I pretty much know Fujifilm cameras backwards and forwards. I’ve got to admit, though, that there are a few features that I never⁠—or almost never⁠—use. I recently rediscovered two of these tools that I tried once, didn’t like the results, and so I never used them again… until now. I didn’t realize that I was actually missing out on something kind of cool! I’ve had a lot of fun with these over the last few days, and I bet some of you will, too⁠—and I also bet that you don’t use these features, and perhaps have never even tried them.

What are they? High Key and Low Key.

Note: This was a Creative Collective article, but now it’s available to everyone.

What is high key and low key? The former is purposely overexposing a frame for a bright image, and the latter is purposefully underexposing a frame for a dark image. There’s actually a High Key and Low Key mode found on your Fujifilm camera in Advanced Filters (and I believe most Fujifilm cameras have this option). I can hear you say, “But aren’t the ‘Advanced Filters’ gimmicky and there’s nothing actually ‘advanced’ about them?” Yes. This is different, though, and I’ll explain why. It’s actually interesting what the camera is doing when you use these.

First, though, let’s talk about how to find Advanced Filters. For some cameras it is found on the Drive knob on the top plate, and for other cameras it is found via the Drive button on the back of the camera. If you’re not sure where it is on your model, look for it in the user manual. It’s pretty easy to get to once you know where to look. Once you locate Advanced Filters, you’ll want to select either High Key or Low Key.

Both High Key and Low Key are JPEG options that are based on the Provia film simulation. It uses DR100 (DR-Auto is available to choose, but I could not get the camera to use DR200 even when pointed directly at the sun). Color, Highlight, Shadow, Sharpness, Noise Reduction, Clarity, etc., are all set to 0, and cannot be adjusted. Color Chrome Effect, Grain, etc., are Off and cannot be used (for those cameras with those functions). White Balance is Auto 0R & 0B and cannot be changed. On newer cameras, if you shoot RAW+JPEG, you’ll also get a RAW file, which can be reprocessed in-camera (or with X RAW Studio) if you’d like. Even though Highlight & Shadow are set to 0, you do not get the same result as setting Highlight & Shadow to 0. There’s a curve applied, but more importantly, there’s an underexposure (for Low Key) or overexposure (for High Key) automatically being applied.

So what’s going on? For Low Key, the camera is underexposing by two stops and using Highlight 0 & Shadow +1. For High Key, the camera is overexposing by two and two-thirds stops and applying -2 Highlight & -2 Shadow. You can actually replicate both of these⁠—it took me a little bit to figure that out, but I did!

If you use Low Key, I discovered that increasing the exposure by +2/3 to +1 1/3 produces good results (because the pictures are too dark with Exposure Compensation set to 0). Low Key works well when the subject is brightly lit, especially backlit. For High Key, decreasing the exposure by -1 to -2 produces good results (because the pictures are too bright with Exposure Compensation set to 0). High Key works well in warm “golden hour” light or contrasty midday light. Both of the Low Key and High Key options are good ways to easily achieve certain aesthetics without needing to program a new Film Simulation Recipe into the C1-C7 custom presets (which is precious real estate).

If you don’t want to use the High Key and Low Key options in Advanced Filters, but want to get identical results, try this:

Low Key
Provia
Dynamic Range: DR100
Highlight: 0
Shadow: +1
Color: 0
Noise Reduction: 0
Sharpness: 0
Clarity: 0
Grain Effect: Off
Color Chrome Effect: Off
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Off
White Balance: Auto, 0 Red & 0 Blue
ISO: Whatever you want, I did Auto up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: -2/3 to -1 1/3 (typically)

High Key
Provia
Dynamic Range: DR100
Highlight: -2
Shadow: -2
Color: 0
Noise Reduction: 0
Sharpness: 0
Clarity: 0
Grain Effect: Off
Color Chrome Effect: Off
Color Chrome Effect Blue: Off
White Balance: Auto, 0 Red & 0 Blue
ISO: Whatever you want, I did Auto up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +2/3 to +1 2/3 (typically)

Of course, the great thing is that these can be customized (unlike High Key and Low Key in Advanced Filters, which cannot be customized). You can use DR200 or even DR400 if you want. You can select Grain or Clarity or Color Chrome Effect (for those cameras with those options). You can adjust Color, Sharpness, and Noise Reduction. You can adjust the White Balance and WB Shift. You can even change the Film Simulation if you want to. There’s a ton of potential!

Here are some sample pictures captured using High Key & Low Key on my Fujifilm X-E4: