Hi ,

I'm happy to report that I'm finally back in the air! 

After being grounded with my shoulder injury last spring and not flying at all since last May, I finally got a fresh annual for my little yellow Cessna.

With a new 70-year old used Delco Remy starter, a newly reconditioned and repainted propellor and brand new wheels and tundra ties, I got her back in the sky this week and realized just how much I had missed this.

It also reminded me how closely tied my photography is with my flying. A large number of my favorite images over the past decade have been shot during flying trips over the Chugach Mountains, or in areas where I land and hike around with the camera. 

Yesterday was no different, and after having not shot many photos in the past few weeks, I immediately found myself right back at it with a borrowed X-T50 as soon as got out there. Fall is in full swing right now in Southcentral Alaska, and the colors did not disappoint!

By the way, I absolutely LOVE the film simulation dial on the X-T50!!

Film Simulation Comparisons

I'm such a huge fan of Fuji's film simulations, and in recent years, I'm especially intrigued by some of the more subdued looks that some of the provide. It's funny, because, having spent much of my early professional career shooting richly saturated slide film, lately, I often love exploring the more muted hues that sims like Classic Chrome and Classic Neg provide. 

Today, I'd like to highlight four specific film sims: Classic Chrome, Classic Neg, Nostalgic Neg and Fujifilm's newest sim, Reala Ace. Each one has a very characteristic look, and going by their name, three of the four all designed to  after color negative, or "print" films. 

CLASSIC CHROME

Classic Chrome has been around since 2014, and it's been a favorite for many photographers ever since. With it's photojournalistic look, this film sim provides a low-staturation color balance, with hard tonal gradation in the shadows. It gives the subject an "realistic" look, with very little saturation. If you want a muted "documentary" look to your photos, Classic Chrome looks great with just about every kind of subject. 

CLASSIC Neg.

Based on Fujfilm SUPERIA color negative film, Classic Neg. provides a very high contrast tonal gradation, with a very interesting color balance that gives it a highly unique look. 

With a slight cyan-green Color cast in the shadows, and magenta in the highlights, photos shot with Classic Neg. won't necessarily have a faithful, accurate look, but they will stand out with an exciting, eye-catching style.

This very analog look can sometimes seem a bit unbalanced, but it seems to work on a variety of subject matter. I've shot everything from mountain, biking to nature, photos with it, and I almost always love what I get.

NOSTALGIC Neg.

This film sim is almost the antithesis to Classic Neg. Rather than adding cool, blueish greens to the shadows, Nostalgic Neg. brings back the warmth with more amber tones in both the highlights and the shadows. The overall look is still muted and realistic, but much more lively.  

This makes it a bit more ideal for portraits, when you want a soft, flattering look, instead of a cool, gritty feel, like Classic Neg would give. 

REALA ACE

Fujifilm's newest film sim is called Reala Ace. Designed around Fujicolor REALA 100, this film sim gives you a much more accurate color rendition with softer shadows and harder tones in the highlights, which means that it won't muddy up your scene. It's a great all around film sim for just about any kind of subject. 

Nothing is over saturated and there's never too much contrast, in fact, as saturation in your subject increases, REALA ACE will tone compensate by muting the colors so that things don't get too rich.

It's just a wonderful, soft almost professional color palette that does extremely well with red and greens, as well as complex collors like purple and yellow, which can be tough for many negative films. 

I encourage you to experiment with these and other film sims, this fall as you capture the brilliant colors all around you. If you usually shoot with more muted colors, try the more saturated Sims, like VELVIA, PROVIA and ASTIA, and if you typically use rich colors in your image making, then try some of the more muted looks, like the one I've mentioned above.

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend!