khildy Loc: Brownsburg, IN

I am fairly new to photography and joined a few months ago. I have a question that I would like opinions as to the Set Picture Control. There is Auto, Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape, Flat and Standard-02. Do you change these for certain situations or leave in basically one mode how do you handle this setting. I shoot in both JEG & RAW the reason some photos I just need to print and give to family. I would like some input on this please. Thanks.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you shoot RAW, the picture control is immaterial. It can be modified in post.

Ask yourself instead: why are you shooting both RAW and JPEG?

Other camera settings that are immaterial to the RAW shooter: White Balance and Color Space. Consider just using the camera's Standard picture style, Auto-WB and sRGB colorspace. Your JPEGs will be good enough, if you continue to capture these too, and your RAW has a 'good before' reference for your editing. Your editor determines the colorspace as the RAW file is colorspace independent.

CO

I usually shoot RAW and .jpeg. I have the picture control set to Standard all the time.

Nikon sets the default sharpening for their picture controls very low at level 3. Nikon expert, Ken Rockwell, recommends going through all of the picture controls and increasing the sharpening to level 6. I went through all of the picture controls and increased to level 6 and 7.

CO

I think he's using the .jpeg files to make prints to give to family members without editing the photos first.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Nice creative reading .... there's no "without editing the photos first" in his post. Hopefully, any image worth printing and giving to the family are those processed from the RAW files, not the JPEGs.

CO

His question was about which Picture Controls Nikon shooters use. Instead of answering his question, you want to lecture him about RAW. Read his post:

I have a question that I would like opinions as to the Set Picture Control. There is Auto, Standard, Neutral, Vivid, Monochrome, Portrait, Landscape, Flat and Standard-02. Do you change these for certain situations or leave in basically one mode how do you handle this setting

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

In my camera, those modes will simply allow "pre-setting" of the affected sliders that are used in the manufacturer's RAW editor I use. The settings for each mode are applied to the JPEG when I select RAW+JPEG in the camera. The RAW file is not changed, but when I edit the RAW file, I can see the sliders are moved to the settings used in each mode in the camera.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

While editing isn't mentioned, the OP did say he was new to photography. It's possible (but without any evidence) that he doesn't do much processing since he's new to this field. OTOH, he is shooting raw (+jpg) so maybe he's just feeling his way in. We'll have to hear more from the OP to resolve this question.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

More creative reading, you're on a roll. There was no lecture. Rather, confirmation the generic settings work well for basic JPEGs, if desired, and good 'before' references for RAW editing, with a confirmation question of "why?" bother for the JPEGs for a self-acknowledged novice. You're the one who needs a lecture on filling in your own words into the OP and other fact-based responses ...

CO

No creative reading. It's clear you still haven't answered his question. Why not?

Read larryepage's post right below this. He is helping the OP.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

For your JPEG images, Picture Control settings are very useful. They can select lower saturation, contrast, and sharpness for portraits, higher levels for landscapes or architectural photography, and even higher levels for special graphic effects. They can also allow capture of monochromatic images, which I find far superior to desaturating images later, since all of my cameras allow electronic application of at least yellow and orange (and red) filters.

Also, despite what folks here seem convinced is true, they also provide an "as shot" starting point which I find can significantly reduce post processing work with raw images. I also find that shooting with higher sharpness levels gives significantly better results than cranking it up later.

I do quite a bit of work where I create JPEGs that I turn over immediately. Best work in that case can only be achieved using appropriate Picture Controls, most of which I have edited at least a little bit, and some quite a bit. And...nothing done with these controls is destructive or counterproductive if you want to post process later.

I use an edited version of Standard (with increased Sharpness) or an edited version of Vivid (increased Sharpness, Contrast, and Saturation) most of the time.

One big exception to all of this is night sky photography. I always shoot night skies with a Normal setting, even though I know that I'm going to add quite a bit of contrast later. The reason for this is to make sure that I have a usable preview available to verify focus and other parameters when field checking my images.

Many (or even most) here relish spending lots of time in post processing. I do not. I'll happily do what is necessary to produce a good or great image, but if I can do a little work on the front end to save a lot of work on the back end, that's the path I'll take every time. And if I can deliver good JPEGs without post processing, I'll take that path every time.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Some people just cannot help themselves

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Or, just fill-in our own guesses on what the OP meant .... That's not something my post did. Rather, I confirmed those aspects of the camera settings that can be completely redone in post for RAW, as well as generate some of the best SOOC results for the JPEGs. Choosing other settings will focus on improving the SOOC JPEG results, either for more processing and / or being a better JPEG photographer, both aspects of the post the OP did not actually state ....

Why argue me about your guesses about the OP and the details of their written text meant beyond the words used?? Where's your action-based response other than a critique of mine? I refreshed a few times, didn't see it ....

Blenheim Orange Loc: Michigan

Welcome aboard. Nice to have you with us.

Working with raw files, the Set Picture Control it is irrelevant, as CHG_CANON wrote. Working with JPEGs I would just experiment with the different styles.

Mike

khildy Loc: Brownsburg, IN

Thanks for everyone responding. CHG CANON I have several times thought of shooting only in raw but I have never been able to step off that ledge yet. As DirtFarmer observed I am new to photography and am feeling my way around. Probably the main thing is I am working on but not comfortable at all with is post processing. Thank you larryepage for taking the time for your explanation.