Bleach Bypass LUT — Silver Retention Film Look

Skipping the bleach step in film processing left the silver in the emulsion: contrast went through the roof, saturation collapsed, and what colour survived turned metallic. This LUT reproduces that — harsh, desaturated, but deliberately not monochrome, because the residual colour is the entire point of the process.

Included with Luttie Pro.

What it looks like

Heavy contrast with crushed blacks and a slight cool cast through the shadows. Saturation drops to roughly 40%, leaving a metallic, washed palette — with a protected band keeping enough life in skin that faces don't read as corpses.

What it's good for

• War, thriller and gritty drama — the look those genres established

• Action sequences — harsh contrast reads as urgency

• Industrial and architectural — concrete, steel and machinery

• Music videos — when full black and white is too far

It is not a subtle look

Bleach bypass is an extreme process and this is an honest reproduction of it. If it's too strong, drop the opacity to 50–60% for a partial-bleach look, which is closer to what most modern films actually use. The opacity visualiser shows each level side by side.

Make it yours

Load it in the Luttie editor, adjust how much colour survives, and export your own .cube.