First off, a great big thank you to everyone who voted for my maltese penguin shot in the last camera settings challenge, and also to everyone who participated.
It's now my turn to set a new challenge. Do some of the camera settings intimidate you? Do you want to learn how to develop your photography skills and learn how to use your camera effectively without always going back to the “auto” function? These challenges are for you!
I'm going to go back to one that was originally set by @jsw109 (i hope you don't mind Jeff!) a couple years ago - using the picture style settings in your camera to effectively "pre-process" your shots. (If you are a post-processing addict like i am, then the skills you will learn here are critical if you are ever challenged to post a shot that is "sooc" ;p)
I am going to blatantly copy the instructions that Jeff posted back in 2012. The original challenge is here:
For this challenge, you will need to find Picture Styles if you have a Canon, or Picture Control if you have a Nikon (if you have some other dSLR, you should probably google for instructions, or consult your manual) in your camera's menu. You will need to select one you can modify (with Canon, you'll select User Defined). You can do monochrome, Standard, Portrait, Vivid, whatever you want, but you must modify the settings. You modify them by increasing them +1 to +3 or decreasing them -1 to -3.
Here is an example of one i did last year. This was shot using the monochrome setting, with both sharpness and contrast as high as they would go. I also used the in-camera red filter.
You don't have to do monochrome... you can do color. But the rule is, you cannot do ANY edits after you press down on the shutter release. Pretty simple, because there are only 2 rules: 1) Make a modification in camera and 2) No edits after the shot is taken. It's a good idea to experiment using the same aperture and shutter speed on all shots to see how increasing and decreasing different things affects your photo. Feel free to play with ISO, white balance, etc as well. You want the end result to appear to have had some degree of post processing, but have all of it done IN CAMERA.
NOTE - for this challenge you need to shoot using JPEG format, not RAW. Make sure to set your camera accordingly if you're used to shooting RAW.
Experienced photographers who are knowledgeable in this particular setting are encouraged to offer “kind and constructive” suggestions on the posted entries. Those entering this challenge want to learn and improve.
This challenge starts tomorrow, Monday September 1st, and will go through to Wednesday September 10th. All photos must be taken during these dates to be considered. Enter as many as you would like- the idea is to practice & learn. TAG YOUR PHOTO CSC14-13 AND post your picture in this thread to receive feedback from other experienced photographers specific to this challenge.
I will then select the finalists and you will have 2 or 3 days to vote.
Expect to receive constructive suggestions on how to improve your skills.
How to post your photo on this link:
1) Go to your page that has the photo you wish to post.
2) Copy the “share” code in the bottom right section of that page.
3) Return to this thread and paste the code under comments
Have fun and I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with!!!
Hopefully will find time on this one. Question. Will shooting in RAW be problematic because a mono shot will load in color, so you have to convert to bw again. I will try to remember to switch setting on camera to jpegs only.
@darylo That way, if you forget to change your settings back(which i sometimes do) you won't miss getting your next shot in raw and end up swearing at yourself (which I sometimes do) LOL.
So I'm sorry that I already put up four entries for this challenge. I had no idea you could change all of those properties in picture style and it really, really excited me, so I kind of went crazy taking pictures and testing it out! I love doing things in camera =) Here are my entries, please feel free to critique them if you feel like it. I shot the the first two in my first round of trying out the technique, I feel that my second try & the last two photos were a lot better. What do you think?
I have only just found these settings (and keep losing them) but did not realise that they all made such a difference. I thought landscape was the shape of the photo! (blush.) A new world is opening up for me. :-)
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Thanks so much!
I have only just found these settings (and keep losing them) but did not realise that they all made such a difference. I thought landscape was the shape of the photo! (blush.) A new world is opening up for me. :-)
Monochrome, Sharpening +3, Contrast 0, Brightness 0, Filter - off,
Toning B/W
Monochrome, Sharpening +3, Contrast +1, Brightness +1, Filter off,
Toning B/W
Monochrome, Sharpening +3, Contrast +1, Brightness +1, Filter off,
Toning Red 4