I had an old set of wallpapers with a look I liked and no record of how it was made. Studying them showed they all used one recipe that was everywhere in free editors around 2011 to 2013 (Picasa's Glow, Pixlr-o-matic, "glamour B&W" camera modes):
- Convert to black and white.
- Crush the shadows and blow out the highlights with a steep S-curve.
- Add a soft bloom: blur a copy and screen it back over the original (the Orton effect).
- Add fine film grain, strongest in the midtones.
filter.py photo.jpg --preset soft # more glow, milder crush
filter.py photo.jpg # classic, the typical wallpaper look
filter.py photo.jpg --preset harsh # almost photocopier, matches the most extreme shotsA small project, but it's the part I enjoy: work out exactly how a thing was made, then make it reproducible.