How to get vintage "instagram" look on Magic Bullet Looks 2?

[Zhong Cheung]

Hi there,

Couple of questions - how do you import custom look files in Magic Bullet Looks 2?

Also, does anyone know a good way to create a vintage look similar to Instagram on MBL2? Or know of any free presets?

Thanks!

[Jeff Harper]

Instagram isn't a look itself. You are talking about old photo look. You can achieve the look of vintage film using Ultimate S with the "Reel Pack" plug ins. it has many variations on the theme of old film. It is not free, I'm sorry to say. go to the Vasst website for more information. Total cost would probably be around $300. It's been ages since I bought it.

[Zhong Cheung]

Yeah, MBL has their vintage looks package as well, but I'm looking for a guide on how to create my own or a free preset that I can play around with.

[Jeff Harper]

Cookie cutter + film effects and you can create anything you like with a vintage feel.

[Zhong Cheung]

What are "cookie cutter" and "film effects?"

The MBL Vintage pack is $99, but I'm trying to find a free tutorial or preset or ideas on how to create my own vintage look. I'm not sure which of the tools/filters in MBL2 are generally involved to give it that aged feel.

[Jeff Harper]

Look in Video FX, part of Vegas. If you are not familiar with Video FX and the various FX included, you need to get familiar with it. This is Vegas 101, among the first things you should get familiar with as an editor. You have to get in there an play with it, learn how to use the presets and adjust them as needed. Good luck, you'll love it.

[Zhong Cheung]

Those are some pretty cool effects, but I'm to create something similar to this: http://cdn.thenextweb.com/apps/files...t-10.18.23.png

Don't really need noise/grain, flicker, light streaks, etc. Just a clean look similar to that link above. Thanks!

Or these: http://greyscalegorilla.com/vintagefilm/
But I'm curious how they get those looks. They are presets, so I already have the tools necessary to create it, but I'm just not sure which filters to use. I don't need the exact formulas for any of those specific looks, but I'm just looking for a general idea of which ones I should use: bleach bypass, crush, etc.?

EDIT: Found the answer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bh19lxAEwGs

[Edward Troxel]

Zhong, you might take a look at NewBlueFX which has five "Video Essentials" packages that include things like "Color Fixer Pro" and "Bleach Bypass" as well as the "Film Effects" package.

[David Jimerson]

Color curves. Raise the lower left. Of all, of individual colors. Drop the top right. You're lowering contrast that way and it'll help create the "cloudy" look.

Saturate or desaturate as needed.

Really, quite a few ways to get there. I designed the aforementioned ReelPaks, and they're all done with Vegas's internal FX, so the tools are at your fingertips. Best thing to do is just experiment with everything and see what it does to your image. Study it, figure out WHY it does what it does, and it'll be more apparent what to do to get the look you want.

Keep in mind things like this -- the "blue" tint to older photographs comes from the yellow layer failing and fading over time. The closer you get to emulating the actual physical process which makes those images, the better off you'll be. So, in that case, lowering red and green, leaving blue alone, will simulate the failure of yellow and give you a similar bluish tint.

[Zhong Cheung]

Thanks guys, I just didn't know what specific tools to play around with, but that tutorial showed me. Color curves seems to do the trick as well.

[David Jimerson]

There are a lot of tools which do the same, or similar, things, so there are many avenues to the same destination. In fact, the choices I made in the ReelPaks are not all *necessarily* how I'd do them today -- they're perfectly acceptable, but my personal preference and way of working has evolved over time, so I'd probably make different choices now. Not that they're better in general, just better for me.