Ashwin Khubchandani

There are few things as divisive in amateur photography as the addition of filters. Most people are familiar with these pre-set tools in Instagram, where they become an almost standard fixture in every picture taken (that and an inspirational quote or two). There are even multiple apps that allow amateur smartphone photographers to achieve these effects—often meant to replicate the aesthetic appearance of vintage photographs—online.  Image source: hyperallergic.com Before I go any further, let’s look at the reason why the retro look exists in the first place. Much of it owes its existence to low fidelity. A long time ago, back when most photography was done on film, minor flaws present in all but the most professional-grade of cameras would sometimes cause artifacts to form in the photographs. Certain professional photographic fields such as sports photography almost make these unavoidable. Moreover, even photographs that turn out wonderful may eventually degrade wi...