Picture style question

When shooting RAW, does what picture style you have selected (custom as well) affect the image at all? Thanks!

zguyach wrote in post #16795194
When shooting RAW, does what picture style you have selected (custom as well) affect the image at all? Thanks!

Picture styles are used to tell the camera how you want it to process the image when it creates the jpeg. Raw files are simply raw data as captured, they are never changed by anything, they are not processed into an image in the camera and picture styles have no effect on them.

HOWEVER, picture styles do affect the embedded jpeg that the camera produces to display an image on your LCD. This jpeg is generated because you cannot display the raw data on the screen. Whilst this embedded jpeg you are viewing is not the image you will be working with later, it is worth remembering that what you see on your screen has been created with the picture styles. The histogram is also based on this jpeg, so can vary accordingly.

This means it is best to keep your picture style neutral / faithful if you are using the LCD image or histogram to evaluate what you have shot.

In addition, if you process your RAW file in DPP, it will use the picture style you shot with as your default.

zguyach wrote in post #16795194
When shooting RAW, does what picture style you have selected (custom as well) affect the image at all? Thanks!

What software do you use to process your Raw files?

As was said above, the Canon Raw processing software Digital Photo Professional (DPP) uses the in-camera settings, including the Picture Style, to render the Raw preview, although with Raw files all things can be adjusted to taste.

But with non-Canon software, your images will be processed with whatever that software uses as its "default" settings (or you can make your own preferences the "default").

Raw processing is what some of us refer to as the "digital darkroom"...we prefer to add our own creative processing, rather than just accept the out-of-camera jpeg!

I you are new to Raw shooting/processing, I'd encourage you to install DPP (if you are shooting a Canon camera) and use DPP to experiment!

I use photoshop cs5 but I do have a copy of lightroom that I haven't learned yet. The reason I ask is I was reading another thread and a few people suggested changing picture styles. I have a 7d with a newly acquired 300L f/4 and the pictures just do not seem as sharp as I would like, even when using a tripod.

I shoot RAW and have the picture style set to FAITHFUL so that what I see in the LCD is as unprocessed as possible. Then I can do the processing I need in Photoshop.

The one situation where I might want to use another Picture Style is if I'm shooting RAW+JPG because someone wants to see a picture before I get a chance to process it. I used the Style editor that comes from Canon to create a Picture Style that works for me on the JPGs but still use the RAW for post processing.

zguyach wrote in post #16795394
I use photoshop cs5 but I do have a copy of lightroom that I haven't learned yet. The reason I ask is I was reading another thread and a few people suggested changing picture styles. I have a 7d with a newly acquired 300L f/4 and the pictures just do not seem as sharp as I would like, even when using a tripod.

Lightroom uses the same processing "engine" that Photoshop uses (Adobe Camera Raw), so what you see in Camera Raw will be the result of the software processing as well as any edits you apply.

As to your pictures coming out too "soft", well, there are different considerations there. Of course there is the factor of you, the photographer, applying good techniques/skills to your shooting. But let's say your skills are "up to par". Your Adobe Raw software will apply "a bit" of sharpening, known as "input sharpening", but it won't be at the level of an out-of-camera jpeg set to a Picture Style such as Landscape, or even Standard. But if you change the Picture Style in the camera, it won't change the view in the Adobe software.

Seriously, I'd suggest you install and play with DPP, it's free, and it's the best thing out there for playing with the in-camera settings, you can open a Raw file and switch your Picture Styles, your White Balance, things like Contrast, Saturation and Sharpening (as well as Noise Reduction)...

And then, you can go back to your Adobe software and see if you can apply things to match or exceed what you see in DPP. Be aware that the Adobe Sharpening by default is pretty mild, play with it to see what works for you! Noise Reduction by default is at "zero", so you may want to play with that if you are shooting with high ISOs...

Something else to be aware of: the Adobe software has "Camera Calibration Profiles" which have been designed to "imitate" your camera Picture Styles, although some of us find them mild by comparison, and in fact a lot of us (me included) are happy staying with the default "Adobe Standard" as a "starting point" for many or most of our photos.

In the Adobe CS5 Camera Raw, you can find the Camera Calibration tab towards the right of your tool tabs, the third from the right (before Presets and Snapshots).

ah thanks for the info! I used the DPP software before. I do use the Raw editor in cs5 for every image I want to consider a keeper.

I know I am not a great photographer, but the objects I was shooting are still objects using center point focus. That is my main point of concern honestly. Practice, practice, practice!

zguyach wrote in post #16795555
ah thanks for the info! I used the DPP software before. I do use the Raw editor in cs5 for every image I want to consider a keeper.

I know I am not a great photographer, but the objects I was shooting are still objects using center point focus. That is my main point of concern honestly. Practice, practice, practice!

Yeah, practice! And then you can use DPP as a "reference" for questions like you brought up in your original post.

Ideally/theoretically, anything that looks "good" in the out-of-camera DPP shot can be improved using the Adobe software, but again, that calls for practice!!!

zguyach wrote in post #16795394
The reason I ask is I was reading another thread and a few people suggested changing picture styles. I have a 7d with a newly acquired 300L f/4 and the pictures just do not seem as sharp as I would like, even when using a tripod.

If you are shooting RAW changing pictures styles will have no effect on the sharpness of your images.

There are two possible causes of your images being soft. First is an equipment/settings issue resulting in the shot actually being soft and the second is that you have not done the necessary post processing.

RAW files are just that, raw. They need to be processed using a RAW processor like Lightroom, Photoshops' ACR or Canon DPP. Part of that processing will be to apply sharpening.

One way to find out if the issue is an equipment/settings issue or a post processing issue would be to set up the camera on the tripod and take the same shot in RAW and JPEG. If the JPEG shot is soft then the RAW will be too and it is a settings problem. If the JPEG is sharp but the RAW is soft then you aren't post processing the RAW file properly.

Sharpness can be a fickle beast to tame. Especially on the 7D. The more aggressive AA filter demands some initial default sharpening to get the best of your images. You may want to start by setting up your adobe camera raw defaults for sharpening. I use a default of 60 with a radius of 1 and luminance NR at 8 as my defaults and adjust from there if needed. The amount of sharpening is going to depend on the image you're working with though. There are entire books dedicated to the art of sharpening.

Of course this is just post-processing. You also have to contend with the quality of the light, lens softness, focus accuracy, motion/subject blur, lens flare, atmospheric distortion, and other such things as well. If you want to solve a softness problem, it would really help if you could post some samples.

If I were trying to assess the sharpness of a telephoto lens then I would do so while shooting a target that is between 50 and 100 meters away at most. I know that this is very close, but it will minimise any atmospheric distortion. I would also not do it on a hot sunny day outdoors, as even at 50m you can be suffering from considerable heat induced distortion. For example a hot sun, especially over grass, at only 50m can lift the apparent position of an image by well over 5mm (55 yards and a quarter inch in old money). As well as moving the apparent position of the image it will distort and soften edges.

Alan