How to Download & Use Free Fonts

Typography by Jennifer Wick

Still using those dinosaur old stock fonts that came with your computer? Have you ever downloaded a font? If you answered no: then we need to talk!  For those of you who have ever created something that went out into the world using either the ebola equivalent comic sans or bleeding cowboys (font) send me your address, I'm coming to smack you. Computer fonts are like the free wax crayons you are given at a restaurant to entertain yourself with. No one really wants to color with them....they make you look infantil by leaving glob's of wax all over your picture but it's all you were given, so you make do, I get it. But there's more to life people! Don't accept those poopy crayons any longer & don't use the horrible fonts found in the depths of your word program, ask for more out of life!

Font hunting seems like a simple task, one that I now know well. But I do remember a time of confusion & error. So if figuring out how to do it all is what's holding you back, fear no more, I'll post some links below on how to install them. But we will think about that later, let's get to the fun stuff for now. Which is to ask, do you need a font for something specific or are you wanting to have some for fun? For specific projects I recommend going to a site that let's you preview the font with your text. This is helpful because sometimes at first glance a font looks awesome but then like a first date that went well so you commit to more but a few dates later you realize they have this really weird character flaw like moaning everytime they takes a bite of something tasty it has a weird swirl on some of the letter's or it might not include a symbol you need...all this to say....do your homework before you download a ton of fonts you never use. I've listed the top free font sites below & put an asterisk by the ones that let you preview the font with your own text. 

Here are some trendy fonts that I love, that are free for personal use to get you started. You can click the fonts below to go to the site:

But maybe you saw a font somewhere you loved & you can't live without it? Fear not. You have two options, probably more, but I only know two so don't be so greedy. First option: use an internet plugin for finding fonts although I have found this to be not so useful as a lot of times it can't identify the web fonts but it does sometimes work so it won't hurt to give it a try. I use Chrome & the plugin for Chrome is called What font?. You can also use this online tool called the Matcherator, that asks you to upload an image of the font & it's suppose to detect it.

Here are the rest of the sites where you can find fonts for free. Some of these sites also have fonts available for sale. Note that if you are designing things for sale you cannot include the font with the product even if it was free, so you'll want to give them the links to where you found these fonts online so they can download them. 

1. DaFont*

2. 1001freefonts*

3. Fontsquirrel (best for pro projects/some fonts for purchase but comes with commercial license)

4. Font Garden

5. Urban Fonts*

6. Font Struct (you can even create your own font on this site)

7. Free Typography

8. Fonts O* 

Now if you're like me & you get/got too carried away downloading fonts or you foresee this happening I highly recommend organizing your fonts. It's not fun scrolling through every font to see which you want when you have thousands of fonts, especially in cases where you just want to see all of one style like "Handwritten" or "Sans Serif". Font Explorer is just one program you can use to organize but feel free to check out others (or if you have one you use & love share it in comments, we'd love to know why you love it).

So now you have tons of fonts or maybe you're a connoisseur of sorts & not just any old font will do anymore. You want to make a mark. You need to make your own font, to leave a legacy. Well you can. There's lots of places includinng My Script Font or Fonts Ark.  I'll admit I haven't made one yet but I'm going to. My scribbly, barely-legible font deserves to be seen & it will make a great font for those wishing to say something cryptic or rude where you can type it but there's a 50% chance they won't even be able to read it. 

So once you have some fonts downloaded you'll need to understand pairing them up. Finding a mate you might say. Here's a nice little picture below of a few complementing fonts put together by andreathedesigner. And you'll notice, as with most design, that opposites attract. Isn't that who you ended up marrying? Your complete opposite? And then when you get dressed to go on a date with said husband we all know that (faux)leather & lace outfit combos are as sultry as it gets...& see that there? Leather=tough/boyish mixed with the opposite Lace= soft/feminine & you have a winner. Have fun with that whole mentality as you choose colors for your fonts too. Try grey (colorless) with something bright & bold (opposite of grey!):

Now, I promised to link to some font installing tutorials. I gotta get back to work to make some money so I'm not going to take the time to make ones myself but here's some other people made that get the job done & since these people did take the time to make them show them some love with a like click on the video if it helped you because that helps them. And (starts shameless promotion) if you found my stuff helpful too don't be shisty, share it & comment so I know I'm not writing this stuff to myself! 

THE TECHNICAL STUFF ABOUT DONWLOADING:

You will need something to unzip most of the files. Winrar, Winzip, B1 Archiver. Google it, find it, download it. Don't get a virus, pay attention when you're clicking things. Secondly, I recommend backing up your fonts by taking the font file after its installed & moving it a folder thats for all your downloaded fonts. I have mine in my dropbox. 

FOR MACS: 

This video gets detailed but I have Mountain Lion & I literally just double click the font file & then click install on the popup. 

WINDOWS 7:

I chose this tutorial because I was drawn to the bokeh & pretty colors. It also explains stuff pretty well so there's that.

WINDOWS 8:

Nevermind the guy who made this sounds like the Terminator, it was the most thorough video I found. 

Edit Digital to Look Like Film

Here's a quick video tutorial where I edited an image I took to look as close to Film as I could get. The thing about film & trying to emulate it is that it's hard. Lol. That's all. Watching this will give you an idea of my process & why I moved a few of the settings but ultimately you'll use some of this as a guide but depending on what camera you shot on, whether you shot in Raw or Jpeg, what lens you used & what colors are in the image etc etc etc, it will be different.

In this case I took the image as the sun was going down, we were running late getting to the location, my lights weren't firing because the triggers...well, they love to do that to me when I'm in a hurry & also everything else that could go wrong did. No big deal. I had talked my friend into coming all the way to Guadalajara to shoot in the first place, spent money on the dress & a ticket to get there & like 10 other things lol.

In a perfect world, I had planned on using my light with some warm gels to mock the sun setting behind her & then bounce that same light coming from behind her, off a white reflector in front of her to brighten her face. But anyways, the end result was ok & everything is a learning experience!

Chic Critique Magazine Cover

We had so much fun shooting this for Chic Critiques (click the name to check out their site) contest & almost killed a couple bikers in the process with our scattered gear but no one did crash & anyways beauty is pain right? Taking inspiration from Ralph Laurens classic & romantic style & blending it with Chic Magazine's more feminine & softer vibe along with the fact that it's a Fall issue & their theme was couture, we set off.  I knew I wanted darker lips to tie in the deep reds you see during Fall & a black dress to lend a nod to a more couture darker vibe & that it had to balance being a little more fierce with still being soft. Nalina Belefonte & I have some big Fashion projects coming up so it was also the perfect opportunity to go out & get used to one another. There were so many good ones from this shoot making it impossible to narrow it down to one for a submission but somehow I managed. For now I included one more shot below just for show & Ill post the rest later next week as I find time to finish the editing. So check back if you want to see more from this shoot.

In other news Im going to start shooting a lot more Fashion, have some awesome projects coming up I can't wait to share! This last year was a lot of commercial Photography & Weddings & not enough Fashion which got me thinking that it was un-acceptable. Ill allow myself to shoot other things but only if I leave room for what makes my heart sing. Glossy magazine covers & vogue editorials were my inspiration all those years ago for buying my first camera, my little Rebel. RIP little guy. Not sure what happened to that camera but it prompted me to get a 7D & later a Mark III & now Im working to learn Film, so needless to say lots of new adventures started from there.  

Also on a side note I've been working on creating some fun tutorials with my girlfriends which will be know as The Pinterest Housewives...we will put our little aprons on, drink some wine & burn food in the kitchen as well as test makeup tutorials & whatever else catches our fancy. Prompted by the constant irritation I feel after being duped by beautiful imagery of food on Pinterest that hardly ever tastes as good as it looks or by me wanting to try to get a little more creative with makeup by watching tutorials which never looks as good on my face as it does on the hot girl doing the tutorial. 

Anyways, I don't spend enough time with friends these days & so a little wine & some good times, why not? And might as well bring you guys along on the adventures. If you want to see the videos check out the channel here. We will begin posting end of Sept. 

Here's the image I shot for the cover with some text on there....had to make sure it would line up right & Im thinking that looks pretty rockstar what about you:

And a little teaser of what the rest of the shoot looks like. Gorgeous gorgeous. I want her stunning looks & captivating eyes, she is too much. Seriously though god, you went a little extra on her :  )

Oregon Maternity Shoot at the Beach

Rosa is one of those girls that you just envy.

Thinking back to once upon a time when I was pregnant....it seems so long ago but the lovely memory of my angry bloated self is still so very visible. Think Godzilla, but if Godzilla craved chocolate milkshakes not humans.

Pregnancy glow is something I thought must have been a big lie to get us to continue to procreate until I seen Rosa. We were sitting chatting for a good 45 min when she mentioned being glad to almost have the baby & I had a "Whhahhh?" moment & then laughed as I looked down. I told her she was a bad liar she was clearly only 5 or 6 months pregnant.

"No" she really was going to have a baby in less then a month she said.

Well it was clear to me that the pregnancy glow must be true & it would have to be documented to give other future moms hope that they too could look so good if they are lucky. Rosa's husband needs to be mentioned too while we are at it.

Humble, honest & good natured guys are hard to find but they too exist ladies. Dont give up on the hunt, stay strong. Felipe is a total sweetheart & they are the cutest couple. Im pretty sure their baby is going to come out ready for the runway with the way both of these guys look. Congrats to two beautiful people. 

VSCO vs Replichrome Film Presets

Edited with VSCO Fuji 400h

I remember a year ago creating a post in the Photo.net forum asking if anyone had any insights into blending film & digital imagery. I got laughed at not surprisingly. A lot of by-the-bookers telling me if I wanted film so bad I should pick up a film camera. And there's truth to that. But if you had just bought a $3500 camera....throwing it to the wind to go buy a film camera didn't seem viable. You can read my post here about shooting & editing to get as close to film with your digital as possible (read mine here). Or watch a video of me editing an image with this same advice here.

Im sure I arrived on this 'Film' quest about the same time 1000 other photographers did which is after I got done drooling over Jose & Elizabeth books. It was like being re-born as a photographer. I know as I write this now how un-original this post really is only a year later....it seems everyones weighing in on it now. But for good reason. And just as many posts as there are, there are opinions, so I suppose no harm in another perspective.

Film is great for a lot of things but as I primarily shoot Weddings I have sat endless hours at my computer afterwards afraid to let go of the editing but tired of doing it at the same time. It was a black hole & an endless cycle. Thats when I realized that film could save me so much time & although its more expensive, my time is valuable too. I figure the time shooting film saves you pays you back triple-fold at minimum. And then theres the new possibilities it unleashes because you no longer have to balance harsh sunlight with a strobe or hide under a tree during Weddings. Now you can go boldly go where no digital has dared before...into the brightest sun & onward. 

First off I want to say that VSCO really is the pioneer in this quest. A lot of other presets have sinced sprouted up including the main headliners Replichrome & Mastin, I created my own as well to suit my taste (found here). But VSCO really got the ball rolling & they did a thorough job while they were at it. Overcomplicated, perhaps, but if you really were a film lover looking for true results they wanted to deliver & did so by acknowledging that depending on what you shoot the presets would vary so they included a set customized to Nikon, Canon & the last set they call Standard for all other shooters. Replichrome took it a step further to compete with them by offering different presets according to the scanner type the film would have been scanned into.

Edited with VSCO Fuji 400h

So without further ado Ill summarize what I took away from this comparison. First & foremost I believe VSCO to be the most correct of the sets. But the problem is when we are looking at all these comparisons online is you first have to ask yourself if your looking for results like other film photographers or true film colors. Typically people are after Jose & other popular film shooters looks & thats not necessarily what youll get even if you go shoot film. They have color profiles set up at the lab & overexpose to get what they get. So being after that you'll have to look at presets differently & expect to tweak them because as of right now no one makes a Jose Villa Fuji 400h preset they make a out of your camera, Fuji 400h preset. Next is the fact that there's tons of variables when people make these comparisons. First & formost being what did they shoot on & how did they shoot the  images because you & me could both click the same preset on a picture we took on the same day with different cameras & settings & the preset will look two different ways. Lastly is that there is over 10 Fuji 4ooh presets in replichrome, 2 in Mastin & 3 with VSCO, so which one are people clicking each time?

With all that said on this comparison I did adjust the blacks for the sunny backlit images but I adjusted the same for each to make it fair. I made sure the images were correctly white balanced before I clicked the presets as well since applying these to blue cast or overly yellow images would not give the correct results. Last, Ill admit that for the different images I sometimes liked Mastin, then VSCO was better, then my own etc etc. So good luck! You might be best off just investing in a few. Ill shamelessly tell you mines only $10 so start there. *Wink. But if you like film VSCO & Mastin are worth having for different reasons.

Notes about each:

VSCO: Has presets sets called Nikon, Canon & for all other shooters there's a pack called Standard. It also has a set called Tooklit for tweaking the presets like getting creamy highlights or lifting shadows.

PROS:  Has one of the closest results for that beautiful film color & the B&W presets rock.
CONS: Vsco for my taste, usually needs lots of tweaking after applying the presets. I usually bring down the is too grain, adjust the green cast in the shadows & mess with the contrast to get it right.

REPLICHROME: Has presets packs for Fuji, Kodak, Black & whites & a Tweak kit.

PROS: Has a lot more usable presets with one click. Beginner friendly.
CONS: Tends to run a little pink on the overall tones from the presets & I usually have to adjust the red channel down out of the highlights to reduce this.  Doesn't look as close to true film as VSCO.

MASTIN LABS: A Canon & Nikon pack of presets that has Fuji 400h neutral & blue with some highlight, shadow & grain tweaks.

PROS: Really simple & good results with the presets
CONS: Doesn't have a Portra preset


CONCLUSION:
I like VSCO best overall. Of course I like the customized preset I made for my workflow as well but its just a little Fuji 400h one & I still like to play with all the other presets VSCO offers in the set including Portra 400 & TRI-X 400 for B&W conversions.  Its a bit spendy but worth checking out if your into the film look.


Now for some pictures using the different presets. Can you tell which is which?

*Mine, Mastin, VSCO, Replichrome