Exactly. The color scientists at Kodak and Fujifilm knew what they were doing and it’s pretty evident based on how good some films and photos still look compared to all the digital manipulation possible.
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My Method
I use the Color Balance RGB module for adding the halation. Since film halation is caused by light reflecting off the inside of the camera and then re-exposing the red layer in small amounts, I figured the additive global color grading would be a good start for an effect like this.
So I cranked up the global offset chroma to 100%, and then started working out a system to target the proper areas of the image.
Currently, I am using a luminosity range to smoothly target the higher brightness areas of the image. I am also using the detail slider to target areas with higher contrast, which is also a feature of halation.
I am using the feather and blur radius to smooth the edges of my halation effect. I am also increasing the opacity of the mask using the “mask opacity” slider in order to increase the amount of the mask that hit’s 100% opacity (to effectively increase the width of max halation). I also reduced mask contrast in order to soften the fall-off of halation.
You will notice that I have the overall opacity of the color balance rgb module set to 50%. Since I wanted to make this a module preset, I targeted 50% opacity to be a nice middle ground, so that I have room to easily increase/decrease the effect.
The Importance of Bloom
Here is another photo with halation color added to both, but bloom only added to the right image.
Both are fine, but the addition of bloom certainly helps to smooth the halation and provides a wider target for the parametric mask (blooming the highlights, means the highlights are bigger). This effect is slightly offset by the fact that the bloom reduces the contrast in those areas, effectively reducing some of the halation due to the halation coloring targetting the more contrasty/detailed areas.
Module Presets
Here are some presets for yall you use! I don’t really want to share them but I want to contribute to this wonderful community 
Halation Bloom (Diffuse or Sharpen)
Halation Bloom.dtpreset (1.2 KB)
Halation Color v3 (Color Balance RGB)
Halation Color v3.dtpreset (1.1 KB)
P.S.
If this is nothing new, then that is ok. I enjoyed exploring this topic for my own benefit, and I have some ideas for future improvements that I will experiment with at another time.
Also, I did try using a method I saw elsewhere with Diffuse or Sharpen with blend mode set to RGB red channel, and although I do like how that looks, It lacks the flexibility of changing the color of halation (often, halation is not pure red, but rather slightly orange due to some light reflection actually hitting the green layer in the film).
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Removing them is useful if cropping, though I sometimes put a light vignette back after the crop in that case.
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There’s a way around this: You can duplicate the module and have the second instance target the RGB green or blue channel to modify the color. You can even play with the strength get some color gradients.
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this is how i do it. But the proper way to do it would be a node/tree based Editing pipeline.
So it would be possible to add a “color filter” only to the output of bloom from “Diffuse and sharpen” and only then add it to the original image.
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That is a great point!
A node editor would be awesome for this. Great point!
love this way of putting it! i only started editing my raws about a month ago but my motivation is similar to the way i like to make music: i have all this nice, clean digital equipment that all ends up sounding like it’s been recorded to tape bc i like the clean starting point—it allows you the most flexibility to get the sound (or look in the case here) you want. in the same way 70s afrobeat records just sound “correct” to me despite the “flaws” in the recording process & the preservation of the tape itself so too certain film stocks just look correct for a scene or image.
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For me this sounds a bit like a modern car simulating an old one, by playing engine sound through the loudspeakers. Or by designing it in a way you can see an old modell in it.
These anacronisms are here to satisfy our longings for the good old times (our youth). But for me this kind of nostalgia doesn’t work. I love the sound and the analogness of older cars, that’s why my newest one is from 2009 (my oldest from 1988).
I shoot with a DSLR since I’m fourteen (mostly on slide film) . I switched to Digital cameras as fast as it allowed my budget. I still have my first DSLR and tried out film again a few times. But everytime, I came to the conclusion: I don’t miss anything.
For sure this is a matter of taste. But for me the real stuff counts. Or to make another spicy take:
Simulating is faking. 
Just my two cents, take it with a grain of salt.
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If I want to get the film look, I’ll shoot film, but if I want to reference any of the feelings associated with film, it’s good to be able to replicate it digitally. Often you only need a hint of that look in order to make the appropriate visual point.
It is. But also I’m cheap and can’t afford to shoot film.
A used 5D Mark 2 on the other hand is ~150€.
Faking the flaws is one thing and sadly the flaws of a medium are often the primary aesthetic it is remembered for.
But film was also truly good at some things.
Look at how good every slide came out of camera/developer.
Now try this without any “automatic” anything or complex algorithms.
I think nostalgia is definitely a factor, like 95%(as if I could actually figure out a number ). We can try and be objective, but in the end there are subconscious factors.
I love the way film looks, but I want to have control. In my opinion, film does many things better than digital: making colors less distracting by narrowing the color range, naturally guiding the viewers eyes towards midtones via upper/lower fades, little/no color noise, etc. Whether that opinion is based on objective logic or nostalgia, my taste is still my taste, and I can’t really help it.
I have been honestly amazed at how different everyone’s taste is vastly different when I participate in a play raw post. It is a beautiful thing.
Let’s all keep doing what we like doing. That’s the point of art.
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Slide film was quite sensible. It was an important factor who developed the film. I can remember that I once tried to change my photolab because of the price. I regretfully brought the next film roles to my standard photolab again.
By the way I have still the slides and the projector. But watching the slides is not such a big fun. Colours faded/changed. The pictures of my first Norway holiday are unfortunately the worst. I invested for this special holiday in expensive glassed frames, just to recognize after some years, that a fungus settled behind the glas.
I have my sometimes quite expensive nostalgia on cars. That’s enough. On Photos I don’t have the nerves to be nostalgic.
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i suppose since my family only used film in the first decade of my life and i have virtually no nostalgia whatsoever for my youth i remain relatively “uncorrupted” (lol) by nostalgia in this case. i do have an interest in shooting film but as for many the costs are prohibitive for me at the moment.
however more importantly i’d like to offer a different perspective: i like these various analog media for their textures, the surprises they supply in their capture & reproduction, their own “small life” inherent to their physical properties. being able to take elements of that and incorporate it into my own creative work with the flexibility that purely digital media affords allows me to feature those same elements both as integral constituents of the overall artistic expression and, crucially, things in themselves to be celebrated for the beauty they possess in and of themselves. (actually a great example i could point to that serves as a great source of inspiration for me is the look used in kelly reichardt’s showing up.)
i’m still quite new to this aspect of photography, so i’m excited to continue to learn and develop this side of things to take the various characteristics of the film stocks i like and use them to express the exact atmosphere i want portrayed in the photos i take. actually eventually i’d love to figure out how to produce an autochrome look, because while color negative & slide film look great and all nothing beats the look of autochrome.
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