What's the "best" Picture Style?

[jks_photo]

As stated above..... What is the "best" picture style?? Best as in the one picture that yoiu would set your camera to and leave it there.....


or if you have event or scene specific picture style that you use please share......


thanks!!!!

[Daniel Browning]

Neutral. I like it the best because the colors are accurate.

[neuroanatomist]

The answer is the same as the answer to the questions, "What is the 'best' exposure?," and, "What is the 'best' composition?" Simple. It's the one that you like for the shot in question.


It is worth pointing out that like white balance, if you shoot RAW you can select whatever picture style you want in DPP with no penalty (and conversely, if you shoot JPG, changing picture style degrades the image). So, shoot RAW and fiddle in post, if you're so inclined. Also note that only DPP can use the Canon picture styles (including the extra ones available for download, like Autumn Hues and Twilight). Other software package do have similar options, though.

[Carlos Lindado]

This is an interesting question actually, because it makes me wonder what "picture style equivalent" a picture would have when you open it in PS, LR, or any other program apart from DPP.

[jks_photo]

@ Daniel.... I personally use Faithful.... i do believe it is quite similar to neutral... can

[Daniel Browning]

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it makes me wonder what "picture style equivalent" a picture would have when you open it in PS, LR, or any other program apart from DPP.

All other raw converters ignore the picture profile settings; however, Adobe does have camera calibration profiles designed to emulate Canon's picture profiles. The tone curve part of the picture profile can be matched pretty easily, it's the color-matrix (hue-twisted I think) that is more difficult to reproduce.

@ Daniel.... I personally use Faithful.... i do believe it is quite similar to neutral... can't quite discern the difference... can you??

They look the same to me too, I could go for either one.
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[Carlos Lindado]

Hi Daniel, so opening a picture in another program would be like opening the same picture in DPP and setting the picture style to "neutral"?

[HDNitehawk]

Not that it matters to me, because I do not use my CS5 to modify and convert raw files.


But...I thought when Adobe updated to CS5 they were claiming some improvement with CS5 being able to read picture styles from Canon.


Or did I just dream this.


As for Styles I use Standard, for no other reason that on occasions I will take a lot of pictures at work and Standard is fairly balanced style for generic shooting. Pictures for work get no PP, they are what they are.


Other than that, it really doesn't matter which style I use, like most everybody has said....Go RAW and you can adjust it however you want with DPP.

[Jayson]

I use faithful. The reason I use that is for some reason I remember a Chuck Westfal tip saying that Faithful renders everything they way it appears, but I may be wrong and Daniel may have it right. I would trust him on this one, but that is what stuck in my head.

[neuroanatomist]

Here's what Canon has to say about Neutral and Faithful:


Neutral is one of the most important Picture Styles for the serious photographer. Contrast is reduced, color saturation is lower, and in-camera sharpening is virtually eliminated. Images are perfect for further image-editing later at your computer. Equally important, the Neutral setting matches the default "look" of images from previous Canon EOS cameras without Picture Styles. Again, it's easy to increase the level of sharpening, contrast, color saturation, or shift the color tone using the camera's menu.


"Faithful" is another Picture Style for reproducing the colors of the subject exactly as they are. The "Faithful" Picture Style is set to record colors that are colorimetrically the same as the actual colors of the subject under 5200K lighting conditions.Like the "Neutral" Picture Style, it emphasizes further image editing in your computer. Color saturation and contrast are deliberately toned-down. However, rather than trying to provide a distinctly neutral color appearance, images in the Faithful setting will have a warmer "look" that may provide a better starting point with various subjects, including still life images.