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The Cross Process filter in ON1 Photo RAW is probably not your everyday filter. It creates some wild, unnatural colors with very heavy contrast. Yet it does have its use for highly stylized images.

What Does The Cross Process Filter Do?

In the darkroom days, a certain type of film was processed in a particular mix of chemicals. For example, color film was developed with one set of chemicals, and color slides were developed in another set. What happens if you process, say, color film in a chemical bath intended for color slides? The result is wild, unpredictable colors. The resulting photos from the “cross-processed” film took on a unique look.

The Cross Process filter simulates this intentionally incorrect chemistry. The resulting images also have unnatural colors and usually a hefty amount of contrast.

Applying The Cross Process Filter

There are several built-in styles for the filter. A style sets the sliders in the filter for a pre-packaged look. You can also adjust the controls manually.

• Color: Choose from a few base colors for the tinting and “mix” of the cross-process.

• Amount: Set the overall intensity of the look.

• Brightness: Darken or lighten the resulting image.

• Contrast: Raise or lower the separation of bright and dark tones.

• Saturation: Increase or decrease the saturation of the underlying photo.

That last control, Saturation, is worth extra explanation. The increase or decrease in color richness is not for the color tint used in the cross-process. It is for the image itself, the net results of any and all filters and adjustments added prior to the Cross Process filter.

This is useful to return some of the underlying colors into a cross-processed image. In the photo here, I increased Saturation slightly to return some of the magentas and pinks present in the original photo that were a little lost to the cross-process.

When Should I Use Cross Process?

That truly is up to you. If you are a fashion photographer, applying a cross-processed look my work for a stylized fashion scene. As a landscape photographer, I don’t apply the Cross Process filter very much. I will break it out for certain travel photos, like the image on this page of an art mural. The extra burst of contrast and odd coloring works well.