Picture Style

[baddness]

I shoot with a Canon and there are different picture styles:
Standard
Landscape
Portrait
Faithful
Monochrome
Canon also has on their download page other picture styles: Emerald, Twilight, Nostalgia, Clear, Studio Portrait, Snapshot Portrait.

I had been shooting in standard, found that the images weren't as sharp as they could be so I started shooting in faithful. I had read somewhere that most photographers with Canons shoot in standard but boost the contrast and saturation which default is set to zero.

I'm not sure if other cameras have picture styles. But, if they do, what one do you use?

[Ben H]

Are you shooting RAW or JPG?

[Ben H]

I ask because picture styles are only applied in camera to JPG's.

If you are shooting RAW, it does not really matter which style you use, as the RAW data is the same in each case. The camera just adds some meta-data that says "picture style XX was used for this shot".

The only software that can read this is the DPP software that comes with the Canon cameras - programs such as Lightroom or Photoshop/Camera RAW just ignore it, and display the RAW data as is - hence it might look flatter than what the camera showed on the screen.

I shoot RAW and post-process afterwards, so I do not use, or even care about the picture styles. Having said that, when someone replicates the picture style settings into Lightroom presets, I'd certainly have them on hand for some quick options when reviewing my images.

If you shoot in JPG, and thus have the picture styles irrevocably burned into your pics, then the best advice I can give is to try different settings on test shots, and get a feel for what they do, and which work best for particular shots according to your preferences. In many cameras, you can edit the picture styles, and create custom ones as well, so you can tailor them to your tastes.

If you don't do any post processing at all, then you'll want to bump up some of the default settings to have images that stand out from the raw data (which can leave images rather flat without post-processing).

Just find what works for you best.

[Travis]

^^--this is solid information


Ben H. answered this perfectly WHILST I was busy doing something else....lol..

[PaulaLynn]

^^--this is solid information


Ben H. answered this perfectly WHILST I was busy doing something else....lol..

and I was oot to lunch

[baddness]

Lol That's pretty stupid of me isn't it. I didn't know that if you shoot in raw, picture style doesn't matter. I just read somewhere that you can boost the settings in the different picture styles and it saves some time in post processing. Me being lazy and not that knowledgeable with photoshop, thought, what a great idea. Shows that I'm a dummie lol