Over the last few months, I’ve spent a lot of time testing Picture Styles – Canon’s version of Fujifilm’s in-camera film emulations.
I’m not typically a JPEG shooter. I prefer to grab my RAW files and edit them in Lightroom, but in a few cases, using film-like simulations was very efficient and convenient.
In this video, I show the results of those tests and try to explain the benefits of shooting with Picture Styles. It’s also a nice option for those Fuji users if they ever have to pick up a Canon camera and shoot film-like emulations. Picture Styles don’t have the legacy of Fuji making their own film, but it gets you pretty close.
You’d think shooting monochrome with only two “colors” – black and white – would be easy. But photographers’ opinions on black and white film and presets are almost as strong and varied as their opinions on camera companies.
I took a sunny, spring evening in downtown Jackson, Michigan, to try out this black and white emulation. Maybe it was the lighting, maybe it was the simulation, but this was good stuff.
For a contrast-y film simulation, this T-Max picture profile was a good walk-around monochrome standard. If you want to shoot JPGs and not worry about editing, this film emulation is reliable and consistent.
My one suggestion with this profile is to try cranking up the ISO setting on your digital Canon to get more of a filmic grain.
But the deep blacks and good microcontrast? It’s all here.
I try so hard to not be trendy. But here I am rucking around the neighborhood.
It is good exercise, and I walk all the time anyway.
As my joints ache, I notice that there’s a time of year, in the early spring, when the trees and bushes haven’t budded yet. At the edges of the day, in the morning and evening, the trees cast these stark, defined shadows on buildings.
I tried to think of a name for this phenomenon. The best I could do: bare limb shadows.
Spring has finally – and for real – sprung here in Jackson, Michigan.
I woke up early on a Saturday morning, just as the sun was coming up, to walk around Sparks County Park (popularly known as the home of the Cascades) to hear the geese fighting in the water and watch the last of the frost melt away.
So we headed back to the hotel and just chilled. It wasn’t worth it outside.
Detroit Institute of arts
This was my jam.
The DIA is a world-class art museum, and the light was just perfect inside to get some dramatic shots inside the main hall and near the Diego Rivera mural.
After the museum, we ate at Hop Cat and watched the Detroit Qline come and go.
Heading home
A few more photos as we finish up at the hotel, have some diner-style breakfast, and head back to Jackson.
All images captured on a busted-ass Canon M6 and a variety of EF-M lenses.
Last year, Jaime and I visited Monterrey, Mexico, for work.
My wife and I have been to Mexico several times, but Monterrey was new for us. On the first day, we visited the Macroplaza – the main square in the heart of the city, home to museums, government buildings, and a riverwalk.
It was busy: tons of people strolling the main plaza, selling goods, and enjoying the city. What’s so fun about traveling is to be a stranger in a strange land, and to observe.
Be there with a camera and capture what’s interesting.
After a river boat ride on the Santa Lucia riverway into Parque Fundidora, we strolled through the Barrio Antigua neighborhood just in time to browse a flea market on the street.
We grabbed dinner and stepped inside the largest antique store we’d ever seen – a multi-story museum of collectibles.
Colors, light, sound, smells – it was a great first day in a new Mexican city.
Photos shot on the Canon M6 and EF-M 32mm and 22mm lenses.
Dione Tripp doesn’t just make art—she builds it, reconstructs it, salvages it, and reimagines it.
Growing up in a family of carpenters, inventors, and tinkerers, she was surrounded by the idea that anything could be created with the right tools and vision. Her father was into music, her mother into art, and somewhere in between, Dione found her own voice—one that blends mediums, textures, and emotions into something distinctly her own.
Her artistic journey began with singing, painting, and the idea that she might one day become an art teacher. But she quickly realized her passion wasn’t in teaching—it was in making. Hanging art at the old Thunderbird Café, creating gifts, and submitting pieces for Jackson’s Cool City initiative, she steadily built her presence in the local scene.
Over time, her work evolved beyond traditional canvases into something more layered and more experimental. Even a routine car repair becomes an opportunity. When she gets her brakes changed, she keeps the parts, seeing in them a potential for reinvention.
“How far can you push an object to be a sculpture and not be too crafty?” she asks—a question that continues to shape her process.
Dione pulls from her environment—barn scraps, salvaged materials, even discarded brake parts—to create works that challenge viewers’ perspectives.
“If you’re in a plane, you can see the world differently. I want to express that: the dangers, the fears, the freedom,” she says.
Jackson, Michigan, remains central to her creative world. She studied there, works there, and thrives in its grassroots art community.
“It’s like a blank slate, and we can create our own answers,” she says.
With two to three projects per year, she’s constantly exploring—be it through book illustrations, her new clothing store, or sculptural ideas. While she’s open to branching out, she doesn’t feel limited.
“The only thing limiting me is myself—both in terms of my art and my success,” she says.
Looking ahead, Dione is driven by a desire to amaze herself and find collaborators and appreciators along the way.
“I want to be able to toss ideas around, learn new skills, and try things out,” she says.
Whether it’s trading art, experimenting with new media, or diving deeper into sculpture, she’s on a path of constant evolution—one where every scrap, stroke, and salvaged element has the potential to become something memorable.
I’m aiming to try out the popular film simulations for Canon cameras – like the popular Fujifilm emulations on the X series cameras. While Canon cameras do not come with film emulations baked in, they are available via Canon’s Picture Style editor and camera profiles.
This Kodachrome-style film simulation comes from Cinescopophila: a giant pack of 150+ picture styles featuring a ton of favorites – almost too many to practically try out. But seeing Kodachrome in the list, I had to give it a spin on a recent trip with the family to Detroit.
Unlike the Fujifilm simulation from Thomas Fransson, these Kodak colors are more my vibe: warmer, much better skin tones, and a healthy amount of contrast.
And those reds? They POP. The greens are nice too. There’s none of that washed-out blandness from the Pro Neigh High series.
Overall, this is a reliable film simulation if you’re a JPG shooter or don’t want to worry about editing. Most of these came out correct as-is, with a little tinkering on a few images for exposure and contrast.
Do these photos mimic Kodachrome? Not really. But for my style of shooting, and even some video, these are a good film-like preset to get you started. With a bit of adjusting, you can get this slide film emulation looking just the way you want.
There are plenty of other Kodachrome versions to try, although many come at a cost. This picture style from Vision Wrangler comes with 150 more to try, with everything from wacky out-there stuff to tried-and-true black and white film emulations.
Ten years ago, I introduced my first big creative portrait project called Artists In Jackson. Through that project, I got to know our local artists. Together, we told their stories and let our community know we have a talented bunch of people right here in our hometown.
And – bonus! – I met and made some good friends along the way.
Since then, a lot has changed. I worked on a spiritual sequel, Musicians In Jackson, and then the pandemic hit. Here we are five years later, and I’m happy to announce I’m working on my next big portrait project, Artists In Jackson 2.
This one will be a little different. Instead of disappearing for six months and re-emerging with a fancy book and a bunch of pictures, I want to treat this project more like a platform.
Here’s how it works:
Over time, I’ll work on photo subjects and help tell their stories.
You will see these profiles periodically as I work on them and get them done. You don’t have to wait for a book – you’ll see my progress as it’s happening, either on social media or my website.
And it will just keep going. There’s no end, there’s no finish line. Artists In Jackson becomes a platform to tell stories, not a website or a book.
At a point in time, when I have enough profiles done, I can collect them all and make a book or a ‘zine of some kind.
But that’s not the goal. The goal is to tell stories about creative people in our community.
And I have some profiles already set up to publish – one, reaching back several years, on Dione Tripp (above). Others I have a head-start on and you’ll see those soon. As always, I’m open to your ideas and tips on creative people in and from Jackson.
I hope you’ll join me in this new experiment. I’m excited to once again share these homegrown artists, their work, and their stories.
The Law of Fuck Yes or No states that when you want to get involved with someone new, in whatever capacity, they must inspire you to say “Fuck Yes” in order for you to proceed with them.
“What have people left behind,” Sean asks in this video, which is a great discussion about how street photography can include remnants of people if not people themselves.
I’ve successfully launched four email newsletters this year. Not bad for starting totally fresh.
Content-wise, I’ve covered everything from sunshine to digicams and shared proud parent moments and books I’m into. Along the way, I’ve also added some new subscribers (thanks!).
Catch some of the action by subscribing here. I hope to see you in your inbox.
I’m back with another Thomas Fransson film emulation for Canon cameras. This time, it’s time for a Fuji film simulation.
Thomas released Pro Neigh High, a Fuji-inspired picture profile pack for Canon. I loaded Pro Neigh Standard, one of the options, into my Canon 5D Mark II and took a few laps around the yard on a cold winter morning to test it out.
And? It’s fine. Lots of strength in the blues, but otherwise, nothing remarkable.
Street Photography Test
Then I took a warm morning and drove up to Leslie, Michigan, to test Pro Neigh Standard, one of the other options in Thomas’s film pack. There, I was truly in my favored conditions: high contrast, lots of light:
And again, nothing remarkable except those bright, saturated blues. Especially against bright buildings and white/beige, the blues truly pop with this film simulation.
Fuji film – actual film – tends to highlight the cooler colors like green and blue. But with this emulation, it’s mainly all about the blues. Every other color takes a backseat.
One additional test I could do is in the summertime, with foliage and greenery, like I did in my Kodak test last summer.
Testing Skin Tones
Another test includes some people photos to test skin tones. I brought along Pro Neigh High to church with us to grab some images of the kids, both inside and outside. Here is where Pro Neigh High does not shine:
Skin tones are, frankly, not great. Everything has this beige undertone, not at all natural or pleasing. In fact, the Pro Neg emulation takes away everything I love about Canon colors. Instead, most everything is flat and unappealing.
After these tests, this pack won’t be one of my three custom Canon picture profiles on any of my cameras. But that’s no shade on Thomas – he does great work, and maybe there are Fujifilm lovers out there who think this film emulation is just what they need, especially for vide work.
Grab the profile on Thomas’s Gumroad page and test it out yourself. He also gives a quick run-down on how to install these film simulations on your camera on his YouTube channel.
Our middle daughter, Madelyn, was born to perform.
Last year, she had a starring role in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. And for the past few months, she’s been working on writing and performing her own song for our elementary school’s winter concert.
In late January, she hit the stage – and nailed it.
The whole concert focused on well-being, kindness, and self-realization. Madelyn’s song centered on overcoming anxiety and doing your best in spite of obstacles. She stood there, spotlighted on the stage in front of the whole school, and sang her heart out.
My wife wrote about the community collaboration it took to get this concert up and running with the school’s integrated arts teacher, and the benefits of music for the kids:
The impact of music in elementary education—especially in today’s post-pandemic world—cannot be overstated. Children are facing higher levels of anxiety, decreased attention spans, and increased dependence on screen-based dopamine stimulation. Public schools, now more than ever, need programming that fosters resilience, emotional regulation, and connection.
Don’t we all need a bit more of those, too?
Thankfully, our elementary school was open to the idea, and we saw it pay off at the concert.
It’s a crazy world out there. Thank goodness for music.
