B6 Matte Film | Faded B&W Film Preset for Lightroom Desktop & Mobile

B6 is for photographers who want their B&W work to have an artistic, slightly aged quality — fine art photographers, documentary photographers with a poetic sensibility, and photographers whose subject matter references memory, time, or history.

For street and travel photographers who want their work to feel like a personal archive rather than a curated feed.

For photographers who have used the faded qualities of A3 Heritage Fade in their colour work and want the same character in monochrome.

For photographers exploring artistic B&W work beyond the standard clean silver or high contrast directions.

It looks found, not made. The aged, matte quality of B6 reads as organic and authentic — like a photograph pulled from an archive rather than edited on a laptop. That quality is difficult to achieve intentionally and B6 calibrates it precisely.

The fade is controlled, not heavy. B6 adds the organic fade of aged film without going obviously retro or vintage-filter. The effect is subtle enough to read as a characteristic of the photography rather than an editing choice.

It suits long-form documentary and personal photography specifically. Work that spans time, travels, or personal projects benefits from the continuity of B6's aged aesthetic — the consistency of the matte quality ties disparate photographs together visually.

It is the most distinctive preset in the collection. If you want your B&W work to be immediately recognisable as a deliberate aesthetic choice, B6 provides that in a way the other presets do not.

1 × B6 Matte Film DNG file — for Lightroom Mobile on iPhone and Android
1 × B6 Matte Film XMP file — for Lightroom Classic on Mac and Windows
Step-by-step installation guide
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This preset captures the crisp, cool-toned aesthetic and refined silver-blue highlights similar to the iconic B6 black-and-white filters. It’s the perfect professional alternative for those wanting a modern, analog-inspired monochrome look that feels sleek and timeless. By emulating the chemical cooling of specialized darkroom papers, the B6 ensures your digital shots have a polished, high-end clarity that stands out on both desktop and mobile.

B6 works best on photos where the subject has inherent character — weathered faces, old buildings, candid documentary moments, personal photography with emotional content. The matte, aged quality amplifies existing character rather than adding character to neutral subjects.

For photos with very flat or soft light: add Contrast +10 to +15 after applying B6 to prevent the matte quality from making the result look underexposed rather than intentionally faded.

For portraits with B6: the lifted blacks and matte quality create a specific flatness that suits environmental and documentary portraits. For close-up glamour or beauty work, B2 or B4 are more appropriate choices.

On phone photos: 80-85% strength. The matte quality can read more heavily on phone photos with compressed tonal ranges — reducing strength prevents the result from looking flat.

Is B6 the same as a heavy vintage filter? No. B6 is calibrated to reference organic film ageing rather than a retro filter effect. The fade is subtle and the quality reads as photographic rather than obviously processed. Heavy vintage filters typically add strong colour shifts and aggressive contrast reduction — B6 adds a restrained, organic matte quality.

Does B6 work for contemporary subjects? B6 creates a quality that references age and history — it works best when that quality suits the subject. Contemporary subjects like modern buildings, current events, and sharp editorial content are generally better served by B1, B3, or B5. B6 is for subject matter with inherent depth, character, or emotional resonance.

What is the difference between B6 and B4 Warm Tone? B4 adds warmth to a standard contrast range — the defining quality is the amber tone. B6 is primarily about the matte, faded contrast with lifted blacks — the tone is neutral to slightly cool. B4 for richness and warmth, B6 for the aged, organic softness.