Shinrin Yoku, Forest Mindfulness Recipe

Classic chrome film simulation recipe for forest photography

Shinrin yoku, or forest bathing, is a mindful wellness exercise that first became popular in Japan, and then around the world. You embrace the calmness of nature and enjoy a relaxing time being in a forest or amongst nature, taking time to observe and enjoy what you see. If you haven’t heard about it, here’s a quick guide to forest bathing.

Extending your shinrin yoku experience with photography is a wonderful way to keep a record of what you see and can enhance the mindfulness and observation elements of forest bathing. As a partner to this, I’ve developed a forest friendly film recipe that works well in a wide range of wooded environments.

Shinrin Yoku Film Recipe for Forest Bathing

• Simulation: Classic Chrome
• Grain Effect: Weak, Small
• Colour Chrome Effect: Off
• Colour Chrome Blue: Weak (IV) / Off (V)
• White Balance: Fluorescent 2
• WB Shift: +3 Red, -5 Blue
• Dynamic Range: DR200
• Highlights: -1.0
• Shadows: +1.0
• Color: +3
• Sharpness: +1
• ISO Noise Reduction: -4
• Clarity: 0
• EV compensation: +1/3

Forest Friendly Film Recipes

I live near a wonderful woodland area, New Forest National Park in the UK. This offers lots of exporation opportunities and is one reasons you see so many forest photos on these pages. For forest exploration, here are some more film recipes that work well in amongst the trees.

• Soft Negative – a gentle Classic Negative with warm tone
• Nostalgic Fujicolor – like prints with a retro feel – loves nature
• Natural Standard – a Pro Neg recipe with a natural tone balance
• Aged Kodak Portra – old tone Portra with lovely soft greens
• Aerocolor – Eterna based film that loves woodland scenes
• Deep Forest – maximum mellow tones for woodland walks
• Centre Court – developed for Wimbledon, lovely in the forest
• Agfacolor – Bright and clean, especially with green scenes