Making cinematic videos is something that has been viral lately. On social media, we often come across various cinematic videos. And the most viral ones are those that follow the distinctive style of one film producer, Wes Anderson. But have you ever tried to make your photos look cinematic or at least resemble a film?
This time, I decided to experiment in finding cinematic colors for my photos. The subject of my photos this time is "car and coffee." Car and coffee is a café in my city that sells their products using cars. However, usually, most cafe vendors use classic cars like VW, but Car and Coffee uses modern cars.
Apart from Car and Coffee, I was just casually taking pictures of them. It happened to be a café owned by my friend, and they didn't have many visitors yet. As a friend, it's important to support their business, either through photos or by directly purchasing their products. And I showed my support through both of these methods.
The concept of these photos was initially inspired by several street photographers I often see on my social media. They often do street photo sessions at night, which I find very unique. Some of them also use a black mist filter to make their results look more cinematic. So, I decided to use this filter to capture Car and Coffee.
To my surprise, the results turned out great. I didn't expect that I could make the photos I took look cinematic enough. I used the black mist filter and didn't make many camera adjustments. I only set my white balance to 4300 kelvin to achieve a cool color tone in these photos. And here are the results.
Actually, I wasn't consciously aiming for a film-like tone when I made the final adjustments. I only realized it when a friend commented on my social media story, saying that the colors looked great and resembled a film. That's when I realized their words were true.
To be honest, in my opinion, the more we see other people's works that we like, the more we unconsciously tend to follow their style. That's what happened to me. I don't think it's wrong because it's perfectly fine to emulate the works of those who inspire us. However, I still try to give a personal touch to each photo I present because that's what sets it apart.
Perhaps I will try using these colors in another photo session, maybe with models. I wonder if the results will be good or the opposite. Because I enjoy experimenting with my photos, sometimes I go back to old files and re-edit them.
I believe that by revisiting old files, we can discover new colors or apply current trends to make the previous photos look fresh again.
Thank you, warm regards from me.
Bonus photo for social media story