Vespers: A Fujifilm X100V Film Recipe (In-Camera JPEG + Lightroom/RAW Guide)
- Edward Leung
- Jul 30
- 3 min read
Inspired by a photo I came across of a soaring Gothic church interior, stained glass overhead, a gilded altar glowing at the far end, that particular kind of high-dynamic-range treatment that somehow holds detail in both the brightest window and the darkest pew. Vespers is my attempt to engineer that look into something shootable on the X100V, in-camera, no HDR bracketing required.
Fujifilm X100V Film Recipe
Velvia gives the color punch this look needs, Classic Chrome would be too muted for the jewel-toned glass and gold. DR400 and a shadow/highlight tone pull do the heavy lifting on dynamic range.
Setting | Value | Notes |
Film Simulation | Velvia/Vivid | Extra color punch and saturation to match the jewel-toned glass and gilded surfaces. |
Dynamic Range | DR400 | Holds detail in both the bright stained glass and the dark nave corners. |
Highlight Tone | -2 | Softens the brightest window glass to prevent clipping. |
Shadow Tone | -2 | Lifts the darkest corners to reveal detail, HDR-style. |
Color | +2 | Pushes saturation for richer gold, red, and blue tones. |
Sharpness | +1 | Crisp architectural line work. |
Noise Reduction | -2 | Preserves fine stonework and glass detail. |
Grain Effect | Weak, Small | Just enough texture without roughening the clean HDR look. |
Color Chrome Effect | Strong | Deepens saturated tones in shadow areas. |
Color Chrome FX Blue | Strong | Enhances blues in stained glass and shadow falloff. |
White Balance | Auto, R: +3, B: -5 | Warms the image toward the gold altar light. |
ISO | Auto (160-3200) | Tripod-friendly interior shooting; keep it low where possible. |
Exposure Comp. | 0 to +1/3 | Slight lift to protect shadow detail before in-camera tone mapping. |
Lightroom / RAW Preset
The RAW equivalent reconstructs the same dynamic-range-heavy, richly saturated interior look, with strong clarity and a warm/cool split separating the gold highlights from the cooler shadow corners.
Setting | Value | Notes |
Profile | Adobe Color | Neutral starting point. |
Exposure | +0.10 | Small lift to open shadows before shaping the curve. |
Contrast | +25 | Strong overall punch. |
Highlights | -60 | Recovers the brightest stained glass. |
Shadows | +55 | Aggressive lift for HDR-style shadow detail. |
Whites | -15 | Keeps the glass from blowing out. |
Blacks | +5 | Prevents crushed, detail-less blacks. |
Temperature | +12 | Warms toward the gold altar light. |
Tint | +3 | Slight magenta push to balance warm gold against glass blues. |
Vibrance | +25 | Boosts jewel tones. |
Saturation | +8 | Overall richer color. |
Clarity | +25 | Strong local contrast -- the defining trait of this HDR architectural look. |
Dehaze | +10 | Cuts through the haze of a vast interior space. |
Vignette | -15 | Draws the eye toward the gilded altar. |
Tone Curve
A lifted-shadow, controlled-highlight curve that mimics HDR tone-mapping rather than a classic film S-curve: Highlights decrease, Lights slight decrease, Darks increase, Shadows strong increase.
HSL / Color Mixer
Red Hue +5, Saturation +10 · Orange Hue +5, Saturation +15 · Yellow Hue -5, Saturation +10 · Green Hue -5, Saturation -5 · Aqua Hue +5, Saturation +5 · Blue Hue +5, Saturation +15, Luminance -5 · Purple Hue +5, Saturation +10 · Magenta Hue +5, Saturation +5
Split Toning
Highlights: Hue 48, Saturation 12 (warm gold). Shadows: Hue 212, Saturation 10 (cool teal-blue). Balance +5, favoring the warm highlights slightly.
Detail
Sharpening: Amount 60, Radius 1.0, Detail 30, Masking 10. Noise Reduction: Luminance 15, Detail 50, Contrast 0, Color 25, Color Detail 50, Smoothness 50.
Calibration
Red Primary Hue +5, Saturation +5 · Green Primary Hue -5, Saturation 0 · Blue Primary Hue +5, Saturation +5.
Settings built to reproduce a warm, gilded, high-dynamic-range interior look while staying practical for everyday street and travel scenes too.
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