Custom Canon Picture Styles

[Lestat]

Anyone using any custom picture styles they would like to share?
load a raw file into picture style editor, make it the way you like it, or the "effect" you like (such as flat or punchy contrast, or what ever) Alien skin will let you do the same to the raw file then save it.

here is how to load them onto your camera.
http://marvelsfilm.wordpress.com/200...free-download/

the turorial says to turn on Live View while using the EOS utility... do NOT do that, you can not load a profile while in live view shooting mode via USB. leave it off.
i think what they meant to say was choose remote camera shooting when you open the EOS Utility, but dont turn on live view on the camera or PC, you cant load a profile with it on.

share ones you like to use.

these are really particularly useful and fun with the 720p/1080p video of the 5D MKII and 7D.

here are some sites i found where people are sharing theirs.
many of these guys are pro's or semi pro photographers or videographers.

http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.ph...p=50063#p50063

http://www.cinema5d.com/viewtopic.ph...st=0&sk=t&sd=a

there are huge discussions about using "flat" profiles as it makes post processing easier.
that may be true but they look like crap.... thus the need for post processing.
if you do not want to use post processing for your video or photos... dont use the flat or they look completely washed out and have the milky haze look because the contrast is very low.

Kevin Wangs Flickr page with probably the most amazing style sets around
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin32...7619857622654/
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*UPDATE 03.10.10*

I have had NUMEROUS requests from non forum members who found this thread via google, who are asking for the Kevin Wang Custom Style Set.

first let me say that with my own research and a comment made by someone else we do not feel that these are truly Mr. Wang's styles.
Some have a copywrite of another person. who may or may not be affiliated to Mr. Wang.

I have warned people that these styles are VERY light and color sensative and do not produce the same effect that some of Mr. Wang's pictures show. (sometimes)
Most noticeably was the Japanese style compared to his pictures. they are not even close.
frankly i could never mimic what Mr. Wang is doing and if these are his then he is a master of light and color to produce the pictures he is vs. our pictures.

so with all that being said, again, i have no way to confirm if these are or are not Mr. Wangs styles but they are a killer set of Styles.
Any chinese characters in the folders, or files MUST be changed to english if you use English or non Chinese versions of Windows.

here is the original link where i found the files.
they are clean and clear of any viruses.

http://cid-5b2d4be014f1380c.skydrive...r?sa=561974666

[Jimmer411]

I could see how those would be useful for video. Sadly Canon decided to leave video out of the 50D

I tend to just use camera neutral and work the raw in LR2.0 and CS3. There is some good photo and video discussion over at www.photography-on-the.net as well.

[Janno]

picture styles... useless
i shoot raw and use neutral i.e. no in-camera processing
that and a calibrated monitor gives unsurpassed control over my images

[Lestat]

really... you might want to retract that statement because you do more work with canons 'neutral' than you would if you jsut used a true neutral style.

the point of styles is to create a photo or video where you have 3 options, 1) as little post processing as possible or 2) the most neutral picture you can create and canon default neutral is NOT neutral at all. or 3) images that come out with effects that would take some creative photoshopping.

you should seriously do some reading and imge viewing from those links i posted.

here are some of the most amazing shots direct form canon styles i have ever seen.

Kevin Wang is making quite a name for himself as he claims these are 100% canon styles and he only converts them to jpeg from raw.
no one has been able to disprove him yet. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kevin32...7619857622654/


i have his near complete styles portfolio and i will say there are some freaking amazing ones in there. it just blows that the camera can only hold 3 at a time.

[Xcel]

I find the in camera picture styles useless as well. They're a minor inconvenience in videos to change later but regarding RAW images it takes a whooping 2s to change the style in Lightroom afterwards.

[Lestat]

i wont disagree with either of you but your missing the point of some of those styles. at a minimum i would say use the true neutral thats out there (or pm me your email and i will email it to you)

the canon styles offered on the camera are far from correct but are very usable, and its been shown that alot of what canon is doing is just changing the contrast ratio and thats all.
which can create havoc when it comes to post processing.

i shoot in neutral alot also, so i wont harp about that, but i thought Styles were stupid and worthless also... until i started trying out different ones.

just look at Kevin Wang's pictures and tell me those arent just some wicked style sets he is using. (if he is using style sets and only style sets...)

[Janno]

in the comments kevin wang notes that he does not post-process (just straightforward raw conversion), so i see the usefulness of a picture style
and yes 'faithful' and 'neutral' are not really faithful and neutral, but still better than having weird colors and overly sharpened images
if i didn't have time to mess with my images, i would probably use picture styles aswell
kevin wang is just that awsome, he might have some secret tricks up his sleeve

[Lestat]

in the comments kevin wang notes that he does not post-process (just straightforward raw conversion), so i see the usefulness of a picture style
and yes 'faithful' and 'neutral' are not really faithful and neutral, but still better than having weird colors and overly sharpened images
if i didn't have time to mess with my images, i would probably use picture styles aswell
kevin wang is just that awsome, he might have some secret tricks up his sleeve

yeah some of his models (and gorgeous ones at that) have pretty silky/milky skin,,, unnaturally so... looks like softening done post.
i would like to believe he is telling the truth but far too many of those shots are way too good to be done just with style sets. or,, thats how many people see it, but ther eis only one kevin wang and maybe he is just doing the raw-jpeg conversion.
I mean a style set is limited in that it can only do certain things... or atleast thats what we are led to believe. maybe he just knows how to manipulate them.
i understand you can load the raw file in alien skin or what ever its called in photoshop, do everything to it there. save it, load it in the canon styles program and then save it as a custom style and upload it to your camera and it will give you the picture without the post processing. and that is maybe what he has done.

i will say his styles are strange,,, especially in what they do to shutter speeds with and without a flash.

going from, say Japanese style to Tomo (that isnt right, ugh i cant recall the name) makes for a very different shutter speed.
ie; extremely fast creating very dark ares in the photo and rich and perfect lit areas., outdoors it creates rich black and rich colores, its a nice outdoors style set.
while the Japanese style is more flat and washed out so to speak.

he has a War style that i can not find in the set i downloaded (can be seen on his flickr page, that is just insane, i really love it)

if you guys think you can do what he is doing with a 2 second LR or PS job then you're... well.. you're nuts.

and if you dont use style sets and can do all that post, then be gone with you, this thread isnt for you...

[ridney]

lestat, can you send me kevin wang's set? will give this a try this weekend. thanks!

[Xcel]

if you guys think you can do what he is doing with a 2 second LR or PS job then you're... well.. you're nuts.

and if you dont use style sets and can do all that post, then be gone with you, this thread isnt for you...

About the 2s point I made. I meant I have presets Lightroom and changing the profile there takes 2s if I want a specific profile and that's why I don't bother with any in camera stuff at all.

[Elisha]

I use Velvia Picture, Marvel Cinema and Kodachrome. So far I only use them for video.
All downloaded from the Cinema5D site as well.

[Lestat]

added an update in my original post.
please read.