How to Make Phone Photos Look Film-Like

Phone photos are convenient, but can feel hard in the highlights, light in the shadows, overly HDR, or too clean.

Concept

A film-like result is not just yellow color or added grain.

Soften hard whites, restore shadow weight, shape color, then add subtle grain and halation.

In SELON, start with Highlights and Shadows to reduce the hard phone-JPEG look.

Then add Density, Tone Curve, Halation, and Grain carefully to avoid a heavy filter look.