The Strangest Fujifilm Film Simulation
It puzzles me to this day.
Today, we’re going to talk about the “strangest” Fujifilm film simulation.
It’s not that ‘strange’ persay, but more of something I could personally never understand. I’ve tried it in many scenarios before and I couldn’t quite get it to work - so I never used it.
The film simulation is Velvia and it’s one of fuji’s oldest film simulations. I even have it on my X-Pro1. Fuji based this film simulation on the popular Velvia film stock.
For the past few months I’ve been shooting and editing with Velvia and have learned a few things I’d like to share with you.
Punch and Color
Velvia used to be a film simulation I never thought looked good. This was because it carries a few characteristics that are a hit or miss. A few notable ones that I’ve observed are punch and color. Velvia carries with it a stronger saturation than other film simulations and generally a stronger contrast as well. As someone who shoots 90% of my images in classic chrome, velvia is about a complete 180.
An issue that would often come up when using Velvia were the skin tones. They looked a bit too fake and colorful. Which, when my main type of photography was street or everyday portraits of friends, Velvia was a poor mix.
Lately however, winter in California has been crazy. I don’t know if it’s always been like this or if I’m just paying attention to it much more now. I’ve been heading out several days of the week simply to take photos of the skies and sunsets. Cloud formations especially weren’t anything I thought I’d immerse myself into.
In these instances, I’ve found myself being limited by classic chrome. Although classic chrome works wonders for street and all general purpose photography, I couldn’t quite get these sunsets to look like they did in real life. There was a vibrancy and depth to the color that was difficult to replicate simply by pumping up the saturation. I needed something else.
Eventually, after mulling over astia and provia, I realized that velvia was the perfect choice. It allowed me to get the saturation appropriate towards how I saw and felt the images in real life. Which is really interesting since, I could never find reason to use it before. It reminds me that not all simulations are meant to be used as general purpose profiles, but rathers situationally.
SOOC Velvia
When I’d Use Velvia
In summary, I don’t recommend Velvia for street, portrait, or everyday scenarios. This is simply due to the reasons I mentioned before, where Velvia is a bit strong on the color and skin tones. I think it leaves for an unflattering portrait.
I do however, think Velvia is great for any sunset of abstract photos. As I’ve noticed myself, I enjoy using it whenever I’m looking to get vibrant colors out of the images. The colors seem amazing and they don’t quite feel as if I’m overdoing it (correct me if I’m wrong).
In my opinion, this is because realistic shots tend to have a limit to the amount you can push it. There’s only so much color you can add to a street shot before it begins to fall apart and look fake. Abstract photos and sunsets however, you can do as much as you want. This is what made me truly begin to enjoy Velvia, was when I took to using it as a fun and experimental simulation rather than try and mold it to my own photography.
Another thing to note is the film grain. You’ll discover this as you use the profile more, but Velvia has an interesting film grain to it that’s stronger than most film simulations. I used to not like it at first, but now I find it neat - I thin it adds a bit of depth to the images.
“Leviathan Cityscape 2”
2023
Film Simulations are For Fun
This final point is going to sound trite and dumb, and that’s because it is. Shooting Velvia has made me realize (again) one of the simplest things. And that’s film simulations are for fun. I feel stupid for even saying that…
Obviously they’re just for fun.
I guess my point is that I tend to get trapped in doing the same things that sometimes I forget to experiment and have fun. This is probably in part because I like to use classic chrome for about 90% of my pictures. It’s a very versatile film simulation such that I can use it for a lot of things - thus am tempted to use it for everything. Which is a bit of a trap, since it limits me from trying other stuff.
So this whole Velvia realization simply reminds me to continue to experiment and not think “it has to be this way”.
I can admit that this photo looks better in velvia - so what?
I can seek the best end result possible per photo, not just the the best version I personally want/think I want.
I can allow the photo to create itself instead of trying to make everything work in a certain way (my own way). Sigh.
So that’s probably the most important thing I’ve learned since shooting with Velvia.
Thanks for reading.
“Tempest Cityscape - H”
2023
