7D - PICTURE STYLE - Increase Sharpness

I take mostly outdoor stuff, wildlife and landscapes, etc. For that reason I use the Landscape picture style 90% of the time.

• What will happen if I increase the Sharpness setting in Landscape from its default of +5 to its maximum of +7?
• Will this significantly improve image sharpness in-camera?
• Or will it create issues with pixels, as with over-sharpening in say PSE?

Titanium Rocket wrote in post #12723608
I take mostly outdoor stuff, wildlife and landscapes, etc. For that reason I use the Landscape picture style 90% of the time.

• What will happen if I increase the Sharpness setting in Landscape from its default of +5 to its maximum of +7?
• Will this significantly improve image sharpness in-camera?
• Or will it create issues with pixels, as with over-sharpening in say PSE?

First of all, if you are using Photoshop Elements, Picture Styles only apply to JPGs. If you are shooting RAW, the Picture Style data is embedded in the file, but not applied. On the other hand, if you use Canon's DPP software, then the Picture Style will be applied to both the RAW and JPG images.

That said, increasing the sharpenss from +5 to +7 will, er, increase sharpness. I suggest you just experiment with the settings, and see if it produces images that you like.

Titanium Rocket wrote in post #12723608
• Or will it create issues with pixels, as with over-sharpening in say PSE?

Almost certainly this. You're much better off having a medium to low level of in-camera sharpening, then doing it yourself in PSE later. You'd be even better off doing as tgara suggests and shooting raw.

You run the risk of getting the mosaic pattern that pops up on the 5D2 and 7D, if you in-camera sharpen, especially at higher ISOs. That could very well be an issue with DPP too. I shoot raw and convert, so I am not sure whether this happens in-camera too.

I leave the sharpening at 4 or below (most of the time at 2), and I use CS3 for sharpening when I am completely done with everything else.

Thanks Tgara, just learnt something new.

So if you open a RAW file in Elements then convert to JPG, what happens. Is the Picture Style data then still applied?

Titanium Rocket wrote in post #12724007
Thanks Tgara, just learnt something new.

So if you open a RAW file in Elements then convert to JPG, what happens. Is the Picture Style data then still applied?

I believe no.

Titanium Rocket wrote in post #12724007
Thanks Tgara, just learnt something new.

So if you open a RAW file in Elements then convert to JPG, what happens. Is the Picture Style data then still applied?

No! The only thing that is applied is the camera's WB as the "As Shot" WB. Nothing else from Canon is applied. All the rest of the parameters are Adobe's defaults (unless you have changed them, in which case they are your defaults.)

Titanium Rocket wrote in post #12724007
Thanks Tgara, just learnt something new.

So if you open a RAW file in Elements then convert to JPG, what happens. Is the Picture Style data then still applied?

I don't think so. I think the JPG will have the same settings as the RAW file.

The workflow I use is to (1) shoot RAW, (2) post-process the images on my iMac (I use Aperture), and then, if necessary, (3) use Aperture on my iMac to convert a RAW file to a JPG file. I can tell you that the JPGs that are produced from this workflow are much better than JPGs that come out of the camera for the same shot, regardless of Picture Style setting. This makes sense, because the file converters in Aperture (or PSE) are much more powerful and sophisticated than those in the camera.

Shooting RAW intitially also gives you much greater latitude to make your own adjustments before converting to JPG because the RAW file contains so much more data to work with. When shooting native JPG, on the other hand, most of the image data is thrown out as the photo is taken, and therefore limits your ability to make adjustments. For example, it's easy to adjust the White Balance on a RAW shot. But try doing it on a JPG, and it turns into a big mess.

Thanks everyone - a few more boxes ticked.