denkel

[denkel]

Hello Everyone,

I have been taking photographs for nearly 70 years now, but old enough to know that you never stop learning. Although familiar with the current technology, and prefer it to film, there are certain procedures that I find a little baffling. My concern at the moment is with 'Picture Styles'. It is a marvelous feature on the current digital cameras and it appears that the only difference between them is the image settings for "sharpness", "contrast", "saturation" and "colour tone". You choose what 'Picture Style' you prefer for the photo you are taking. When a new 'Picture Style' is introduced by Canon we are requested to download the relative file. Why can't Canon just give us the image settings? There must be something that I have missed.

[Stan]

Re: denkel

welcome Denkel

Picture styles are only applied to your jpeg images and to an extent raw files but only if you open them in the Canon programme DPP. It is far better to ignore them, shoot RAW and then process in photoshop or elements so that the photo ends up the way you like it and not how canon think it should be

stan

[Robert Scott]

Re: denkel

My concern at the moment is with 'Picture Styles'. It is a marvelous feature on the current digital cameras and it appears that the only difference between them is the image settings for "sharpness", "contrast", "saturation" and "colour tone". You choose what 'Picture Style' you prefer for the photo you are taking. When a new 'Picture Style' is introduced by Canon we are requested to download the relative file. Why can't Canon just give us the image settings? There must be something that I have missed.

There is more to a Picture Style than just the four settings you mention. If you examine images taken with different Picture Styles you might notice that there are differences in how each style treats specific colours that can't be dialled in by adjusting the colour saturation or tone. The differences are quite subtle, so you might need to look closely.

Canon provides free software - Picture Style Editor – which lets you create your own styles with colour effects as weak or as strong as you want. You can even create a 'colour pop' style which converts all except a selected colour to monochrome.

[Robert Scott]

Re: denkel

Picture styles are only applied to your jpeg images and to an extent raw files but only if you open them in the Canon programme DPP. It is far better to ignore them, shoot RAW and then process in photoshop or elements so that the photo ends up the way you like it and not how canon think it should be. stan

Here is an extract from our article on file formats published in the current (April-June 2016) issue of EOS magazine.

All the images you shoot will probably end up as 8-bit JPEGs as this is the format most photographers use for printing on photo paper, posting on websites and saving on hard drives. The question is how you get to this stage.

If you select a JPEG image quality on your EOS, all the processing is done in the camera. Some photographers say this puts the camera in control, but that is not strictly true. There are a lot of adjustments you can make to obtain the images you want.

If you elect to shoot a RAW file, you are postponing the image processing until you have the file on a computer. The advantage here is that you can make changes and then go back to the original RAW file if they do not work out. There is no second chance with a JPEG. (Actually, you can make a few adjustments to a JPEG image on a computer, but the results are rarely as good as working on a RAW file.)

It really comes down to how important it is for you to squeeze the last ounce of quality from your images and how much time you want to spend in front of your computer screen. If you are shooting family pictures or capturing holiday memories, JPEG is probably a good choice. If your aim is exhibition prints or travel photos for publication, shooting RAW files might be the better option.

[denkel]

Re: denkel

Thank you for your opening sentence. That was the answer I am looking for, there is obviously more action taking place in the image with each individual picture style than just the adjustments that the photographer can make.

[Nathaniel]

Re: denkel

Welcome denkel. I am sure you will enjoy the forum.

[digiman]

Re: denkel

Welcome to this great forum. I look forward to seeing some of your images soon,

Garry

[Dave61]

Re: denkel

Welcome to the forum, you will get great help and advice from the members if you ask.

[2Beers]

Re: denkel

Welcome to the forum

[tesarver]

Re: denkel

Welcome to the Forum

Tom

[John Liddle]

Re: denkel

Welcome Denkel - as you have already seen, plenty of good advice and guidance available here!