Film Recipe - Modern Movies (Classic Chrome)

Modern Movies: Colour Film Simulation Recipe

Modern Movies

Modern Movies is designed to emulate the clean, high-definition colour grading found in contemporary digital cinema. Built on the Classic Chrome film simulation, this recipe enhances contrast and colour to produce JPEGs that feel polished, sharp, and stylised—but not overdone.

It’s a versatile, modern look—bold enough for city streets or landscapes, but still flattering for portraits. There’s clarity without harshness, saturation without cartoonish colour, and a contrast curve that makes the subject pop without crushing the scene.

This is digital cinema—not a nod to nostalgia, but a profile for photographers who want their JPEGs to feel present and cinematic.

Fujifilm JPEG Settings:

• Film Simulation: Classic Chrome

• Grain Effect: Weak/Small

• White Balance Shift: R:+2 B:-3

• Highlights: +2

• Shadows: +2

• Colour: +2

• Sharpness: +2

• Noise Reduction: -4

Notes on the Settings

Classic Chrome is the ideal base for this look—natural in tone, with a cinematic flatness that becomes powerful when you build colour and contrast around it.

WB Shift R:+2 B:-3 pushes the image into a stylised modern palette: warm in the mids, clean in the shadows. It balances skin tones while adding a cooler edge elsewhere—true to digital cinema colour grading.

Highlights +2 / Shadows +2 adds dynamic shape without feeling crushed or blown. It gives the image tonal strength—great for architecture, street, and golden-hour portraits alike.

Color +2 lifts saturation without turning it loud. Colours feel rich but believable, echoing the vibrancy of digital film without falling into over-editing territory.

Sharpness +2 and High ISO NR -4 create a detailed image that holds together well even in low light. The texture stays intact, and edges remain defined.

Grain Effect: Weak / Size: Small adds just a whisper of grit. It’s subtle enough that it doesn’t pull focus, but it gives the file a slightly organic presence—like a digital sensor that remembers film.

Artistic Reasoning

Modern Movies is for photographers who want their JPEGs to carry clarity, colour, and structure straight from the camera. It’s ideal for street, portrait, and landscape work—especially when the scene already feels like a movie frame.

It doesn’t chase nostalgia or vintage tones. It’s made for now. Clean edges, confident colour, and just enough cinematic drama to make your subject feel like it’s part of something bigger.

NOTE: Some settings may not be available on every Fujifilm Camera

Modern Movies: Colour Film Simulation Recipe Film Simulation Recipe (Sample Images)

If you prefer Shooting RAW:

Those of you who prefer to shoot RAW and edit with the more advanced latitude this gives you may be interested in my current set of Professionally designed profile-based Lightroom and Adobe Camera Raw Presets.