X 400 aesthetic. Dial in clarity and shadow sharpness without over-processing—these photographers embraced imperfection.

For Moriyama’s grainy, high-contrast, often blown-out black-and-white style, push your edits further. Start with a gritty B&W (B5 works well) preset and then crank up grain, contrast, and clarity. Don’t be afraid to let highlights clip or shadows fall into deep black—his aesthetic thrives on that raw, chaotic energy. Reduce sharpness slightly or add a slight vignette to give it that lo-fi, photocopied zine feeling. Moriyama’s images aren’t polished—they’re visceral and fast, and VSCO lets you edge into that territory with just the right combination of sliders.

Ultimately, VSCO Studio becomes more than just an editing tool—it’s your digital darkroom. With patience and experimentation, you can craft custom recipes that not only pay homage to these masters but also evolve into something uniquely yours. Save your settings as reusable filters, and over time, you’ll develop a consistent visual voice that channels your influences while staying true to your own vision.

I've developed my own system of saving my presets. The process is simple. You create the recipe on any give photograph in your studio. Then, copy and paste those edits to a simple black square. The black square won't look much different once you apply the edit. But then, with the effects/text tool, you can simply add the name of the photographer or film stock you're emulating. This way, your library will always have a saved, master version of your recipes!

Thanks for stopping by! And thanks to VSCO for continuing to bring such great photography editing AND shooting tools to the community.

See you around! — Greg