Fujifilm Nostalgic Negative Film Simulation

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The other day, while driving the countryside, I happened upon this little scene.  These are the kinds of subjects that immediately get my attention.  I stopped along the highway, grabbed my Fujifilm X-T5 with the 16-55mm f/2.8 lens attached and walked back to this little abandoned store (later a restaurant, evidently) and made several photographs.

Back at my computer, I thought this kind of subject was perfect for Fujifilm's newest film simulation, Nostalgic Negative.  In the short time I have had the X-T5 (and X-H2S), I have come to like this film simulation a lot.  I'm a fan of Saul Leiter, Fred Herzog and others who used the old color films in the 1940s and 1950s.  Nostalgic Negative kind of replicates the colors they achieved in the original Kodachrome 1 slide film and works perfectly for my images of Americana, old infrastructure, abandoned buildings and Route 66 type photographs you've seen me post here for years.  The film simulation, in my opinion, has a wonderful color palette.

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It has much less contrast than Classic Negative as well as having a bit warmer overall color temperature.  One thing I've noticed is that it is easy for the reds to go too far orange.  That is an easy fix in the Hue, Saturation, Luminance panel of Lightroom.  Just shift the red hue slider a little bit away from the orange side.  That said, you might like the reds going very orange.  Everyone has different preferences.

If you are a Fujifilm camera user and have not played with the various film simulations, I think you are missing a bit of fun.  Experiment with them.  Tailor the film simulation to the overall look and feel of your subject matter.  Alternatively, take one image and try applying all of the different film simulations to it to see the different effects.  It's all good.  It’s all fun.

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If you aren't having fun with your photography, you surely are doing something wrong!

Join me over at my website, https://www.dennismook.com.  

Thanks for looking. Enjoy!  

Dennis A. Mook  

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