Episode 005: Quick Editing Guide
Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo
“How do you edit your photos?”
The question I get asked the most is how I edit my photos. Let me start by saying what camera and lens I use, and we can go from there. I use a Fujifilm X-T4 and 35mm f/1.4 lens for the vast majority of my photographs and have since 2020. Unless I'm shooting black and white, I shoot in RAW and edit in Lightroom Classic. With the Fujifilm X-T4 and other Fujifilm cameras, you can add the Fujifilm color profiles in post via Lightroom. Those are great options, and I do use them sometimes. However, I mainly use The Archetype Process film color profiles.
These Archetype Process film profiles are expensive. There is no way around it if I'm being honest. The Kodak pack I have is a staggering $200. It is $600 if you want all three of their packs that include Kodak, Fujifilm, and Monochrome profiles (for reference my truck is worth $250 lol). They aren't presets though like Mastin Labs or other "film" presets, they are color profiles. This means they won’t change anything, but the colors of your photo as far as I can tell.
I feel they make a noticeable difference to the overall tone and colors of my photos, and I find them worth it if you use them a lot. Also, I'm not in any way affiliated with them. I don't think they cater to other styles of photography, because they market their product to wedding photographers and not people like me.
You can find them HERE if you’re interested.
With that out of the way, let me get to the base edit that I apply to all my photos. I start with the crop which is a 1.299x1 aspect. I read that it was close to 645 medium format a long time ago, and I have stuck with that ever since. Next, I'll warm up the photo to a temp of 6000 and a tint of +15. Then I'll raise the exposure to +0.75, contrast to +25, and drop the highlights to -80 and whites to -40. Lastly, I set the tone curve to a point curve to medium.
With the base edit set on the first image and applied to all the other photographs, I'll do some minor tweaks on a case-by-case basis. However, I don't find myself doing too much more. The changes depend on the time of day, if a photo is overexposed, and the weather. For example, if it was bright and shot the photo at f/1.4 to get some separation, I won't need to raise the exposure. Another example would be if it was cloudy, I might need to warm the photo up more than 6000. White balance depends on your camera, so keep that in mind. With my little Sony RX100V, I normally raise that number higher but edit everything else the same way.
I find the Archetype Process color profiles look great with the Sony RX100V, so if you’re coming from something other than a Fujifilm camera, I think you should be fine to use them. I'll add an example below before we get to the before and after photos.
Now on to the photos the first is before and afters with the base edit and Archetype Process Ektar 100 -1. This has been my go to edit over the last few months.
Next up, here are some edits with different color profiles. Each one is cropped and edited the same way with only the base edit. You can see how much a difference the color profile makes to the photo. First is how I would edit the photo with Archetype Process Ektar 100 -1 and then a few more examples with Fujifilm color profiles. Since Substack has a length limit, I can’t share all ten here. I have a Dropbox with ten examples if you want to see them all. Some are Fujifilm and others are Archetype, so you get a better idea.
Check it out HERE
As I was saying above, I have more before and after photos. However, due to the length limits on Substack, I can’t add them. I’ll put them over on Instagram and Twitter for y’all. I hope this little guide helps, and if you have any questions I’ll be in the comment section answering questions. If you did like this or found it helpful, give it a like on here. That helps me out here on Substack with their algorithm and discover page.
Love y’all
-Jason
You're definitely one of the most trend-setting photographers out there right now and you've always been very open about your process. Love that - and I know a lot of people appreciate it. Bravo, man!
Hey Jason! Joe from The Archetype Process here. These look really great and I love the write up. Thanks so much for taking the time to do it. I love seeing the profiles on work like yours and can’t wait to see more!