Fuji Jpegs: Shooting and Processing Guide - eBook

NOTE: This guide is now out of date. Because of this I've reduced the price to €3 for those who still want to purchase the guide. 

About the Guide

In this guide, we will take a look at the various in-camera settings that you can change on a Fuji x-series camera and how these changes will affect your output when shooting JPEGs. We also look at various other tips and tricks for shooting JPEGs as well as discussing some useful techniques for post-processing JPEGs, which can sometimes require a different approach than you would take when working with RAW.

This book does not attempt to teach every aspect of photography or post-processing as it would require volumes of information to cover such a broad topic. Instead, it focuses on the parts of the process that are specific to shooting JPEGs on Fuji cameras, with a little extra information where appropriate. It is also designed as a starting point to find your style and technique. You shouldn't view the suggestions in this guide as the only way to approach shooting JPEGs with Fuji cameras, but they are the point of view of the author and how he approaches it. The intention is to give you ideas and a grounding in the fundamentals, so you can develop your personal way of working and your individual style.

Some Important Notes About This Guide - Please Read Before Purchasing

There are some important aspects to this guide you should be aware of before purchasing:

Please Note: This is edition will no longer receive free updates, but a second edition will be released at some point in the future. As Fuji has changed a few important functions in their newest cameras, it will require a significant re-write of some of this guide to support these. With that in mind, until I can source one of these cameras, I have no timeframe for an update to this guide, but I would hope to get it done by the end of this year. With the current global situation though, this may take longer. I will keep this edition on sale until that time, but there will be no further free updates to this guide.

This guide is valid for all Fuji X-Trans cameras released up to the latter half of 2019. It does not support the changes introduced with the Fuji X-Pro3, X-100v and X-T4 and later cameras. It is not written for any specific model. This includes X-T3, X-T30, X-H1, X-T2, X100F, X-Pro 2 etc. It has not been tested with GFX series medium format cameras, but advice should work for those too.

This guide does not contain specific information for the X-Pro 3 and some of the new in-camera operations introduced in that camera, however, the general advice should still be applicable.

While most of the information is cross-platform, some of the post-processing information deals with Apple's Photos application and is, therefore, Mac only.

Please Note: All my guides are self-published and as such, I do not have the luxury of a full editorial staff. While they have been proofread occasionally a few errors do creep in, possibly more than would occur in a book published by a publisher. I do make every effort to avoid this, but due to the nature of self-publishing, this does happen. When found, I do my best to update them as soon as possible in the next release of the ebook.

Chapter Breakdown

Chapter 1: Introduction

In this chapter, I discuss why you would want to shoot Jpeg. I outline some of the advantages and disadvantages of shooting Jpeg and I talk about the pros and cons of shooting Jpeg and RAW to separate cards on cameras with dual card slots. The sections in this chapter are:

Why shoot JPEG?

How JPEGs work (the super simple version)

Some advantages of shooting JPEG

Speed

The look is “baked-in."

Immediate use with mobile devices

Tempering Expectations - The Disadvantages of JPEG

Advantages and disadvantages of shooting Raw and JPEG to separate cards

Chapter 2: Shooting Settings

In this chapter, I look at some of the settings that you can change in-camera on Fuji X-Series cameras, and I talk about how things like shadow tone and highlight tone work. I also discuss noise reduction and sharpening settings, and how to optimise the in-camera jpegs for post-production. The sections in this chapter are:

Technical settings

Noise Reduction

Long exposure noise reduction

Sharpening

Creative Settings

Film Simulation Modes

Provia/STD

Astia/Soft

Velvia

Classic Chrome

Pro Neg Hi / Pro Neg Standard

Monochrome

Acros

Customisation Options

Shadow Tone

Highlight Tone

General Recommendations

Colour

Dynamic Range Expansion

How to Adjust Contrast

Saving your own “Films”

Method 1: Save Existing Settings

Method 2: Create Settings in the menu

Tip: Visualise the options with X-RAW Studio

Chapter 3: Tips for Shooting

In this chapter, I discuss some various tips to help you get your images as close as possible to what you want them to be in-camera. I also talk about how I have my X-Pro 2 set up for normal use. The sections in this chapter are:

How I have my X-Pro2 set up

General settings

Tripod shooting settings

The EVF effect

How To Read a Histogram

Highlight Clipping Warning

White Balance

Setting a White Balance Shift

Manually setting White Balance with a grey card

Avoiding Camera Shake and Shutter Shock

Using the Electronic Shutter

Focus Tricks

Bracketing

Self-timer for long exposure shooting

Chapter 4: Shooting Recipes

In this chapter, I present a number of recipes that I use when shooting JPEGs with my Fuji camera to achieve certain looks.

Chapter 5: Post Production Techniques

In this chapter, I look at various techniques for post-processing Fuji jpeg files using various applications. We look at working with Lightroom Classic and CC, Photoshop and Apple Photos. We also discuss Fuji's own X-Raw Studio, as well as working with the in-camera conversion. The focus is primarily on the technical side of editing (Sharpening etc.), although some creative tips are included too.

General Processing Techniques

Sharpening

White Balance and Colour

Creating a faded “Film” type Look with Curves

Grain

Lightroom Classic

Working with RAW + JPEG

Setting the preferences to import both RAW and JPEG files

Sharpening

Noise reduction

Grain

A note about VSCO film presets.

Lightroom CC

Working with Photoshop

Opening images and maintaining editability

Sharpening using Camera RAW (And also noise reduction)

Sharpening using filters

Unsharp Mask

High pass sharpening

Apple Photos

Managing RAW + JPEG Files in Apple Photos

Sharpening in Photos

Understanding the controls

How best to approach sharpening in Photos

Basic Colour Correction in Photos

White Balance Sliders

Colour Cast

Levels and Curves

Extending Photos

Using extensions

Using an external application

In camera conversion

Using Fujifilm X-RAW Studio

Companion Files

The guide also includes a set of companion files. These include Lightroom Presets and Photoshop Actions. Includes presets for the Current version of Lightroom, as well as separate presets for older non-subscription versions of Lightroom (from version 5) and with any current version of Photoshop.

Copyright Notice

This document and its contents are Copyright © 2020 Thomas Fitzgerald. No part of this document may be reproduced in any way or this document may not be re-sold. You may print your own copies for personal use

All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.