Retrica preset — MAGIC Series
7 Cinematic Presets Inspired by Florida's Magic Hour
The MAGIC series is Retrica's newest preset pack — seven presets tuned to a very specific kind of light. Pastel purples that bruise into night. Sun-faded yellows that hum with motel-sign nostalgia. A cerulean blue so flat it feels printed onto the sky. Each preset captures a different mood from one of America's most photogenic in-between landscapes — the magic-hour Florida that exists just outside the gates of the country's biggest theme parks.
If you've ever wanted your sunset photos to feel like a film still — or you've been chasing that pink-motel, palm-tree-silhouette aesthetic on your feed — this is the pack built for you.
What is the Retrica MAGIC series?
The MAGIC series is a 7-preset pack (MAGIC01 through MAGIC07) inspired by the visual world of central Florida's roadside Americana — pink-painted budget motels, palm-tree silhouettes, ferris wheels, and the long, saturated magic-hour light that turns every wall into a postcard. Each preset is tuned around a signature combination of purple, cerulean blue, faded yellow, and faded violet, and applied across cinematic, vintage, and dreamy moods. The pack is available inside the Retrica app and works on both photo and video capture.
In short: one tap, seven flavors of soft cinematic magic.
The Story Behind the Series: Pink Motels in Magic Hour Light
Drive west out of Walt Disney World on Highway 192, and the postcard ends quickly. The polished fantasy of the parks gives way to a low, sun-bleached strip of budget motels — painted bubblegum pink, lavender, mint — with names borrowed straight from a child's storybook. The Magic Castle Inn. The Futureland Inn. The Enchanted. The Sevilla. They sit in the long shadow of the most famous fantasy on Earth, serving the working families who staff it and the tourists who couldn't quite afford to stay inside the gates.
It's a strange, beautiful collision: pastel walls, palm trees, neon signage, and a magic-hour light that flatters all of it. The names of these places promise a fantasy that the buildings, paint chipped and parking lots cracked, can't quite deliver. The gap between the name and the thing is what makes them photograph so well. They look like a daydream stayed too long.
That contrast is exactly what we wanted the MAGIC series to capture. Every preset in the pack leans into beauty — saturated sunsets, dreamy violets, golden bloom — while leaving room for shadows, softness, and a certain sun-faded melancholy. They're presets that romanticize the world without varnishing over it.
The MAGIC Color Palette
Across all seven presets, four colors do the heavy lifting:
Purple — bruised, dusky, the color of the sky right after the sun is gone.
Cerulean blue — flat daylight blue, the kind you find on motel doors and pool tiles.
Faded yellow — sun-bleached signage, old polaroids, late-afternoon walls.
Faded violet — the in-between color of magic-hour shadows on stucco.
Each MAGIC preset weights these four differently. MAGIC01 pushes deep into reds and purples for high-drama sunsets. MAGIC03 lifts pastels into a dreamy cool-warm gradient. MAGIC04 strips saturation back for a polaroid-flat retro look. The palette is consistent — the temperature isn't.
The 7 MAGIC Presets
Below is a guide to all seven presets: the mood each one builds, the kind of light and subject it loves, and the tags that describe it.
MAGIC01 — Cinematic Sunset
Mood: Cozy, romantic, moody, vintage.
Color story: Deep red and magenta sky, warm orange foreground, soft halation glow around bright edges. Shadows pulled down for a moody, low-key finish.
Best for: Golden-hour and sunset photos, beach piers, ferris wheels, silhouettes against the sky, romantic portraits with backlight.
Avoid: Pure interior shots without warm light — the saturation can over-warm neutral skin tones.
Tags: cozy, warm tones, romantic, moody, vintage, nostalgic, soft glow, cinematic.
If you only try one preset from the MAGIC pack, start here. MAGIC01 is the cover image of the series — the most direct take on a "pink-and-orange Florida sunset" feeling.
MAGIC02 — Faded Pastel
Mood: Low-contrast, pastel, cinematic, slightly shadowed.
Color story: Lifted blacks, muted highlights, a subtle pink-and-mint pastel wash. Reads like a slightly underexposed film scan.
Best for: Architecture, beachfront houses, palm-tree-lined streets, daytime urban photography where you want a softer, less aggressive edit.
Avoid: Very low-light scenes — the lifted shadows can feel muddy.
Tags: low contrast, warm tones, pastel, cinematic, low exposure, moody, soft glow, shadowed.
MAGIC02 is the "quiet" preset of the series. It's the look of a Florida afternoon when nothing is happening, but everything feels meaningful.
MAGIC03 — Dreamy Pastel
Mood: Dreamy, romantic, cool-warm gradient, soft.
Color story: Pinks and purples in the highlights, a touch of bright pastel film bloom, slightly cooler shadows. The most overtly "fantasy" preset of the pack.
Best for: Theme parks, ferris wheels, fairgrounds, balloons, neon signs at dusk, and any photo where you want to push reality toward storybook.
Avoid: Documentary-style shots where you want neutral skin tones — MAGIC03 will push everything pinker.
Tags: dreamy, soft glow, harsh light, bright, pastel, film, moody, romantic, cool tones.
MAGIC03 leans hardest into the fantasy side of the palette — the part of the world that wants to believe in magic.
MAGIC04 — Faded Polaroid
Mood: Retro, analog, neutral, classic.
Color story: Warm but desaturated, low contrast, slightly green-shifted shadows. The look of a polaroid that's been sitting in a drawer since 1996.
Best for: Roadside Americana, gas stations, vintage cars, road trips, still lifes, daytime portraits where you want a quiet retro feel.
Avoid: Bright, high-saturation scenes — the desaturation can flatten the energy.
Tags: warm tones, low contrast, natural light, retro, analog, polaroid, neutral, classic.
MAGIC04 is the most "documentary" of the seven. If MAGIC01 is the postcard, MAGIC04 is the photo someone actually took on the trip.
MAGIC05 — Golden Film
Mood: Warm, vintage, high-saturation, cozy.
Color story: Strong orange-yellow highlights, halation bloom around the sun, deep shadows. Reads like golden-hour 35mm film with a flare.
Best for: Backlit subjects, sunlight through trees, kids running, bicycles, sports, anything with motion in warm light.
Avoid: Cool blue scenes — MAGIC05 will warm them aggressively.
Tags: vintage, low exposure, soft glow, high saturation, cozy, film, analog, soft light, classic, warm tones.
MAGIC05 is the "summer of childhood" preset. It's the closest the pack gets to that long-summer-evening feeling — kids on bikes, light through leaves, the day refusing to end.
MAGIC06 — Retro Americana
Mood: Romantic, ethereal, urban, retro.
Color story: Crisp warm-cool contrast — orange foregrounds against teal-blue skies. Slightly faded blacks, a touch of bloom in highlights.
Best for: Roadside signage, classic cars, diners, neon, motels, Main Street architecture, mid-century urban scenes.
Avoid: Forest and nature scenes — MAGIC06 wants man-made structure to play against.
Tags: romantic, ethereal, warm tones, soft glow, vintage, urban, soft light, crisp, retro.
MAGIC06 is the postcard preset for road-trip America: motel signs, Route 66, Apache Junction. If your photo has a sign in it, try MAGIC06 first.
MAGIC07 — Editorial Sunset
Mood: Classic, cinematic, romantic, shadowed, editorial.
Color story: Strong purple-to-orange gradient sky, deep silhouettes, refined contrast. Skin tones stay grounded; only the sky and shadows are pushed.
Best for: Silhouettes, palm trees, skylines at dusk, editorial portrait backgrounds, cover-image shots for a series.
Avoid: Flat midday light — MAGIC07 is built for directional, sunset-hour exposure.
Tags: classic, cinematic, cozy, warm tones, romantic, shadowed, editorial, nostalgic, soft light.
MAGIC07 is the most "magazine cover" of the seven. When you want a single hero image — for a thumbnail, a profile photo, or a series opener — start here.
How to Choose the Right MAGIC Preset
A quick decision guide:
Sunset over a wide horizon? MAGIC01 for drama, MAGIC07 for elegance.
Architecture or street scenes in soft light? MAGIC02 if you want pastel, MAGIC06 if you want crisp warm-cool.
Theme park, fairground, or anything dreamy? MAGIC03.
Road trip, gas station, classic car? MAGIC04 for faded, MAGIC06 for vibrant.
Backlit motion in warm light? MAGIC05.
When in doubt, MAGIC01 and MAGIC07 are the two safest "hero" choices. MAGIC02 and MAGIC04 are the two safest "everyday" choices.
Photography Tips for the MAGIC Series
A few practical notes from our team:
Shoot at golden hour when you can. Six of the seven presets are tuned for warm directional light. Midday sun will still work, but the magic shows up strongest 30 minutes before sunset.
Look for color contrast, not just light. MAGIC presets reward scenes where two distinct colors meet — pink sky against a black palm tree, teal motel door against a yellow wall. That contrast is what makes the palette legible.
Don't overcorrect skin tones in advance. Several MAGIC presets intentionally warm or cool skin. If you neutralize first, the preset has nothing to grade.
Use stamps and watermarks where they're built in. MAGIC01, MAGIC02, MAGIC03, MAGIC04, MAGIC05 and MAGIC06 each ship with a baked-in stamp/logo/watermark element that's part of the preset's identity. They're a feature, not a bug — leave them on for the most "series-coherent" feed.
Pair MAGIC07 with auto captions. MAGIC07 includes Retrica's special auto-captions feature. It's tuned for editorial-style overlays — try it for cover images and intro shots in a series.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the Retrica MAGIC series?
A: The MAGIC series is a 7-preset pack inside the Retrica app, inspired by the visual atmosphere of central Florida's roadside Americana — pink motels, palm trees, ferris wheels, and magic-hour light. It includes MAGIC01 through MAGIC07, each with a distinct mood, color treatment, and recommended use case.
Q: Where can I get the MAGIC presets?
A: Inside the Retrica app, on both iOS and Android. Open the preset drawer and look for the MAGIC series in the preset list.
Do the MAGIC presets work on video? Yes. All MAGIC presets are available for both photo and video capture inside Retrica.
Q: Which MAGIC preset is best for sunsets?
A: MAGIC01 for the most dramatic warm sunset, MAGIC07 for an editorial silhouette look, and MAGIC03 for a pastel dreamy sky.
Q: Which MAGIC preset is best for everyday photos?
A: MAGIC02 (faded pastel) and MAGIC04 (faded polaroid) are the two most versatile everyday presets — both are low-contrast and forgiving across lighting conditions.
Q: What color palette does the MAGIC series use?
A: Purple, cerulean blue, faded yellow, and faded violet — the four colors most associated with central Florida's pink-motel-and-palm-tree visual world.
Q: Which MAGIC preset is best for travel photos?
A: MAGIC04 for faded retro road-trip energy, MAGIC06 for vibrant signage and urban scenes, and MAGIC01 or MAGIC07 for sunset hero shots.
Q: Can I use the MAGIC presets for my brand or business photos?
A: Yes. MAGIC06 (retro Americana) and MAGIC07 (editorial sunset) are particularly well-suited to brand content with a vintage or cinematic identity.
A Preset Pack for the In-Between
The thing we love most about Florida's magic hour is that it never stops finding beauty, even in places that aren't trying to look beautiful — a chipped pink wall, a half-lit motel sign, a parking lot turning gold for ten minutes a day. The MAGIC series is built in that spirit: soft, saturated, a little nostalgic, a little melancholy, but mostly just an excuse to look at your everyday photos and find something cinematic in them.
Open Retrica, scroll to MAGIC, and try one. We're betting MAGIC01 grabs you first — and MAGIC04 will be the one you actually keep using.
The MAGIC series is available now inside the Retrica app. Try the full pack today — and tag your shots so we can find them.
