Profiles | VSCO Film 01 for Fuji

When VSCO released Film 03 they had a surprise in store for Fuji shooters: honest to goodness camera profiles for the X cameras. Of course the conversation immediately shifted to: "what about the other packs? 01, 02???"

Well, this week a few prayers were answered with the release of a brand new version of VSCO Film 01 with Fuji profiles. I had the chance to work with the new presets before they were released and I've been very impressed by the results. Obviously if you already own that Film pack and an X-Cam this is a no brainer — it's a free update. If you don't own the pack it's 15% off till friday (March 29th) — add another 25% off if you've purchased from VSCO before thanks to their loyalty discount.

I hadn't used Film 01 with Lightroom; when I switched software I decided to purchase Film 02 instead. So I only knew the Aperture version of 01 — and this made the benefits of camera profiles that much clearer: they offer much more subtle tonal responses over their Standard counterparts. In many ways it almost gives you two different sets of looks to choose from.

How different are profiled versions of the same film stock from their Standard counterpart? Below are a couple of side by side examples (click to launch the lightbox and hover on the images to see the film preset that was used. F is for Fuji, S is for Standard)  —the changes can be surprisingly drastic: 

Note that the images above were shot with the X100S and a pre-release version of Film 01 profiles. The current public release doesn't include specific X100S profiles because the camera hasn't been officially tested yet.

I'm a big fan of both Film 02 and Film 03 and both have found their way in my main processing workflow. Film 01 is an interesting variation, combining what feels like much more muted and "modern" colour stocks with the intense contrast of Tri-X black and white film. This pack was a lot of fun to rediscover and I'm very happy to see these guys spending time and resources developing presets for Fuji cameras. In my mind there's like a really great match in there somewhere.

But now, of course: "02, 02, 02... Come on 02!" ;)

VSCO Film 01 is available here. More images below...

P.S. I wanted to test one of the images in Aperture 3 to see the difference. Three minutes in and the app was still beachballing, leaving my entire system unresponsive. Had to force quit. Oh well.

The Pastels of Winter | an X-Pro1 & heavy snow.

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Shot with the X-Pro1 and XF 35mm f/1.4. All files processed from raw using Lightroom Release Candidate 4.4.

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Gods & Machinery | + some other tidbits.

A quick post this morning to round up the week:

• I have a new essay on the Kage Collective site entitled Gods & Machinery. Entirely shot with the X-Pro1 and XF 35mm f/1.4 lens. Used a personal offshoot of the new VSCO Film 03 as part of the editing process.

• In other Kage news: Derek Clark is one of 10 finalists in the News category for Professional Photographer of the Year UK. Amazing achievement. Huge congratulations on that one.
  

• Flemming Bo Jensen is doing his nomad thing and shares his beat poet thoughts in a wonderful post entitled To be a kid again.

• Robert Boyer is still at it and has promised retaliation in our ongoing challenge. Can't wait to see how that turns out. In the meantime check out the first eBook of his new Lighting Field Guides series. It focuses solely on window light but I guarantee you'll never look at patio doors the same way again. I'll have a full review eventually but believe me: well worth the $4.99.

Last but not least: proper X Trans raw demosaicing finally comes to Adobe Lightroom. It's not in the official version just yet but Release Candidate 4.4 is available for download and appears to be stable enough to use. I've been testing this and I have to say it's a huge improvement over the previous version. The files out of the box are slightly softer than before but you can now push all the sharpening parameters as you would on any other file without introducing the dreaded watercolour syndrome. I'm still seeing some issues with things like grass but to a much lesser extent; overall I'd say we're finally seeing proper rendering of these raf files.

I did however need to use the Moiré brush on some product shots that didn't need it before. It's always about tradeoffs. But with this update I'm now going to consider raw files much more seriously when shooting the X-Pro1. 

A few test shots below. Not necessarily an example of the most problematic type of image but it's what I was shooting. All processed from raw and shot with the X-Pro1 and XF 35mm f/1.4. The last image is a crop of #2 — That's pretty darn sharp methinks. 

Later.

Close-up crop of the previous image.

Instant Karma | VSCO Film 03

Sometimes I can't resist shiny things. I get fixated, like a dog with a stick. And dammit, the guys at VSCO just know how to present their wares and make everything they create simply drool worthy. Last night I heard about the new VSCO Film 03 release and headed to their website, with the firm intention of NOT purchasing anything. I was simply curious. Ten minutes into it I was hitting the buy button.

To be honest, a lot of that had to do with the fact that they've now added Fuji profiles to this pack. Yup, along with Nikon and Canon specific presets we now get X-cameras support — complete with native film profiles when applied to raw files. I really wanted to test this.

This new offering is all about instant: digital emulations of Polaroid, Fuji and Impossible Project instant films.  As always the visual material used to present the various possibilities of this new pack is, frankly, amazing. I dare you to check out Jeremy Cowart's page and not feel a sudden urge to fill your shopping cart. 

The presets are divided into two main categories: Consumer and Professional. The Toolkit this time focuses on elements commonly associated with instant films such as grain, blur, tone and vignetting; these can be stacked on top of the emulations themselves. But while the promise of one click processing may be alluring, you'll need to put in the time to learn how to control and tone down the results. Otherwise it can easily become slightly "instagramish". But this, in my opinion, is true of all the VSCO Film packs. I still believe that if you're willing to analyze how these looks are achieved, by examining the tone curves, the colour mixes and calibrations, they become a fantastic learning tool. Plus, you'll gain the ability to wield your own looks based on the painstaking work these guys have put in.

A final word on the Fuji profiles: man, this opens up some serious possibilities. When working with RAF files you now have the added option of switching film profiles in Lightroom's calibration pane. This is a very interesting tool to play with, as each film contains its own contrast and colour curve. Change the film, change the mood. My only hope is that they add this support to the previous film packs in an eventual update.

I haven't had a lot of time to put in but I revisited some images to test things out. I'm including these below.

VSCO Film 03 Instant is available for Lightroom and ACR 7. It's discounted 25% for the next two weeks and if you already own another VSCO Film pack you get the usual customer loyally discount as well — so 50% off in total.

Damn those shiny things. 

P.S All shots processed from raw except for the first image. X-Pro1 with 35mm 1.4.
UPDATE: added a few images to the post (mix of jpeg and raw).

Three States of Processing | A Short Study.

I've been getting a lot of processing enquiries lately. Usually from working photographers whose work I already consider to be stellar; which just goes to show how much of a constant pursuit this craft can be.

I'm the same way; so I certainly don't feel I'm an authority on the subject. I'm constantly analyzing the work of others, filling my brain with a visual scrapbook I can refer to when I get behind the lens or sit at the computer. Art is a never-ending quest, a never-ending maze of questions and insecurities. If you stop, you die. Complacency is the wall you never want to hit. 

I answered such an email this morning and mentioned that processing was our public face. It's what everybody sees, what goes on the web or gets printed. I believe it's as much a part of our individual style as our way of shooting or lighting, the decisions we make at that point just as important as those we took at the time of capture. It's all intertwined and symbiotic.

It also defines much of the emotional pull of an image, what the viewer will react to. By controlling the mood we can push different buttons, elicit different responses. And this is something just as important as editing: choosing the right rendition for the right selections.

The shots below were taken yesterday, in a restaurant in Vieux Longueuil. Our stop for lunch after visiting the Salon du Livre Jeunesse de Longueuil with the kids. All from a single series shot with the X100 but processed differently: the first two use my "usual" colour and black and white treatments, the third introduces a slightly more muted and detailed approach that adds more micro-contrast by playing with shadows and highlights.

I think any one of these would work as a final output, but that decision is something I wrestle with on every shoot. Steve Jobs said the things you leave out are just as important as the things you leave in; this applies to every artistic endeavour as well. 

It's all part of the thought process.