Some people really hate Fujifilm Recipes. Some people even loathe the mere idea of Recipes. Someone once told me that I’m doing much harm to photography by creating and publishing Film Simulation Recipes and encouraging people to use them. Why is it even slightly controversial? What explains the hate?

I don’t have any definitive answers, but my best guess is that most of it stems from the old rule-of-thumb that if you’re a serious photographer, you must shoot RAW. There was a time when RAW really was necessary because cameras sensors were less capable and JPEG engines were not nearly as good. This was especially true in the early days of digital photography, becoming less and less true as the years went on and technology advanced. Some brands have better JPEG output than others, and us Fujifilm photographers are especially spoiled. While you-must-shoot-RAW is generally outdated advice, a lot of people still hold onto it, and preach it as if it’s still gospel truth. For me, relying on camera-made JPEGs changed my life (no hyperbole), by making photography more enjoyable while simultaneously increasing my photographic productivity while simultaneously taking up less of my time that could then be devoted to other things (a win-win-win).

Related closely to the previous paragraph, I think there’s also a bit of gatekeeping. There are some who insist that there’s only one “right” way to do photography, which incidentally is whatever way they do it. All other methods are wrong. Don’t ever listen to anyone who says such things. You can do photography however you want, which can vary dramatically from person-to-person. There’s no right or wrong format, only what works best for each person, which could be RAW, or JPEG, or RAW+JPEG, or something else entirely, or sometimes one thing and other times a different thing.

There’s also a misconception that JPEGs are no good. It’s true that if you want to edit your pictures, JPEGs have far less latitude than RAW; however, if you aren’t editing or only lightly editing, that argument falls flat. In fact, most RAW shooters export their finished edited photos as (wait for it…) JPEGs. So it’s not so much that JPEGs are bad, it’s that they’re not nearly as flexible if you plan to extensively edit—if you’re not editing (or only lightly editing), there’s really no difference between Lightroom producing a JPEG and your camera doing so.

Some people believe that real photography involves two steps: capturing and editing (or darkroom, in the film days). Both steps are equally critical. They’ll tell you that Ansel Adams—the darkroom master himself—proved that two-step photography is essential; however, this ignores that Adams was a big fan of Polaroid photography (he wrote a whole book about it), and even coined the term one-step photography, which he said was “revolutionary” for both professional and amateur photographers. Using Recipes on Fujifilm cameras is a modern day version of one-step photography, where the second step—the editing step—is no longer necessary to achieve great results.

But, but… for best results, you must edit, right? Sometimes, perhaps; other times, not so much. It really depends. I have seen some extraordinary results straight-out-of-camera that you’d never guess were unedited. I’ve seen some camera-made JPEGs that look better than most people’s RAW edits. But it all depends. Sometimes editing a RAW file will produce results that the in-camera JPEG processor isn’t capable of. Either way, it doesn’t matter to those viewing the pictures, who don’t care how a picture was created. The only thing that matters is whether the photographer’s vision was conveyed, and, for a lot of people, Recipes do just that, and for others, it doesn’t. Some dismiss Recipes without even trying them because they assume they’re not good, but maybe they’d change their minds if they gave them a chance.

The analog equivalency of Recipes are color reversal (slide) film, and the equivalency of RAW are negative emulsions; back in the film days, nobody looked down on those who shot slides as less-than, and nobody thought those who shot negatives were better—it was simply different approaches, each with advantages and disadvantages. The tools are different, but the intent is similar. You choose the one that best delivers the desired results.

Lastly, there are some who would say that Fujifilm Recipes are gimmicks, just shortcuts for lazy photographers. They keep people from learning the fundamentals. But Recipes don’t replace knowledge; they reward it. Knowing when a Recipe will do well, how light interacts with it, and when to switch or season-to-taste, takes experience and understanding. It takes more thought and effort while in-the-field to get the most out of them. Just like film, a Recipe won’t save a bad exposure or poor composition. It simply gives you a distinct palette to work within. Nothing lazy or gimmicky about that, just a divergent approach that’s more similar to classic analog photography.

I don’t believe that the majority of the criticisms around Fujifilm Recipes has anything to do with image quality, but about philosophy. Recipes challenge the idea that photography must be software-dependent, requiring the “right” post-processing skills, and a lot of time at a computer. If that isn’t necessary, it might make some feel uncomfortable because their identity as a photographer is closely tied to those things. If editing isn’t actually necessary, and half of your picture quality and aesthetic is determined by the second step, that can perhaps feel threatening and/or distressing, which explains the excessive negativity and combativeness. Then again, not everything is for every person, and that’s perfectly ok. Different strokes for different folks. There’s no right or wrong way to do photography, only whatever it is that works for you personally, which might look very different for each of us. If it’s Fujifilm cameras and Film Simulation Recipes, awesome! If it’s something else, that’s great. Maybe it’s a combination of things, just depending on the situation or your mood. As long as you’ve discovered and are happy with whatever it is, that’s all that matters, and the the naysayers’ words are meaningless.