VSCO Fuji film emulations

I posted recently about the doors that digital film emulation open up for us. Critics and fans both compare this type of processing to things like Instagram. While I can see where they’re coming from, I disagree with them.

Film emulation allows photographers to apply film settings to RAW files. It’s also possible to use JPEGs, although you will be limited in how you can manipulate the settings in Lightroom (or Aperture). After all, that is one of the funnest parts of applying film emulations, and one of the ways in which it differs from ‘simple’ applications like Instagram and Hipstamatic.

the original unprocessed image

The above photo is really nothing special… I wanted to see if I could make it look more impressive using some Fuji film emulation Lightroom presets. I like the in-camera options, but I wanted to see what other options I have.

All of the files below are straight VSCO presets – I did no processing or any adjustments of my own. Of course, that’s where the real fun with film emulation comes into play, not to mention the best results. This just gives you an idea of the different starting points. Granted, to the untrained eye, there are few ‘differences’ to speak of!

Fuji FP-100c

Fuji FP-100c —

Fuji FP-100c +++

Fuji FP-100c ++ Alternative

Fuji FP-100c Cool

Fuji FP-100c Cool +

Fuji FP-100c Cool —

Fuji FP-100c Negative

Fuji FP-100c Negative —

Fuji FP-100c Negative ++ Alternative

Fuji Superia 100

Fuji Superia 100 –

Fuji Superia 100 ++

Fuji Superia 400 –

Fuji Superia 400 ++

Fuji Superia 800 –

Fuji Superia 800 ++

Fuji Superia 1600

Fuji Superia 1600 ++

If anyone finds this even remotely helpful, I can do something similar with the various other VSCO film presets. There’s more Fuji (B&W), Kodak, Polaroid, and others. I realize probably went ODed on this one… next time I’d do a better job of editing down. There were a few examples that I left out because the differences were even more slight than the above.

This slideshow is a better way to see the similarities and points of contrast between the pictures.