Instant film. Cool shadows, warm highlights, slightly faded. The SX-70 and OneStep aesthetic — every photo an artefact, not a perfect copy. Imperfect and tender, like life itself. Inspired by the colour characteristics of Polaroid instant film. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Polaroid.
- XMP · Lightroom Classic, CC & Camera Raw
- .costyle · Capture One
- .cube · 3D LUT (DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro)
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Polaroid
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Character and mood
A Polaroid photo is never quite right. The colours drift a little, the edges go soft, the white border gives it something fragile. That is exactly what this preset tries to hold onto. Not the clean precision of digital photography, but something that feels like a memory. Slightly faded, tender, and genuine.
The preset builds on cool shadows and warm highlights. Dark areas pick up a faint blue-green cast, while bright areas shift toward yellow and orange. That pull between warm and cool is where the instant film quality lives. Contrast is deliberately low: shadows that never reach full black, highlights that stop short of blowing out. The overall tone sits slightly matte, as if time has already started working on the image. Saturation is present but not loud, enough to feel alive without feeling polished.
The preset works well on street photography, portraits in natural light, and quiet indoor scenes. Someone standing near a window, a child mid-motion, a market on an overcast morning. Beach scenes, summer gardens, and casual family gatherings all sit comfortably in this look. Scenes that rely on hard contrast or dramatic artificial light, such as sports or flash-lit night photography, tend to work against the softness the preset is built on.
You reach for Polaroid when you want a photo that feels like it already existed somewhere. Not as a record, but as a moment. When the technical sharpness of a modern sensor is getting in the way of what you actually wanted to capture. The preset takes one step back from the precision of contemporary cameras and gives the image room to breathe.
One practical tip: push your exposure slightly higher than you normally would before applying the preset. Instant film was sensitive to light and had a natural tendency to run a little bright. A photo that looks just a touch overexposed responds best to this preset. Skin tones and light backgrounds land in exactly the right place, with that soft, luminous quality that makes Polaroid images feel so different from everything else.
Installation
Lightroom Classic & CC (desktop)
Unzip the downloaded file on your computer. Open Lightroom Classic and go to the Develop module. Right-click the Presets panel, choose 'Import Presets', and select the .xmp file. The preset appears in your list immediately and can be applied to any photo straight away.
Lightroom Mobile
Lightroom Mobile syncs presets via the cloud. Import the .xmp file into Lightroom CC on your desktop first. Once cloud sync completes, the preset is automatically available on your phone or tablet. An Adobe CC subscription is required for this sync feature.
Capture One
Unzip the file. Open Capture One and navigate to the Styles panel. Click the arrow next to 'Styles' and choose 'Import Style'. Select the .costyle file. The style is available in your library immediately. Works with Capture One version 21 and later.
DaVinci Resolve / Premiere Pro (3D LUT)
Copy the .cube file to your application's LUT folder. In DaVinci Resolve via Project Settings → Color Management → LUT folders. In Premiere Pro via the Lumetri Color panel → Creative tab → Look → Browse. The LUT works on both LOG and standard exposed video footage.
