Canon EOS: to understand the Picture Style for JPG shooters

Many photographers who use the Canon EOS system do not intend to switch to other cameras because of the colors and aesthetics that Canon ensures. After almost a year using Canon I can say that compared to other camera manufacturers I can affirm that Canon gives a more natural result, obviously, however, taking into account some precautions and here I speak directly to JPG shooters.

Picture Style by Canon is the in camera system allowing to choose a particular aesthics for your photos.

By applying an electrical correction process for color tones, brightness, and contours to the signal output from the image sensor with Picture Style you can set what kind of corrections you are going to make before shooting. Picture Style is a function that makes it easy to set the appropriate characteristics for our photos.

PLEASE NOTE: As you know as a photographer I worked with practically all photography brands. I consider Leica's performance exceptional even for compact cameras like the X2 that I have had for 5 years. I have discovered that Fujifilm has a false myth regarding its simulations: at first they seem to you the best on the market but then in the comparative yield you realize that it is exaggeratedly glossy and fashionista, to the point of being cloying and very digital. Those who have been using Fujifilm cameras for years come to such a point of being accustomed to that type of aesthetics that they do not even notice this evidence. At least this happened to me. And to solve at a certain point I had to partly opt out by using a third parts manual lens capable of modifying this aesthetic which to me often seems fake.

In the transition to Canon I saw how I had to get used to a more natural rendering and closer to what was the first phase of digital photography. After that phase I can see how Picture Style which may seem very basic has its strengths in this. Many photographers today are convinced that many simulations are a good thing but I don't believe this at all. And I appreciate that with the EOS system you can count on cameras straight to the point, where the point means taking pictures, without worrying about too many things that do not serve the final result. Less is more guys!

Parameter and EffectDetails

Sharpness Adjusts the sharpness of the image.To make it less sharp, set it towards the [0] end. The closer it is to [0],the softer the image will look.To make it sharper, set it towards the [7] end. The closer it is to [7], the sharper the image will look.

Contrast Adjusts the image contrast and the vividness of colors.To decrease the contrast, set it towards the minus end. The closer it is to [-], the blander the image will look. To increase the contrast, set it towards the plus end. The closer it is to [+], the crisper the image will look.

Saturation The image’s color saturation can be adjusted.To decrease the color saturation, set it towards the minus end. The closer it is to [-], the more diluted the colors will look. To increase the color saturation, set it towards the plus end. The closer it is to [+], the bolder the colors will look.

Color tone The skin tones can be adjusted.To make the skin tone redder, set it towards the minus end. The closer it is to [-], the redder the skin tone will look. To make the skin tone less red, set it towards the plus end. The closer it is to [+], the more yellow the skin tone will look.

Picture Style and Style Effects

Auto The color tone will be adjusted to suit the scene. The colors will look vivid, especially for blue skies, greenery, and sunsets in nature, outdoor, and sunset scenes.

Standard The image looks vivid, sharp, and crisp. This is a general-purpose Picture Style suitable for most scenes.

Portrait For nice skin tones. The image looks softer. Effective for close-ups of women or children.

Landscape For vivid blues and greens, and very sharp and crisp images. Effective for impressive landscapes.

Neutral This is for users who prefer to process images with their personal computer. For natural colors and subdued images.

Faithful This is for users who prefer to process images with their personal computer. When the subject is captured under a color temperature of 5200K, the color is adjusted colorimetrically to match the subject's color. The image is dull and subdued.

Monochrome For black-and-white images.

By being a JPG shooter iyt is fundamental to me to choose the best solution for my photography. What I am using? After several experiements I think for my kind of photography that aims to a more realistic result I choose Faithful. In this way I still have the freedom to adjust with my favorite preset that I created for my photos. The guide above says that the image you obtain is dull and subdued: this is the reason why I don’t recommend to use the Picture Style in a flat mode. I set the Faithful filter with 7 (max.) for sharpness and +2 for Saturation. In this way I already obtain a photo similar to positive film.

With Faithful I can see that images are almost identical to the actual colours when shot under standard daylight conditions and this is an important aspect especially to obtain a natural skin tone of the subjects, considering that most of the time I am photographing people.