Whenever we discover a Mextures user utilizing the app in unique and beautiful ways we do our best to give you as much insight as possible into how they use Mextures to create what they create.  In this week’s edition of Mextures Sessions, we’re focusing on @unworn and his method of using Mextures to emulate a vintage film feel.  He’s offered us a healthy serving of insight into his process and we’ve compiled it all for you.  Learn along!

The main thing you’ll notice about my style is that it is a combination of film photography and sepia photography that gives the sensation of an old image with remnants of dirt and dust, all thanks to this wonderful application, Mextures. I’m a perfectionist in the case of shades of light and shadow - with differently filters I make sure that the sky is very clear so that the silhouettes of the images contrast sharply and become more striking when viewed.

I chose the following layers to give the contrasts of light and shadow and at the same time to give a somber and gritty look to the picture.  I normally use many layers because using only a few doesn't give the necessary quality, so I add the layers while I'm lowering and raising the opacity of each and also changing the orientation until it is exactly as I want.

The type of blending I use for Grit and Grain layers is always Difference mode, to give it the appearance of dust and dirt. The other layers I apply I almost always use the Overlay blending mode to give light or shadow to the background of the picture. 

And, to be frank, I give more importance to the adjustments as these will finalize the contrast process. The film presets I use most are F-FORTIA, UV and F-VELVIA.  I make my selection depending on whether I want to make the image darker or more clear. Lastly, as my style is black and white with a touch of sepia, I leave the Black/White setting on and the temperature to 50 and the saturation between -50 and -40.

Formula: LLMMXBH

The editing process of this image will be explained in three steps:

1. With the help of Union App, I added the silhouette of the person.

2. To give it an old film style, I use Snapseed, of this I use Black and White – Film - Grain between 36 - 50 and contrast and brightness at 0.

3. And the last step is Mextures, the important final touch for my pictures. This edition is simple and contains 6 layers.

A) I started this edition with Vintage Gradients - Taffy - Overlay blending mode - Orientation 1 - Opacity 44%. This causes more light to be generated on the image.

B) I added the layer 120MM (Grit and Grain) - Difference blending mode - Orientation 3 - Opacity 72%. This layer makes it look grainy to the image, and silhouettes darken. 

C) I added the layer Desolation (Atmospheric) - Overlay blending mode - Orientation 1 - Opacity 29%. This layer I used to darken the silhouettes a bit more.

D) I took back the layer 120 MM, same blending mode, but with Orientation 1 and Opacity 8%, this to give it more granular appearance.

E) Used Neutral Density (Landscape Enhance) in blending mode Overlay to darken the sky a little and Phosphorus (Light Leaks 3) in Screen blending mode to lighten some parts of the ground.

 Finally, I made the following adjustments:

• Film: Vintage

• Black / White: On

• Exposure: 14

• Contrast: 13

• Temperature: 50

• Saturation: -43

• Fade: 40

• Highlights: 60

• Shadows: 40

• Sharpen: 24

Formula: ZHHDKFX

For this image I performed the same processes as step a) and b) of the previous image, so I will go straight to the editing with Mextures.

This formula contains 14 layers and is just as simple. Here are the layers I used:

A) Taffy (Vintage Gradients) - Overlay - Orientation 1 - Opacity 20%

B) Washington (Grit and Grain) - Screen - Orientation 1 - Opacity 68%

C) West Chester (Light Leaks 3) - Lighten - Orientation 2 - Opacity 77%

D) 120MM (Grit and Grain) - Difference - Orientation 1 - Opacity 47%

E) Dirty Pop (Grunge) - Overlay - Orientation 1 - Opacity 84%

F) Weatherman (Dust & Dirt) - Multiply - Orientation 2 - Opacity 49%

G) Winter Skies (Landscape Enhance) - Overlay - Orientation 3 - Opacity 45%

H) 120MM - Overlay - Orientation 2 - Opacity 12%

I) Space Dust (Anomaly) - Screen - Orientation 2 - Opacity 59%

J) Neutral Density (Landscape Enhance) - Overlay - Orientation 3 - Opacity 8%

K) Lilac (X-Film) - Overlay - Orientation 1 - Opacity 97%

L) Vignette (Landscape Enhance) - Overlay - Orientation 1 - Opacity 31%

M) 120MM - Difference - Orientation 1 - Opacity 47%

N) Leaker (Grit and Grain) - Screen - Orientation 3 - Opacity 20%

These are the adjustments that give the finishing touch to the edition:

• Film: UV

• Black / White: On

• Exposure: 6

• Contrast: 22

• Temperature: 50

• Tint: -11

• Saturation: -46

• Fade: 34

• Highlights: 100

• Shadows: 32

• Sharpen: 48

See more of @unworn’s stunning film-type work here!