Custom settings & RAW+JPEG - Canon 40D

[Adrian]

We have a 40D and we are presently exploring its capabilities.

There are three user programmable settings on the selector dial on top of the body, with which one can set preferences for sharpness, contrast, saturation and colour tone for each of the three programs.

I wonder if a more experienced digital photographer can give me advice on what I may use for portrait settings? I am not shooting RAW, but have chosen at the moment JPEG's at their highest quality setting. I am not looking for studio type settings, but more "grasp the moment" pictures of my partner when we have minimal equipment with us. An example occurred at the weekend, when we came across a bluebell wood in dappled sunshine (after we had been out for Sunday lunch).

The preprogrammed portrait mode simply takes the sharpness back to 2 (from 3 for standard and 4 for landscape) and like all of the program modes leaves everything else at zero. Presumably the aim of Canon's automatic portrait mode is softer skin tones, but to me the result of these settings is not especially pleasing on this camera.

Obviously I can experiment but advice from those more expert than me would be welcome. Thank you.

[xeliex]

While I am not an experienced photographer, it is nice to put those programable functions to good use.

I tend to shoot as "RAW" as I can and do subtle changes later in post processing.

In DPP, the software the comes with the Canon, there is access to a bunch of "picture styles" which can be loaded on the camera, or done in the DPP program. A few more are available for download. They are fun to play with.

What I would recommend for you to do, since a pleasing portrait if subjective, is to shoot with "normal" (default adjustments) and then try things out in DPP. Change the sharpness, saturation, etc to your liking in there. Experiment with a bunch of pictures. Once you find the combination that you like, just implement on board the 40D.

Hope that helps a bit.

Elie

[Adrian]

Thanks. I have not really explored the Canon software as I use Aperture for organizing and editing my shots. However, I will take a look at the options available.

I tend not to shoot RAW as I prefer to try to get my pictures right on the camera, rather than in post processing. This is purely a time factor point for me.

[McQ]

Good advice about using Canon's DPP to experiment with custom adjustments for sharpness, saturation, etc. These are really quite subjective and dependent on one's personal style, so it's hard to recommend something that would work for everyone. Using DPP is the best way to get instant feedback on the effect of adjustments while keeping the shot identical, even though I personally do not use DPP for anything else. It's the only way to exactly replicate how your camera processes RAW files.

My opinion is that even if you can find a custom setting that you're happy with 95% of the time, it's nice to have a RAW file as a backup just in case you need to adjust things later. I mean, what if you happen to capture one of those rare moments...even if on just a casual outing? You might therefore try using RAW+JPEG if space is not too tight.

[Adrian]

McQ - thank you for your advice. I must admit I am a bit puzzled by this as I have a film not DSLR background (and somewhat amateur at that).

Aperture does allow me to edit my JPEG's quite effectively if I wish to. Various colour alterations, two types of sharpening, white balance, contrast etc are all available along with clone tools and numerous other repair options. I am wondering what extra facility I get with RAW?

I am aware that RAW delivers the unprocessed camera data and that shooting JPEG's involves a degree of in camera processing. I have accepted this, partly, I must admit, based in reading somewhat controversial figures such as Ken Rockwell (who advocates shooting JPEG's, not worrying too much about camera specifications, and concentrating on getting a good artistic shot in camera). This approach seems logical to me as I want to take good photographs, not be a good graphic designer with many hours spent poring over CS3 (which I do not have!)

I did try the RAW plus JPEG option, but then I got mightily confused when I downloaded the images from the camera. I was not sure how to organize and process the RAW files.

[McQ]

Originally Posted by Adrian

Aperture does allow me to edit my JPEG's quite effectively if I wish to. Various colour alterations, two types of sharpening, white balance, contrast etc are all available along with clone tools and numerous other repair options. I am wondering what extra facility I get with RAW?

Exposure compensation and superior shadow/highlight recovery are notable facilities, although all of the options you mention are improved when performed on a RAW file. Take a look at the page on advantages of the RAW file format (as compared to JPEGs) for more examples. Don't get me wrong though, I am not saying that RAW is an absolute must--just that it is nice to have as an alternate version when absolutely needed. Most people can do just fine with JPEGs.

Originally Posted by Adrian

I did try the RAW plus JPEG option, but then I got mightily confused when I downloaded the images from the camera. I was not sure how to organize and process the RAW files.

I usually just organize all photos by their time stamp, where photos from a given day are stored in a "YEAR-MONTH-DAY" folder, and each image has a name of "Image year-month-day hour.minute.second image#" within that folder. This naming convention can be customized using a number of different download programs. There's various ways to name them, so it's really a matter of personal preference. Just find a system and stick to it.

I store the RAW files along with JPEGs, or in a subfolder. You can basically pretend the RAW files do not even exist until you have some reason to use them over the JPEG (such as with a blown exposure or very incorrect white balance). There's no need to process them unless needed. This way, at worst things are no more complicated than shooting in JPEG, but you have the flexibility of RAW for select shots.

[Adrian]

McQ - thank you for your advice. Up until yesterday I have merely been operating Aperture on a 30 day trial, but I have now bought it. It organizes photos into events (days basically), folders, albums and so on in a multitude of flexible ways.

Where I think I may have confused myself is with the RAW images. I understood - and I now think this is probably wrong - that if I shoot RAW and JPEG together, that the JPEG is simply a processed version of the RAW image - and will ignore whatever custom settings I have chosen on the camera. Thus, when downloading, I was under the impression that I have to process the RAW image.

However, your advice to shoot both and simply ignore the RAW image until I need it, does appeal to me, especially for shoots where I may expect to take valuable photos.