Recreating Fujifilm's "Color Chrome" Effect in Affinity Photo

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Hello!

Back in 2017 Fujifilm launched their 1st medium-format mirrorless camera: the Fujifilm GFX50S. It contained all the Fujifilm "film simulations" that us Fujifilm camera users have all come to know and love, but it gained an extra effect: the Color Chrome effect.

This effect was inspired by Fujifilm's own FUJICHROME Fortia SP film, which promised even greater contrast and colours in comparison to the world-famous Velvia 50. Quoting Fujifilm-X:

Quote

Usually, when photographing colors such as red, orange, or green under high-contrast conditions, it’s easy for an RGB color channel to become overloaded – as if individually too bright. Under these conditions – with contrast and brightness at a maximum – there is no room for a full range of tones and the scene tends to look a bit flat. But with Color Chrome switched on, subtle differences of tone can be detected and enhanced. The result is a punchy, high saturation image that doesn’t lose its impact and depth.

This Color Chrome effect was later ported to newer Fujifilm-X cameras, such as the Fujifilm X-T3 and the X-T30. Unfortunately, us older Fujifilm-X users (I have a Fujifilm X-T2) may never see this effect on their camera. 

So I've resolved to try and recreate it, which is pretty easy to do in Affinity Photo.

https://www.iancylkowski.com/blog/2020/7/4/fujifilm-color-chrome-effect-how-to-recreate-in-affinity-photo

The tutorial utilises Affinity Photo's LAB colour mode in the Curves Adjustment tool, which is so, so handy. I've also created two Affinity Photo Macros; both speed up the creation of the LAB Colour Boost layer as well as the creation of a Saturation Mask. I've attached them here.

Here's some before and afters.

This is the sample image I used, straight out of camera using the Provia (Standard) film simulation.

This is the image with some minor edits I made (change from Provia to Velvia, largely).

This is with my Color Chrome effect applied.

Do let me know if this tutorial is OK to link to here, or not.

I hope this proves useful! Let me know if the effect needs some improvement.

LABColourBoost.afmacro SaturationMask.afmacro