Get to grips with... PICTURE STYLES
Do you want sharper and more colourful pictures? Then you’ll need to tuck into your camera’s picture profile menu, as Marcus Hawkins explains…
Aren’t picture styles just cheap effects, like miniature or fisheye?
No, they’re much more important to the look and feel of your pictures. A picture style is a preset combination of image processing parameters that enables you to control the colour, the contrast and the sharpness of your pictures. Instead of having to make adjustments to each parameter individually, you can simply select a different picture style according to the subject you’re shooting or the look you’re trying to achieve.
I don’t have a Picture Style setting on my camera, why is that?
Each camera manufacturer has their own brand name for processing presets. Picture Style is Canon’s, which we’re using here for brevity. Nikon has Picture Control, while Sony uses Creative Style. They’re also known as Picture Modes in the Olympus system. There is some variation in the number and effects of these presets between different manufacturers, too. For example, all Canon SLRs, from the entry-level 1200D to the professional 1DX, offer the same seven preset Picture Styles, while Sony’s A7R includes more than 15 Creative Styles. They typically all offer the same basics styles, though, with options ranging from a standard colour setting to a black-and-white one, and profiles tailored to both portrait and landscape photography.
Do picture styles set the aperture and shutter speed too?
No. It’s easy to confuse picture styles with a camera’s automatic scene modes, as they both share similar terminology, such as Landscape, Portrait, and Black and White. But picture styles affect only the look of your picture and have no control over the other camera settings.
In this respect, picture styles work in a similar way to the White Balance setting on your camera. Both simply dictate how the camera processes an image before it’s saved to the memory card. It’s for this reason, that it’s important to get these settings right whenever the camera is set to record JPEGs. With JPEGs, the processing effect is saved inside the file, making it harder to correct later if you want a different look. However, a picture style can be easily changed if you shoot raw files instead.
What is a raw file?
As the name suggests, a raw file is the raw, unprocessed data output by the camera sensor. Although physical camera settings, such as aperture, shutter speed and flash, are locked in at the time of shooting, you can alter processing options such as picture
styles and noise reduction when you convert the raw file later. This is one of the potential drawbacks with shooting raw files instead of JPEGs: you can’t easily share the photo after you’ve taken it, as you have to process the file yourself. You an do this either in-camera (with compatible bodies), or by using the camera manufacturer’s software or a program like Lightroom.
Although third-party software enables you to change the processing parameters, only a camera manufacturer’s dedicated raw software, such as Canon’s Digital Photo Professional or Nikon’s Capture NX, automatically recognises the picture style used when the image was taken and applies this as a default when you open the image. You can of course choose a different preset, and save this as a new JPEG or TIFF. In fact, you can do this as many times as you like, as the original raw file remains untouched – you’re simply saving a processed duplicate of it each time.
If I can change the picture style later, why do I need to get it right in-camera?
As the choice of picture style affects the colour, the contrast and the sharpness of an image, it can also affect the histogram shape. This is
“You can simply select a different picture style according to the look you’re trying to achieve”
because the image preview you see on the back of the camera, and the histogram alongside it, is a JPEG representation of the image, even if you’re shooting raw files. To be able to judge the exposure and dynamic range of an image effectively, it’s better to set the desired picture style first.
What if I don’t like any of the picture style presets?
You can fine-tune the parameters. Need to tone down the sharpness? Simply dip into the picture style menu and lower the sharpness setting. Want a more dynamic black and white image? Try boosting the contrast for your camera’s Monochrome picture style. You can save the customised picture style as a new one.
Can I add more picture styles?
Yes, you can cook up your own picture styles using a camera manufacturer’s dedicated software, then transfer them to your camera. For instance, Canon offers Picture Style Editor with its cameras, while Nikon includes Picture Control Utility as part of its ViewNX 2 and Capture NX 2 software. Camera manufacturers also occasionally release new picture styles that can be downloaded from their websites, and there are some third-party ones aimed at filmmakers.
Why do filmmakers get their own picture styles?
Think of movies as moving JPEGs, with the picture style applied to the footage. To offer the maximum flexibility for processing footage and editing a movie, filmmakers need a picture style with reduced contrast, colour saturation and sharpening. Spotting an opportunity, companies like Technicolor (www.technicolor. com) sell movie-friendly picture styles, although manufacturers are catching up and offering their own movie profiles.