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Dark Diary – High-Contrast B&W SOOC Fujifilm Recipe

Fujifilm X-Trans IV High-Contrast Black & White

Mood: High Contrast, Moody, Dramatic

This is one of the Fujifilm recipes inspired by Daido Moriyama’s high-contrast black & white tone that you might want to try if you are into Daido Moriyama’s work. Although this recipe might not look the same contrasty photos captured with the Ricoh GR monochrome, on the Fujifilm cameras, you can shoot SOOC JPEG without editing to get a similar high-contrast black & white tone. Many Fuji fanboys & fangirls who like or inspire Daido Moriyama’s works might be interested in this recipe.

What Is Dark Diary Recipe All About?

The Dark Diary Fujifilm recipe is one of the Black and white film simulation recipes created based on the Monochrome film simulation and an enhanced version of the One for the Road recipe. Setting this recipe on your Fujifilm X-Trans IV cameras allows you to shoot with similar high-contrast B&W to the Daido Moriyama B&W photographs. Although it’s not 100% accurate, you can still shoot to get a similar contrasty black-and-white tone. I can say you can never 100% mimic it from the Ricoh cameras without post-processing, but this will let you achieve the effect the closest as possible.

For Fuji shooters, you might know about the in-camera Clarity setting for creative control. While shooting with this recipe, you might experience some delay due to the Clarity that has been used to increase the black & shadow tone but you can still turn it off if don’t want the delay.  To use this recipe to achieve a high-contrast tone without editing, it is recommended to shoot in a good location with harsh shadows and highlights. You need to either be manually exposed in manual mode or you can underexpose your images. You have to set the ISO and shutter speed manually and shoot at aperture f8 or f11. Well, this is just from my experience in achieving the high-contrast B&W effect using this Fujifilm recipe.

You might also be interested in the Dattebayo recipe, which is an upgraded version of the high-contrast B&W recipe. The Dark Diary recipe is suitable for use on the newer Fujifilm X-Trans IV sensor cameras including the Fujifilm X-T4, X-E4, X-Pro3, X-100V, X-S10, & X-T30 II.

Final Thoughts

How do you like this SOOC Fujifilm recipe so far? Sound interesting right? This recipe works great for street photography and is 100% tested to work in daylight shooting. Although you won’t get that heavy contrast similar to the Ricoh GR monochrome, you can still get a similar effect on the Fujifilm! Trust me, there are no rules when it comes to this recipe, you can shoot overexpose, or underexpose based on your creativity and mood to achieve the high-contrast B&W tone.

Dark Dairy High Contrast B&W Custom Settings

Film Simulation

Monochrome +G Filter

Highlight

+4

Shadow

+4

Color

–

Sharpness

-4

Noise Reduction

-4

Grain Effect / Grain Size

Strong / Large

Color Chrome Effect / FX Blue

Strong / Strong

WB / Color Temperature

Auto +R0 -B0

Exposure Compensation

–

ISO

Manual

Clarity

+5

Dynamic Range

DR200

Sample Photos

High Contrast Monochrome Black & White Fujifilm Recipe
SS 1/500, F8, ISO 3200
High Contrast Monochrome Settings Fujifilm
High Contrast BW Monochrome SOOC Fujifilm Recipe

Looking for more Fujifilm Recipes?

FAQs

The Dark Dairy film simulation recipe is a created and fine-tuned to achieve high-contrast black & white tone for street photography

This is experimental, it might and might not work, you can use it for experiment but I have other low light film simulation recipes that yield great results.

Yes, you can use a diffusion filter to add the dreamy effects or any of your favorite lens FX filters. It is alright if you don’t use one for this recipe.

The Dark Diary recipe will look great when shoot overexposed or underexpose when you have there are harsh light and shadow. Go on and explore your creativity.

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6 Responses

  1. I’ve been using this great recipe for the last week or so, but with the clarity at 0 (I’m impatient).

    Really enjoying it and I’m finding it super punchy when I under expose 2 stops.

    Reply

  3. This recepie is amazing! I tried it yesterday and I absolutely love it. My X-T30 doesn’t have clarity option, but the recepie works well without it.

    Reply

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