Let’s take Velvia further

Episode 2 of my “Colour Your Story” series introduced the Velvia film simulation. How are you enjoying the colourful look of your images shot with it? Hopefully you have found many reasons for shooting with Velvia and are happy with the results. 

These are some of my favourite results shot over the last couple of weeks:

Too much of a good thing

Besides exploring the history, look and its use cases, the lead article touched on the fact that Velvia can produce highly saturated colours. As a result of this, the colours can become so rich that the image no longer looks natural or hold any detail or gradation. The image then appears flat, rather than displaying the textures or subtle contrast in the subject. Need to visualise this? Think of shadows in an overly contrasty or underexposed image that have become so dark that you can no longer make out any of the detail because of the lack of light. The opposite – too much light – can happen with colours, particularly reds, oranges, yellows and greens. There is so much brightness and contrast in the scene that these colours become over-saturated and “cooked”.

COLOR CHROME EFFECT to the rescue

In 2018 Fujifilm launched the X-T3, their first X-Series camera in their line-up to feature COLOR CHROME EFFECT. It is an effect that was inspired by their analog film stock, FUJICHROME Fortia 50, which delivered even more contrast and vibrant results than FUJICHROME Velvia. This film stock was only available in Japan and only for a short period of time, but thanks to the Fujifilm engineers we can now reap the benefits from their experience with this film emulsion by using COLOR CHROME EFFECT in our digital cameras.

So, does COLOR CHROME EFFECT add even more vibrance and contrast to images? How does that help with already well-saturated colours? No it doesn’t, the feature is much more sophisticated than that. COLOR CHROME EFFECT doesn’t actually add more colour, contrast or vibrance, but rather creates deeper colour tones by reducing their luminance which helps to retain tonal gradation, or slight variations in each of the colours. This results in more natural looking colour tones that are rich, vibrant and add dimension, in particular, to landscape and flower photographs. 

COLOR CHROME EFFECT can be used with all film simulations, even ACROS, but it has the greatest effect on images shot in Velvia, the film silmulation it was created for.

There are two settings to choose from, WEAK and STRONG and they have the biggest effect on red, yellow and orange. The differences are subtle, but help to make your images look less digitally processed and add an analog feel. You may notice that the colour blue is not affected by this, but there is another option. Fujifilm introduced COLOR CHROME EFFECT BLUE which I will explore in another episode of this series.

To see COLOR CHROME EFFECT in action, for example, rock the slider left and right over the protea on the left (or the boat in the second image) whilst paying attention to the change in luminance.

If you want to add even more film-like qualities to your images, I recommend three recipes by Fuji X Weekly based on Velvia that I enjoy using the most. 

1) Vibrant Velvia 

As the name suggests, this recipe produces vibrant images and is particularly great for landscapes and when you want colours to pop. Amongst other I.Q. Settings, it adds GRAIN and COLOR CHROME EFFECT “STRONG” and you will notice a difference when compared to images shot in straight-up Velvia. It is best used outdoors since it uses “DAYLIGHT” WHITE BALANCE.

2) The Rockwell

One notch up from Vibrant Velvia, this recipe creates even more vibrant and colourful images. It was inspired by Ken Rockwell – an independent and brand-agnostic US-based photographer who reviews cameras and other photographic gear – who thinks that the Velvia film simulation isn’t close enough to the analog version and lacks in vibrance. The recipe is not for the faint-hearted, but can create awesome results when used in the right situations. It uses “AUTO” WHITE BALANCE which makes it more versatile than Vibrant Velvia, but I recommend you use it for landscapes in particular when you want to underline nature’s display of beautiful colours.

3)Kodak Ektachrome E100VS v1

This recipe is the most versatile and “tamest” of the three and performs well in a variety of situations thanks to “AUTO” WHITE BALANCE and a COLOR setting of “+2” (compared to “+4” in the previous two recipes). It was surprisingly awesome on a recent street photography outing in overcast conditions and delivers great results in all kinds of situtations.

Have a go at these and see which one you like the most. And then, once you have done so, please share your favourite images on Instagram using #ColourYourStory and remember to tag me @nathalieboucry

If you are new to using film simulation recipes and need guidance with loading a recipe into your camera, you can follow these step-by-step instructions. I created this video with my X-T5, and so, depending on the camera model you are using, your steps might vary slightly.

The next episode in my “Colour Your Story” series will introduce another film simulation, so grab your camera now and make the most of your Velvia days!

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