Maku
I’m lucky all my LUTs so far have been really well received by the LUMIX community, but I’m always open to feedback and something I consistently do is ask regular users of my LUTs for their input. Something that has come up time and time again is the need for slightly more subtle, all-round LUT, that’s versatile and also great at capturing skin tones.
After months of studying, developing, designing and testing I have come up with a pair of twin LUTs that are exactly that. Check out some example images I shot with one these twin LUTs Maku in early 2026 using my LUMIX S9 and SIGMA 45 and find out more/download this LUT below…
It probably won’t be a surprise that my main inspiration for the tone of these two new portrait focused LUTs, was of course the most well-known and well-loved Kodak film stock Portra 400. Maku is the slightly punchier of the two with stronger saturation and contrast, but it maybe has a more true to life colour palette overall. The differences are subtle, almost like the same film stock that’s been scanned by two different scanner types. One of the biggest noticeable differences though can be found in the blue tones, which lean brighter and more teal with Maku.
Download my LUT ‘Maku’ below to try it out for yourself…
The starting point for designing Maku & Mara was mainly portraits as I focused on skin tones first. As I worked my way out through the hues and tones, these twin LUTs took on a life of their own. One of the hardest things about designing a LUT (or any look/recipe/preset) is dancing the line between accuracy and style. I feel these two new LUTs do that beautifully.
I’m so happy with how Maku & Mara have turned out I’ve been using them for pretty much everything over the last few months. Photographs of my kids, YouTube videos, everyday images, weddings, promotional videos, events with a flash and of course portraits. They truly look wonderful in whatever scenario you throw at them. It’s been so hard for me to keep them to myself… well not any longer!
Historically I’ve designed LUTs that are on the strong side so users can dial in their own preferred LUT Opacity. These two new LUTs however can be shot at LUT Opacity 100% and still produce incredible results. In fact for all of the example images above or in the video below, I set Maku at 100% so you get a clear idea of how it looks. That being said, if you’re looking for a really subtle look for your JPEGs, turning the LUT Opacity down on Maku will also look incredible. Check out more examples in the video below…
Enjoying my LUTs? Why not drop a little something in the tip jar below to say thanks…
