Ball Flowers – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 “Cyanotype”
Cyanotype is an early photographic process that produces blue prints. It was invented in 1842 by Sir John Herschel, and was popular in Victorian England. The chemicals needed are simple: ferric ammonium citrate and potassium ferricyanid. It’s a contact process, so positives have to be placed right over the paper. Sunlight or UV light is required for the exposure. Cyanotypes are pretty simple, and anyone can do them at home.
I thought it would be fun to make a film simulation recipe to mimic cyanotype prints. Fujifilm X-Trans IV cameras have the ability to tone black-and-white pictures, either warm or cool. By toning the pictures blue, I was able to get in the neighborhood of cyanotype photography. Unfortunately, going all the way cool, which is -9 on toning, is only marginally blue enough to pass for cyanotype. Still, this was a fun experiment. If you are bored, why not give it a try yourself?
Blue Blossom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30 “Cyanotype”
Acros
Dynamic Range: DR400
Highlight: +3
Shadow: +3
Noise Reduction: -4
Sharpening: -4
Grain Effect: Strong
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Toning: -9
White Balance: Auto
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 12800
Exposure Compensation: +1/3 to +1 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs using this “Cyanotype” film simulation recipe on my Fujifilm X-T30:
Orbit – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Caged Bloom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Blue Bloom – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Succulent Blue – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Light Bulb Blues – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Stems – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Welcome – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Daffodil Blue – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Falling Water – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Post & Wire – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Threatening – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Growth in the Rocky Place – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
Studying Blues – Farmington, UT – Fujifilm X-T30
See also: Film Simulation Recipes
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It’s amazing,Ritchie! Thank you so much!
You are welcome!
I use this recipe with tone +3 and AWB R0 B+9 by accident. The result is great for portraits. I wonder the result with AWB R0 B0?? Any thought?
It won’t be much different, but the results will be just slightly different. I’ll have to try your happy “accident”. Thanks for sharing!
I tried the recipe with my xt3 and I didn’t get the the blue tint.
Did you set the B&W Toning correctly?
It’s worth taking another look at this recipe using the monochromatic color settings on the X100V (not sure what other models have it.) Much richer blues are possible than with the older toning option.
Yeah, the “new” monochromatic settings are much better than the “old” b&w toning options on the X-T3/X-T30. I should definitely do more with it. A bit of trivia: if you set your camera on a tripod, set it to b&w, do multiple exposures (like 8 frames), and change the monochromatic color between exposures, it will produce a color image.
My hope is that their next step will be split toning. Not that they’d be inclined to add it to older cameras.
Split-toning would be amazing! I hope they do it for color and b&w.