Black and white · 2016

ACROS+R (red filter)

Black skies, white clouds, high drama.

Short answer

ACROS+R applies a digital red filter. Blue skies go nearly black, white clouds separate sharply and haze is cut through. It is the most dramatic black and white option Fujifilm offers, and it is unkind to skin.

Based on: Neopan 100 Acros with a red filter
Type: Black and white
Introduced: 2016
Cameras with this simulation: 32

The red filter was the landscape photographer’s theatrical tool. Ansel Adams used one for the darkest of his skies. It exaggerates the tonal distance between anything blue and anything warm, and the effect is impossible to miss.

What it changes

Blue is driven down hard, often by two stops or more of tonal value. A clear sky becomes near black. Atmospheric haze, which is mostly scattered blue light, largely disappears, so distant mountains sharpen.

Warm subjects go the other way: brick, skin, sand and autumn leaves all brighten. That is fine on a wall and disastrous on a face, where every warm blemish lightens into visibility while the surrounding skin turns pale.

When to use it

Big skies with structured clouds. Desert and mountain landscapes with haze to cut. Hard architecture against blue. Anything where you want the sky to be the loudest thing in the picture.

Never for portraits. On an overcast day it also does very little, because there is no strong blue for it to act on — use ACROS+Ye or plain ACROS instead.

Suggested starting settings

Highlight	-1
Shadow	+1
Grain	Weak, Small
Clarity	+2

Common questions

Why does my sky still look grey with ACROS+R?

Because the sky was overcast. The filter works on blue; a white sky has none to remove. It needs a clear or partly clouded blue sky to do anything.

Does the red filter lose detail?

It can. Pushing blues that far down can block the sky into pure black in a corner. Setting Highlight −1 and watching the histogram usually keeps it in bounds.