Best Fujifilm Recipes for Cloudy Weather

Cloudy weather does not automatically mean bad photography weather.

In some situations, I actually prefer it.

The light becomes softer, harsh shadows disappear and streets, landscapes and people can take on a completely different mood.

But I don’t use one Fujifilm recipe for every cloudy day.

My choice depends mainly on whether I want to keep the natural colour, add some warmth or remove colour completely.

That gives me three main options:

Cloudy situation	Recipe I would use
Natural landscapes	Mountain Reality
Mountains and outdoor travel	Mountain Reality
Soft colour with some warmth	Cinematic Gold
People and city scenes in soft light	Cinematic Gold
Rainy streets	Old Black & White
Very grey weather	Old Black & White
Moody street photography	Old Black & White
Cinematic scenes	Old Black & White

The weather may be the same, but the photograph I want can be completely different.

1. Mountain Reality for natural cloudy landscapes

For landscapes and outdoor travel photography, my first choice is often Mountain Reality.

I created it for the kind of conditions I often encounter in mountain areas: clouds, changing light, green valleys, lakes, wooden buildings and dramatic landscapes.

Compared with Cinematic Gold, it is less dreamy and less golden.

That makes it useful when the landscape already has enough atmosphere and I don’t want to push the colours too far.

Clouds can actually be a big part of a mountain photograph.

They create layers around peaks, soften distant landscapes and can make a scene feel much more dramatic than a completely clear blue sky.

Mountain Reality lets me keep that natural feeling.

When I choose Mountain Reality

I would use it for:

• mountain landscapes
• lakes
• alpine villages
• cloudy valleys
• wooden chalets
• mixed outdoor light
• people inside wider landscapes
• travel photography where I want believable colour

It is especially useful when I still want the photograph to feel like the scene I actually saw.

2. Cinematic Gold when I still want warmth

A cloudy sky doesn’t mean I always want a muted photograph.

Sometimes the soft light is exactly what makes Cinematic Gold work.

The recipe gives the scene more warmth and a slightly faded character without requiring strong golden-hour sunlight.

I particularly like that when photographing people, streets, older buildings, markets or everyday travel scenes.

Soft cloud cover can be useful with people because there are fewer harsh shadows across faces.

Cinematic Gold then gives me some warmth while the light itself stays soft.

When I choose Cinematic Gold

I would use it when:

• people are important in the photograph
• the scene still contains warm or interesting colours
• I want softer contrast
• I’m photographing streets or cities
• I want a warmer, nostalgic feeling
• the cloud cover is soft rather than dark and dramatic

It is not my choice when I want the most neutral result.

But if I want mood without losing colour, it is often the recipe I reach for.

3. Old Black & White when the weather becomes the mood

There are cloudy days where I stop caring about colour altogether.

That is where Old Black & White comes in.

I particularly like it when the weather is rainy, heavily overcast or the scene already feels cinematic.

Wet streets, umbrellas, coats, architecture, reflections and people can all become stronger once colour is removed.

Instead of trying to make a grey day look warmer, I can lean into what the weather is already doing.

This is especially effective for street photography.

A scene that feels flat in colour can become much more interesting once the photograph is mainly about contrast, shape and atmosphere.

How I choose between the three

My decision is usually very simple.

If I want natural outdoor colour, I start with Mountain Reality.

If I want warmth and softer colour, I choose Cinematic Gold.

If I want mood without colour, I choose Old Black & White.

I find that much more useful than choosing a recipe purely because an app says the forecast is cloudy.

Cloud cover can range from thin, bright clouds to a completely dark sky.

The subject matters just as much.

A person walking through a city, a mountain disappearing into cloud and a rainy street may all be photographed under overcast skies, but I would not necessarily want them to look the same.

Why cloudy light can be good for photography

Cloud cover acts like a large source of soft light.

That can make it useful for people and street photography because shadows are less harsh.

It can also help in forests, villages and other scenes where direct sunlight would create large differences between bright and dark areas.

For landscapes, clouds can add texture and atmosphere to the sky.

The downside is that colour and contrast can sometimes become flatter.

That is exactly where choosing the right recipe becomes useful.

Instead of trying to create one universal cloudy-day look, I decide what I want to preserve:

natural colour, warmth or atmosphere.

Cloudy weather with people

When people are part of the photograph, I am more likely to stay in colour unless the scene clearly asks for black and white.

Soft cloudy light can be very flattering because there are fewer hard shadows.

Cinematic Gold works particularly well for me in that situation because I still get some warmth.

But if the person’s silhouette, clothing, movement or surroundings are more important than their colours, Old Black & White can produce a much stronger photograph.

Again, there isn’t one rule.

The recipe follows the scene.

Cloudy forests

Forests can be difficult in bright sunlight.

You can get small patches of very bright light next to extremely dark shadows.

Cloud cover often makes the whole forest easier to photograph.

For a natural outdoor look, I would lean towards Mountain Reality.

If the forest has warm brown tones or people inside the scene, Cinematic Gold can also work well.

And when the forest becomes dark, wet or almost mysterious, black and white becomes much more interesting.

This is one setting where I would happily test several recipes rather than assuming one is always best.

What about rain?

Cloudy and rainy weather overlap, but I don’t treat them as exactly the same thing.

Rain introduces reflections, wet surfaces and often darker conditions.

That pushes me towards Old Black & White more often.

But colour can still work beautifully in rain, particularly when there are lights, colourful clothing or warm buildings in the scene.

So even during rain, I would not automatically switch to monochrome.

My favourite Fujifilm recipe for cloudy weather

I don’t have one universal favourite because cloudy weather covers too many different situations.

For landscapes, I prefer the more natural rendering of Mountain Reality.

For people, cities and softer warm colour, I like Cinematic Gold.

For rain, dark streets and scenes that already feel cinematic, I choose Old Black & White.

That gives me three clearly different looks rather than three recipes trying to do almost the same thing.

And that is generally how I prefer to use Fujifilm recipes: a small number of looks that each solve a different photographic problem.