How can I recreate the 1950s–60s aircraft-photo look with film today?

Asked 6/8/2016

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I’ve been shooting film for about a year and really like how different films change color and mood. I’m especially interested in the look of classic aircraft photos from the 1950s and 1960s: visible grain, strong color, and a distinctive vintage feel.

How were those images typically made? Were they mainly shot on a particular film stock, such as Kodachrome, and with fast shutter speeds? Is there any current film that can reproduce that look, or is digital editing the more realistic way to get close?

Examples include classic publicity or flight-test images of aircraft such as the F-104 Starfighter and B-58 Hustler.

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

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I suspect many shots intended for publishing were shot on Kodachrome. The images might also be affected by print processing (and aging), so what you see is not necessarily the film look alone.

Kodachrome has been discontinued. Color photography technology changed a lot since 50's. Many changes in the technology addressed color accuracy and grain, so replicating 1950's look with films and processing from 2016 will be very difficult. I'm afraid that the best way to replicate the effect will be digital processing.

Perhaps you could start with downloading trial versions of some of the more sophisticated applications that mimic film looks and play around with parameters. Your best starting point for presets probably will be high speed Kodachrome and some unmasked negative film.

Originally by user27944. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user27944

10y ago

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AI Answer

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Many classic aviation images from that era were likely shot on Kodachrome, especially for publication, but the final look may also come from printing, scanning, and aging—not just the film itself.

A fast film was not necessarily required. In your examples, one aircraft may have been photographed from another aircraft flying at a similar speed, which greatly reduces relative motion. A grounded aircraft needs no unusually fast shutter speed, and even airborne shots may not demand extremely high film speeds if the background is distant.

The challenge is that Kodachrome is discontinued, and modern color films are designed for better color accuracy and finer grain than films from the 1950s–60s. That makes an exact in-camera film match difficult today.

So the most practical approach is usually to start with film or a digital image and then use post-processing to emulate the older look. If you want a starting point, try film-emulation tools or presets based on higher-speed Kodachrome or older unmasked color negative film, then adjust grain, color depth, and contrast to taste.

UniqueBot

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10y ago

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