Regardless of the manufacturer you use, you’ll want to develop a unique style that’s personal to you over time. To help you do so, you might use simulation color profiles. Like many camera makers, FujiFilm gives you plenty of options—and we’ll go over them in this article.
How to Use FujiFilm Camera Profiles on Your Photos
If you own a FujiFilm camera, you can alter the profiles in your camera to automatically add them to the JPEGs you take. Changing them is easy; all you need to do is go into your settings and change the profile as you please. You can also create custom looks if you fancy getting creative, but that’s not what we will talk about today.
You might shoot in RAW, and doing so is recommended if you want to save more information for post-production. You’ll need to add the FujiFilm camera profile to your editing software in such instances. Adobe Lightroom allows you to do this; go to Develop > Profile > Browse. Once you’re there, scroll down and find the FujiFilm-specific profiles.
Now that you know how to add profiles to your photos, we’ll touch upon the different FujiFilm looks in the sections below. We’ll use the same picture so you can see how the profiles will affect yours.
Classic CHROME
Classic CHROME is one of the most popular FujiFilm camera profiles, and for good reasons. If you’re looking to achieve more of a film photography look, you can do worse than this one.
In many instances, Classic CHROME will give your images more of a desaturated and subdued look. You can use it for photographing snowy and wintry weather conditions, and it also works well during golden hour.
ASTIA/Soft
ASTIA/Soft is another popular FujiFilm camera profile, and you will probably have used it multiple times during your early days. Using this filter adds a softer look to your pictures, and you’ll also have more saturated colors to work with.
If you’re photographing sunrise or sunset, ASTIA/Soft is an excellent profile for creating a dreamy effect on your pictures. However, you might also want to use it when photographing vibrant areas—such as luscious green fields.
Vivid
Vivid is another popular camera profile with beginner FujiFilm users, mainly because it’ll give your image more of a saturated look. Whereas ASTIA/Soft brings up the shadows to create more of a matte effect, Vivid adds more contrast to your photos.
If you’re striving for a photography style that’s a little punchier, Vivid is a good color profile to use for most of your photos. You can use it in several situations, such as conditions with harsher lighting and scenarios where you feel like real life was a little more colorful than what your camera captured.
Pro Neg Hi
Pro Neg Hi has many similarities with Classic CHROME, but the profile brings your shadows up a little higher. Moreover, you’ll notice that your blues and yellows are more saturated.
When should you use Pro Neg Hi, then? The color profile works well in photos with high natural contrasts, and it’s also an excellent option if you’re not happy with how the shadows panned out in your original shot on RAW.
Pro Neg Hi is perhaps not an ideal profile for portraits because it can add contrast to your subject’s face where you don’t want it.
Pro Neg Standard
Not to be confused with Standard (which we’ll discuss in more detail shortly), Pro Neg Standard is similar to Pro Neg Hi; the main difference is that it significantly lifts your photo’s shadows. So, you’ll have more of a flatter profile to work with.
Pro Neg Standard is useful if you want a neutral profile where you’ve got plenty of flexibility to create the desired effect you’re looking for. It’s also useful in low-light situations when your image might be darker than you would have liked.
Standard
Standard is the go-to FujiFilm color profile for many photographers. It’s roughly in the middle of Pro Neg Hi and Pro Neg Standard, and you’ll get flat colors and shadows to work with.
If you’re unsure about which FujiFilm camera profile you’d like to use for your images, Standard is the safe option. You can use it in a wide range of scenarios, including golden and blue hour—along with portraits and street photography.
If you only bought your FujiFilm camera recently, we recommend starting with Standard, so you can become more comfortable with how your device works in general.
Monochrome
FujiFilm has multiple monochrome profiles, all of which entirely desaturate the image. You can use one of four filters, and each of them works in a pretty similar way. You’ve got the standard monochrome profile to begin with, which turns the picture black and white with a flat tone.
You can also use Monochrome + G, R, or Ye. As you might have guessed, each of these alters the greens, reds, or yellows—depending on the profile you choose.
Monochrome is a dynamic camera profile that you can use in various settings.
ACROS
ACROS are also black and white color profiles, and the main difference is that you’ll have more of a contrast in your images. Moreover, your camera or editing software will make the shadows stand out a lot more.
Like Monochrome, you can also alter the greens, reds, or yellows—depending on your personal preferences.
ETERNA/Cinema
If you’re looking for a cinematic look without as much contrast as Classic CHROME, ETERNA/Cinema is probably your best choice. This camera profile works similarly to Standard, but you’ll have a flat profile—both in terms of colors and contrast.
You can use ETERNA/Cinema in multiple scenarios, including for portraits, street photography, and to capture interesting nighttime shots.
FujiFilm Gives You Plenty of Options to Customize Your Images
FujiFilm has a huge range of camera profiles to help you achieve the look you want. You can use each of these we’ve mentioned in several scenarios, and in some cases, you might find that the JPEGs from your camera don’t even require going into your editing software and editing the RAW.
You’ll need to experiment to find the best FujiFilm profile for your photography style, and you’ll often find yourself using a variety of them for different situations.
