Making Black & White Adjustments

Your X Series camera makes it easy to create the kind of warm- or cool-toned effects that used to require complicated chemistry for film photographers. Let’s discover Black & White Adjustment.

In the days of film photography, photographing and processing a black & white negative was only half the story. The second half was printing that negative – a process that gave photographers yet more opportunities to make their mark using creative darkroom techniques and fancy chemicals.

Nowadays, we don’t have to get our hands quite so dirty when we make images in black & white, although we can achieve just as much creativity. In fact, built into many X Series cameras is Black & White Adjustment, or Monochromatic Color as it’s called in later camera models, which lets us recreate warm- or cool-toned effects that would have traditionally required specialist papers or developer chemistry.

Studious use of these adjustments can help you convey a specific mood or feeling that enhances the image further. Applying a warm tone, for example, can give images a vintage, sepia-style tone, which can enhance scenes and portraits that you would like to have an aged feel. Similarly, the warm tone could be used to convey warmth of emotion, which may make it suitable for portraits of the bride and groom at a wedding. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the cool tone effects can be applied to make a scene feel colder. Take a look at the example image below; the icy feel is undeniably heightened by the blue tone of the image.

© Daniel H Bailey

On cameras with Black & White Adjustment, make sure to select a monochrome Film Simulation mode, then in the Image Quality Setting menu:

• Select B & W ADJ. from the camera’s main menu.
• Choose a value on the Warm/Cool scale.

For cameras with Monochromatic Color:

• Select IMAGE QUALITY SETTING > MONOCHROMATIC COLOR.
• Choose a value on the WARM-COOL and M-G (Magenta-Green) axes.

Black & White Adjustment or Monochromatic Color are powerful tools when used in combination with features like Highlights, Shadows, and Grain effects. Use them in your own black & white settings, which you can save as custom presets for instant recall from the Q Menu

Your Next Steps

• CHALLENGE Experiment with the Black & White Adjustment or Monochromatic Color features on your camera and post a favorite image to social media, with the hashtag #MyFujifilmLegacy and #monocolor. You can also submit your work here for a chance to be featured on our social media channels.
• LEARN Download our booklet See the World in Black and White with FUJIFILM X Series

Header image © Daniel H Bailey