"Picture Style" on Canon 5D Mark II

I just bought (and received) the Canon 5D Mark II. I hope that I love it, because it was a BIG investment.

Kendra, my associate photographer, and I have been talking a lot about color of images right out of the camera. It's interesting how each camera takes images a little differently. We wanted to find a way to make sure they are more similar an ready RIGHT OUT OF THE CAMERA...less editing = less time = less cost.

Here's my experiment tonight.
I went into my camera and changed the "picture style" several times to see how the colors would change. The camera was set at ISO 800, f/1.8 at a 1/40 on HIGH RES jpg (NOT RAW).

Hopefully, this will be helpful to someone other than myself. I learn better by talking through things, so I figured I'd do it on my blog.

PLEASE feel free to continue this conversation by writing comments on here about these settings...anything you observe in my images or things you've done on your own.

The image below was set with the camera setting "standard"
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 0
Color Tone - 0




The image below was set with the camera setting "portrait"
Sharpness - 2
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 0
Color Tone - 0




The image below was set with the camera setting "landscape"
Sharpness - 4
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 0
Color Tone - 0





The image below was set with the camera setting "neutral"
Sharpness - 0
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 0
Color Tone - 0




The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 0
Color Tone - -3




The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 0
Color Tone - 3




The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 0
Saturation - 3
Color Tone - 0




The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 1
Saturation - 1
Color Tone - 0




The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 1
Saturation - 2
Color Tone - 0



The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 1
Saturation - 1
Color Tone - 0





The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 1
Saturation - 2
Color Tone - 0





The image below was set at
Sharpness - 3
Contrast - 3
Saturation -1
Color Tone - 0

Format

What format do you shoot in? Do you set your camera to JPEG or RAW?

I shoot in RAW. The best reason to do this is because if you totally botch something up, you can usually fix it. But, that's not why I recommend it.

Truthfully, you should shoot like you're shooting film. Meaning: try to shoot it right the FIRST time! Editing takes a lot of time and effort, so you don't want to have to make MORE work for yourself.

Not only can you fix mistakes with RAW, you can make your images more dramatic. Use Lightroom, Aperture and/or Camera RAW to edit before you photoshop. It's AMAZING what you can do! Feel free to send an image or two that you'd like corrected or enhanced and I'd be happy to show some for demo.

the best camera to buy?

I would love to sometime down the line do some photography - can you give me some insight into the best camera to buy?


I always ALWAYS recommend Canon. :) Go for the Digital Rebel. It's great!

From what I have experienced (no offense to anyone who likes other equipment), Canon is best for action and photojournalism. The lenses are really high quality and they focus fast...even in low light.

My two favorite lenses are:
70-200 f/2.8 with IS
24-70 f/2.8

These are super basic and all you NEED. Other lenses are great fun...but, if you could only pick two, these are the ones to get.

My first year, I bought a Tamron. It was GARBAGE! I did not like it. It focused on the wrong places and got me into some trouble. Also, during ceremonies, it was hard to focus in darker places. This is not a problem you want to have.