Terracotta: A Fujifilm X100V Film Recipe (In-Camera JPEG + Lightroom/RAW Guide)

Ancient architecture in Florence bathed in midday sunlight, showcasing warm terracotta hues and quiet blues with a bleached stone effect, captured using an Astia-based Fujifilm X100V recipe and Lightroom preset.

Marble facade detail in Florence showcasing geometric inlays, highlighting differences in light exposure before and after restoration work.

The Colosseum, Rome — a comparison of travertine arches before and after editing, highlighting the terracotta tones under the midday sun.

Side-by-side comparison showcases the terracotta facade of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence, highlighting the bell tower and dome under a pale midday sky.

Terracotta is built for bright, high-sun travel photography of stone and marble architecture — the kind of light you get at midday in Florence or Rome, where the sky goes pale and the buildings do all the color work. The aim is a soft, slightly bleached highlight roll-off so the sky and stone highlights don't just blow out, a warm ochre/terracotta push through the midtones, and a light overall desaturation that keeps blues and greens quiet so the warm stone tones read as the subject.

Fujifilm X100V Film Recipe

Astia/Soft is the base here rather than the Classic Chrome/Negative/Eterna bases used elsewhere in this archive — it renders gentle contrast and soft, true-to-life color that suits bright open-sky scenes better than the punchier simulations.

Setting	Value	Notes
Film Simulation	Astia/Soft	Gentle contrast and soft, faithful color — well suited to bright, open midday light.
Dynamic Range	DR400	Keeps detail in both the pale sky and the shaded undersides of stonework.
Highlight Tone	-2	Bleaches highlights gently rather than letting bright stone/sky clip.
Shadow Tone	-1	Slight lift so shaded stone doesn't go flat or muddy.
Color	+2	A small boost to keep warm stone tones from reading too pale.
Sharpness	0	Neutral — the marble/stone texture does the work on its own.
Noise Reduction	-3	Preserves fine texture in stone detail.
Grain Effect	Weak, Small	Just enough to feel photographic, not gritty.
Color Chrome Effect	Weak	Gentle extra depth in saturated ochre/terracotta tones.
Color Chrome FX Blue	Off	Midday sky is meant to read pale and quiet, not dramatic.
White Balance	Daylight, R: +3, B: -3	Pushes warm without tipping into an unnatural orange cast.
ISO	Auto (160-3200)	Bright daylight scenes rarely need to push higher.
Exposure Comp.	-1/3 to 0	Protects highlight detail in strong midday sun.

Lightroom Preset

Setting	Value	Notes
Profile	Adobe Color	Neutral starting point.
Exposure	-0.20	Slight pull-down to protect bright stone/sky highlights.
Contrast	+18	Moderate punch without losing the soft midday character.
Highlights	-45	Bleached, gentle roll-off in the brightest stone and sky.
Shadows	+20	Opens up shaded archways and undersides of cornices.
Whites	-12	Keeps the sky from clipping to pure white.
Blacks	+6	Prevents shaded stone from crushing to flat black.
Temperature	+14	Warms the whole image toward ochre/terracotta.
Tint	+4	Small magenta push to keep the warmth from turning sickly yellow.
Vibrance	-10	Mutes the overall palette so warm stone tones lead.
Saturation	-6	Slight overall desaturation for a bleached, sun-worn feel.
Clarity	+15	Brings out stone and marble texture.
Dehaze	+6	Adds a touch of punch to the pale midday sky.
Vignette	-14	Gentle edge darkening to frame the architecture.

Tone Curve

A soft, gently lifted S-curve — highlights pulled down slightly for the bleached roll-off, blacks lifted slightly so shaded stone keeps detail. Highlights: slight decrease. Lights: slight decrease. Darks: slight increase. Shadows: slight increase.

HSL / Color Mixer

Red Hue +3, Saturation -5. Orange Hue +5, Saturation +5 (warm stone/terracotta is the star). Yellow Hue -5, Saturation -5. Green Hue -10, Saturation -20 (mutes stray foliage/trim). Aqua Hue 0, Saturation -15. Blue Hue +5, Saturation -20, Luminance +5 (soft pastel sky, not vivid). Purple Hue 0, Saturation -10. Magenta Hue 0, Saturation -8.

Split Toning

Highlights Hue 35, Saturation 12 (warm terracotta). Shadows Hue 200, Saturation 6 (pale, cool stone-shade). Balance +10, favoring the warm highlight side.

Detail

Sharpening — Amount 45, Radius 1.0, Detail 30, Masking 10. Noise Reduction — Luminance 15, Detail 55, Contrast 0, Color 25, Color Detail 50, Smoothness 50.

Calibration

Red Primary Hue +8, Saturation +5. Green Primary Hue -5, Saturation 0. Blue Primary Hue 0, Saturation 0.

The Lightroom preset is provided as an .xmp file for direct import into Adobe Lightroom. White balance is intentionally left out of the preset — it's a scene-relative "as shot" adjustment, not a portable absolute value.

Terracotta Lightroom Preset.zip

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