As a JPEG shooter it is very important to understand how to use and leverage the Highlight Tone and Shadow Tone settings of your FUJIFILM Cameras. This is also handy for those who shoot JPEG + RAW where your JPEG will be produced with your defined settings and while RAW is unaffected by them but great for further fine tuning on your computer.
This will allow you to get the right result in your JPEG straight out of the camera which means little to no post processing needed in your final resulting JPGE image. You can simply download the images to your smartphone or tablet and can share online. Follow me on Instagram @harmeetgabha
In some of the newer cameras the Highlight and Shadow Tone settings are defined under the Tone Curve setting.
Finding these settings
On older cameras like the FUJIFILM X-T3 or earlier you will find these settings via the I.Q. menu and navigating to Shadow Tone and Hight Tone settings.
On newer cameras like the FUJIFILM X-T4 or X100v these two settings are now merged under the Tone Curve settings. The beauty is that here you also get a preview of what your result would look like.
Highlight Tone
In you FUJIFILM camera, Highlights are things we often want to avoid, because these are blown out areas of the image which is 100% white and there is little to no details available. By recovering Hightlights you can sometimes see some details in your image
These settings work the same way as in your favourite editing software (I use Capture One Pro), so when you are + positive value the highlights get brighter while – negative value the highlights are preserved (recovered). You can see that the recovery values are less though in comparison to the brighter values.
Don’t miss the Shadow settings as they are different in FUJIFILM camera.
Shadow Tone
In your FUJIFILM camera, Shadows are the darker, shaded areas of an image so depending upon the contrast or lack of contrast you are wanting to create you can darken or lighten this part of the image using this setting.
However, unlike editing software the shadow settings work differently in the FUJIFILM Camera. When you go into the + positive value, you are darkening the shadows of your image and when you are going into – negative value, you are opening the shadows. This is different to what you might be doing in your favourite editing software (I use Capture One Pro), – negative value usually means darkening the shadows while + positive value means opening (lightening) the shadows.
Examples
Checkout these samples with different settings. The first is the image which Highlights at -2 and Shadows at -2 and these are JPEGs straight out of the FUJIFILM Camera. I’d use these settings when I want to have beautiful and soft looking portraits.
The second is the image which Highlights at -2 and Shadows at +2 and these are JPEGs straight out of the FUJIFILM Camera. This kind of image creates more contrast and depth.
Hope this helps you with setting your FUJIFILM camera the best way possible for you to get the kind of results you want by adjusting the Hightlight and Shadow Tone of your camera.
