Breaking Down What Actually Makes John Chiv's Work Stand Out
I spent a solid week going frame by frame through John Chiv's portfolio, trying to reverse-engineer the process. Most people just see the final image and think it's some kind of AI trick or expensive studio setup. It's neither. The core of his technique is a combination of intentional lens manipulation, controlled double exposures, and post-processing that prioritizes texture over sharpness. Here's how you actually do it. Start with the camera settings. Most tutorials will tell you to chase pristine clarity, which is exactly the wrong instinct here. John's work relies on what I'd call deliberate imperfection. Shoot in raw, obviously, but set your aperture between f/1.4 and f/2.8 for the signature soft focus areas. The trick is that you're not shooting everything out of focus — you're choosing specific planes of focus that create narrative tension. A sharp eye in an otherwise dreamy frame hits different than a fully soft image. For the double exposure approach, you have two paths. The in-camera method requires a camera that supports it natively, like most Canon and Nikon bodies from the last decade. The post-processing method gives you more control but takes longer. I've found that for subject matter involving urban architecture combined with natural elements, in-camera double exposure actually produces more organic results. The light behaves differently when it hits the sensor twice. But when you're working with portraits, I always go to post because you need to control exactly which parts of each layer show through.
The color grading is where most people mess this up. John's palette leans heavily toward desaturated cool tones with selective warm accents. This isn't just a filter. The process typically involves pulling saturation down across the board in Lightroom or Capture One, then using the HSL panel to isolate specific hues — usually reducing the saturation of greens and oranges while pushing the blues slightly toward teal. Then comes the warm accent, which you apply selectively using a radial filter or brush on the subject or a key element in the frame. The contrast between the cool desaturation and the warm pop is what gives the images their emotional weight. Texture is the overlooked component. Add grain, but not the generic grain overlay you find on YouTube tutorials. I use the film simulation presets from RNI Films or the Ilford HP5 preset in VSCO, then dial the intensity way down — around 15 to 25 percent. The goal is that the image feels like it was shot on film without looking like someone just slapped a vintage preset on it. You can also add a subtle vignette, but keep it natural. A heavy black vignette screams amateur. A slight edge darkening that mimics lens falloff reads as intentional.
Practical Workflow That Actually Takes Under 45 Minutes Per Image
Here's the step-by-step I use when working in this style. First, import and cull. This part is critical — John's work looks effortless but the editing time is substantial because the source material has to be right. Spend 10 minutes picking your base image. Look for frames with interesting negative space, strong leading lines, or a subject that lends itself to layered storytelling. A blank wall with a single figure works better than a busy street scene for this approach. Second exposure selection takes another 5 minutes. If you're doing in-camera double exposure, compose your second frame while the first is still loaded. For post-processing double exposure, pull two complementary images from your library. The key is finding contrast between the two — a sharp architectural element paired with a soft organic form, or vice versa. Matching tones between the two layers saves you hours of masking later. The blending phase is where the real work happens. If you're using Photoshop, set the second layer to either Overlay or Soft Light depending on how aggressive you want the effect. Then add a layer mask and paint with a soft black brush at low opacity (around 20 to 30 percent) to blend the layers naturally. The areas you want to feel dreamy stay translucent. The areas that anchor the image stay solid. I usually spend 15 to 20 minutes on this step alone because small brush strokes make the biggest difference.
Get the Full Details
Color grading and texture take about 10 minutes. Apply your global adjustments first, then the selective warm accent. Finally, add grain and check the vignette. Review at full resolution and then squint at the image. If it reads clearly when you can't see the details, you've got a winner. If it falls apart, go back and strengthen the focal point or simplify the composition.
Things That Will Break This Technique Before You Even Start
The biggest pitfall I see is overdoing the double exposure effect. When you're learning, it's tempting to mash two images together and crank the opacity until the result looks chaotic. That doesn't read as artistic — it reads as messy. The effect should feel like the viewer is seeing two realities overlap, not like a collage someone made in five minutes. Keep the secondary layer subtle. You should notice it, but it shouldn't immediately grab attention. Another common mistake is ignoring the histogram. When you're blending two exposures, your histogram can get pushed into dangerous territory. Clipping highlights on both layers simultaneously creates information you can't recover. I always check the histogram after every major adjustment and pull back if I'm hitting the edges. It's better to blend three lighter layers than to ruin one with blown-out highlights. The equipment limitation is real too. You don't need a $3,000 lens for this. I've produced comparable results with a $400 prime lens because the technique matters more than the glass. That said, a fast prime does help with the depth of field control that makes the soft focus areas look intentional rather than accidental. If you're shooting with a kit zoom, stop down to f/4 or so and work with the blur you can get from distance instead of aperture.
There's also a hard limit on this approach when working with moving subjects. Double exposure on people who shift position between frames creates ghosting that rarely looks good unless you're going for something specific. I've had to abandon the technique entirely for event photography where subjects are in constant motion. In those cases, I fall back to single-exposure editing with the color grading and texture treatments, which still captures the aesthetic without the compositing headaches. The post-processing route also doesn't scale well for volume work. If you're trying to deliver 50 edited images in a day, the John Chiv style isn't viable. Each image demands individual attention because the blending ratios, color temperatures, and grain amounts need to match the specific content. For batch workflows, I recommend creating an action or preset that handles the color grading and texture, then applying it manually with minor adjustments per image. This cuts the edit time down to roughly 10 minutes per photo instead of 45, which is manageable for small batches. If you want to explore the technique further, John Chiv's own website and Instagram are the primary sources. His behind-the-scenes content occasionally reveals processing steps that aren't covered in mainstream tutorials. There's also a community forum thread on DPReview where some photographers have shared their Lightroom develop presets aimed at replicating his color science. The results vary, but they're a decent starting point before you customize them to your own workflow.
