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Every year I seem to get hooked on trying to photograph autumnal trees. It’s a compulsion more than anything and I doubt that I’m alone. The problem is, Fujifilm’s PRO Neg Std, which has recently become my favourite film profile to use, actually looks a bit lacklustre in the orange and yellow tones of Autumn.
Classic Chrome leaves the vivid colours looking murky and Velvia is always just a bit too much for my liking. PRO Neg Hi is a good option for general landscape photography, but it can quickly become clinical – especially with hard autumn light.
Enter Astia. Fujifilm’s forgotten film simulation. I personally really like it and I’ve gone as far as to replace Classic Chrome with it on my X100V.
With a free afternoon I was able to spend a good chunk of time hunting for beautiful light in Leigh Woods and the autumnal trees.
A quick Google brings this post up that celebrates how versatile Astia is and I’m inclined to agree. On a spectrum of Classic Chrome on one end delivering that desaturated/soft colour filmesque look, and PRO Neg Hi on the other end giving a crisp, harder contrast, Astia seems to sit happily in the middle providing a bit of both.
Fujifilm’s Astia gives a punch of colour and contrast but seems to keep the shadows soft and delicate. Add a kick to the Whites in Lightroom and you have a really attractive colour profile.
I struggled to come away with a decent image for my Along The Way documentary project but that’s just the way it is sometimes. It was nice to have a good walk and the afternoon got me thinking more about how my workflow has become a bit stagnant. Adding a different film simulation is always a good way to mix things up. All of these images were shot with the X-Pro2 and the Fuji XF 16-80mm F4.
