Image Editing Experiments With The Fujifilm X-T2 and Film Simulation JPEGS; Part II

Black and White Image using Fujifilm film simulation Acros Red (click to enlarge)

Over the next few months, I plan on continuing my experiments with the Fujifilm film simulations as I am intrigued by the benefits they provide as well as finding ways to overcome the negative aspects of not using the the RAW format.  Stay tuned if you are a Fujifilm user and want to know more about this subject.

During my outing the other day, which you can find here, I wrote about wanting to use the Fujifilm film simulations to create images with a different look.  In my first experiment, I wanted to simulate a 1960s era Kodachrome slide (I have thousands in sleeves!) with bright colors and very high contrast.  There is only about a 5 stop dynamic range in that film.  I believed I could have done this successfully with editing a RAW file in Lightroom, but I was curious if shadow detail could be recovered from an 8-bit JPEG film simulation set for very high contrast image made in very contrasty light.

Also, among the images I made that day, I shot some with the Acros Red filter film simulation.  I've always liked dramatic skies and the red filter setting on a crisp blue sky day gives you those really dark, "Ansel Adams" type skies.  I really liked the resulting images I made.

Again, wanting to continue to experiment a bit more, I wondered if I could easily duplicate the Acros red image by converting a color image to black and white using Lightroom's tools?  I did the conversion and pretty much matched the look—at first glance.  Along the way, however, I found some glaring differences between making the image with a black and white film simulation and converting a color file.

The image at the top of this post is the black and white JPEG film simulation Acros with the red filter applied.  The image directly below is basically the original color image.  Below that is the black and white conversion made in Lightroom's Develop Module, Black and White panel.

Original color image used to convert to the image below.  I wanted to
closely match the image above for this experiment. (click to enlarge)

Converted color image from above.  Not perfect, but it appears to be a pretty close
match. But, as you will read, I found some significant differences. (click to enlarge)

You may not be able to tell with these rather small, low resolution images posted on the web and converted by Blogger, but I immediately saw a few differences, both positive and negative, in the native black and white JPEG using the Acros Red film simulation (again, at the top of this post) and converting a color image to pretty much match how I wanted the image to look in black and white.

First, when darkening a blue sky in black and white image made from the color conversion, the wispy and delicate cirrus clouds lose their contrast.  Being that they are almost transparent, it would be very difficult to enhance them (at least for me) to bring out more contrast and detail in those clouds.  See the comparison below.

Second, when darkening a blue sky in black and white image made from the color conversion, the edges of the tree limbs take on a weird glow.  This is a black and white version of the same phenomenon that occurs even when the image is in color and you darken the blue sky too much.  There is really no easy way to eliminate that objectionable transitional artifact except to lighten the dark sky to reduce it.  Of course, then you can't have a very dark sky.  This is really objectionable to me.

Third, and this applies to the red doors and orange bricks, because of the red filter effects applied by the Acros Red formula, the doors become very light, which is what is expected.  This can be remedied by using a brush tool and selectively lightening the door.  Not a major issue.  In the color converted file, I can make the red door any luminance level I choose.  A red filter transmits more red light, hence, anything red will be lighter and anything blue and or green, like the sky, will be darker.

Fourth, and not shown here as it didn't render well at this size and on the web, there is visible "grain" in the sky of the black and white JPEG Acros Red version of this image.  There is no "grain" or noise in the sky of the color converted version.  This is an interesting finding.  

I still believe that Fujifilm applies noise reduction in-camera to their RAW files.  In reality, the two skies shot under identical circumstances should have identical noise/grain.  The only other explanation I have is that Fujifilm adds "grain" to their Acros formula even though we have it turned off in the menu.  I know I had mine turned off, but still there is a visible difference in how the sky is rendered.  No noise/grain in the color image.  Visible noise/grain in the black and white film simulation image.  Curious, isn't it?

There you have it.  I'll continue to experiment and learn my gear and what it does and doesn't do so I can maximize success.  I really like the JPEGs produced by the film simulations, but at 8-bit and compressed, I plan on finding ways to minimize the deficits of that format versus RAW files.
Thanks for looking. Enjoy! 

Dennis A. Mook 

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