Film Recipes for Fujifilm Cameras

A strongly toned brown look film recipe to give a deep and rich warmth with a nostalgic vibe

When I take photographs, I enjoy thinking about the mood and feel of the light and look to use film recipes to magnify this. So, if the light is soft, I use a soft look film recipe. If there is a dominant tone to a scene, I will often use a recipe that works with that, whether it’s green tones, blue tones or the cream tones of golden hour.

In this film recipe, I wanted to work with two elements; the winter tones of the trees and leaves at this time of year, and the golden light that you can enjoy in the extended winter golden hour that those of us living at northern latitudes experience in Winter. This recipe goes all out for brown, orange and golden tones, and works well in these conditions.

My preference to maximise the impact is to shoot towards the sunlight, giving strong dark shadows and golden lens flare effects. Finding leaves backlit by the sun, or interesting shapes to silhouette can be great fun with this recipe.

Brownout Film Recipe

• Simulation: Classic Chrome
• Grain Effect: Off
• Colour Chrome Effect: Weak
• Colour Chrome Blue: Strong (IV) / Weak (V)
• White Balance: Auto
• WB Shift: +6 Red, -6 Blue
• Dynamic Range: DR200
• Highlights: +2.0
• Shadows: +2.0
• Color: -4
• Sharpness: -2
• ISO Noise Reduction: -4
• Clarity: -2
• EV compensation: -1/3

This recipe uses Classic Chrome, a simulation that has additional contrast and reduced saturation built in. If you wanted an even richer colour, you could switch to Provia, and for further muting, go to Eterna Bleach Bypass. For that second option, change the Shadow setting to -1.

Some similar recipes to review are: Yakisugi, Gilt Trip, Brontosaurus and Gold Leaf. Each works well with golden hour light and produces a creamy or golden look.