This California Summer Film Simulation Recipe was so much fun to create! I’m a big fan of Preet (Instagram), a photographer from Dubai. I really like his photographic style and picture aesthetics. If you’ve never seen his images, definitely check out his work—you’re in for a treat! This Recipe was modeled after some of his recent photographs.
Nearly four years ago I created a Recipe called Bright Summer that was inspired by Preet. That Recipe was the sixth most used last month (May 2024), so it’s quite popular. Funny enough, Preet himself called it Preetra 400, and I see that nickname used from time-to-time on social media. Preet doesn’t utilize camera-made JPEGs (as far as I’m aware, anyway), but prefers to edit RAW files; he even offers Lightroom Presets, should you wish to RAW-edit your pictures similarly to his (or just to support him as an artist).
The specific photographs that inspired this California Summer Recipe were from Preet’s recent trip to America—specifically, Texas. You can find these pictures on his Instagram. Obviously this Recipe doesn’t resemble all of his pictures, just certain ones; however, I think you can spot those pretty easily, because this Recipe is a pretty good match. Not 100%, but definitely very close. It would be a great honor if he ever tried this one someday.
I wasn’t sure what to name this Recipe. I called it “Preet Texas” in my camera, and initially “Texas Summer” for the article title. After carefully reviewing the pictures that I captured with this Recipe, I really felt that it produces a quintessential California summertime vibe. So at the last moment I renamed it to California Summer. I think that name matches the picture aesthetic well.
For best results, use this Recipe in sunny daylight situations. It does well in harsh midday light and especially golden hour. It can be alright in shade. I would avoid it for indoor artificial light and nighttime photography, although under the right conditions I’m sure it can be ok for that, too. This California Summer Recipe is compatible with fifth-generation X-series cameras, which (as of this writing) are the Fujifilm X-H2s, X-H2, X-T5, X-S20, X100VI, and X-T50 cameras. You can probably use this with newer GFX models, but I’ve not tested it for that, and it will likely render slightly different (don’t be afraid to try, though).
Film Simulation: Nostalgic Neg.
Dynamic Range: DR400
Grain Effect: Weak, Small
Color Chrome Effect: Strong
Color Chrome FX Blue: Weak
White Balance: 6700K, -1 Red & -6 Blue
Highlight: -2
Shadow: -1
Color: +4
Sharpness: -2
High ISO NR: -4
Clarity: -4
ISO: Auto, up to ISO 6400
Exposure Compensation: +2/3 to +1 1/3 (typically)
Example photographs, all camera-made JPEGs captured using this California Summer Film Simulation Recipe on a Fujifilm X100VI & X-T50:
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Fujifilm X100VI in black:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X100VI in silver:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-T50 in black:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-T50 in silver:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex, Nuzira
Fujifilm X-T50 in charcoal:
Amazon, B&H, Moment, Wex
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Nice recipe Ritchie.
Like indeed a lot the vibes of it👌
Wishing we could have lasting sunshine here in Belgium though!
Instead, we just hit here the record for a month mostly of rain with 23 days of rain in May!
With that record, I might ask you a special Belgian rainy day recipe (perhaps a Black & White to go over gray on gray) 😜
Might take some time for me to be able to test your California Summer recipe 🌦️
But I’m sure I’ll be able to during this summer time or I’ll go to California and meet Tom in L.A.😉
Hopefully sunshine is coming your way soon, or at the least you can visit a place with a lot of it 😀
Thanks for your kind feedback!
Very very beautiful!!! An alternative version for X-Trans IV? 😣
It would be difficult; while Eterna can be used as a substitute for Nostalgic Neg., it can’t replicate NN with color set to +4. I would look at Bright Kodak, Classic Color, Kodak Portra 800 v3, and Kodak Portra 400 Warm as potential alternatives.
Would this work for XT-30 iii? These are stunning!
Thanks! Unfortunately, it’s not, as it requires the Nostalgic Neg. film simulation. Eterna can be used as a substitute sometimes, but not with +4 Color. Sorry.
Stunning images! Is there a way to reduce some of the yellows on this or the bright summer recipes? Preet’s recent pictures have that blue skies coming through well without the yellow tint overshadowing the image – any advice on how to replicate that?
Preet has four Lightroom presets… and when you look at his recent pictures, it’s easy to spot more than four unique aesthetics, so I think he’s using more than just those four. I’m only trying to mimic one particular picture aesthetic with this Recipe, so it’s not going to match all or even most of his pictures. With that said, if you want less yellow, simply set the WB Shift to something like -4 Blue or -3 Blue. I hope this helps!
Definitely helps! Thank you very much! You’re amazing
Any alternatives for X-Trans 3?
You won’t be able to replicate this on X-Trans III, but I would definitely look at the Kodacolor Recipes, if you haven’t done so, particularly the “Stephen Shore” variation.
https://fujixweekly.com/2019/07/19/my-fujifilm-x-t30-kodacolor-film-simulation-recipe/
https://fujixweekly.com/2020/03/16/kodacolor-film-simulation-recipe-part-2/
You might consider reducing Shadows just a bit, perhaps to +1 or 0.