Strong words from Stephan Sagmiller, senior retoucher over at Cyan Jack. Stephan (pronounced Steffen) was talking to a group of photographers about split-toning in Adobe Lightroom as a way of “unlocking the lost look of film.” One could, I suppose, still shoot film to achieve that filmic look. But if the filmic look you’re going for is, say, original Kodachrome, or Polaroid, or you can’t afford the few people in the world who still make dye transfer prints, Stephan lays out a digital workaround here.

The key to split-toning is to “have a color palette in mind as you’re working,” said Stephan, “otherwise you’re f%*@ed.” [I may be paraphrasing a little]. For a refresher on those beautiful lost film stocks/printing techniques and the color palettes they offered up, he recommended checking out Richard Benson’s The Printed Picture exhibit at MoMa. If you ever wanted to do a side by side comparison of one image printed in both platinum palladium and inkjet, Benson’s got it. The good news is, I could barely tell the difference. Alright, I couldn’t. And that makes me happy because part of me doesn’t want that lost look to be lost just yet (sniff).

With visions of cibachromes still fresh in my head and armed with Sagmiller’s suggested workflow, I went to work on two images from last summer. Who says smoke can’t be blue (or yellow)? Part of the beauty of the old processes was that they were to some extent unpredictable. It was good to be reminded. “Once more unto the breach, dear friends, and white f%*@ing highlights be damned…” [Definitely paraphrasing].