Today i'm going to talk about the creative styles in your camera
creative styles creative modes or scene modes are all the same thing
just from different camera manufacturers i'm sure
fuji olympus and panasonic will also have them as well
and knowing all of these manufacturers they'll all be called something
ever so slightly different they basically give a certain look to your
images and video files and usually have quite creative names
for each style hence the name creative style if you're
not a fan of editing or color correcting your video footage or jpegs
these might be just the thing you're looking for especially if you've tried
picture profiles and got frustrated in using them in the sony camera ecosystem
they're called creative styles and as long as the picture profiles are turned
off you can select the one that you like the
best now if you're a raw still shooter these won't matter too much
although if you use the jpeg saved by the camera from the raw file
when editing you can use these as a reference file
for editing but these looks will only be saved in
the jpeg files so if you do shoot jpegs these will be
baked in as different looks to your images so you
need to be sure to select the right one for the conditions that you're shooting
in filming video in these cameras is a little bit like shooting in the jpeg
mode for stills you need to get your colors right in
camera as these colors are locked in when you're filming to a
certain extent this means that the video files will be
harder to color correct and grade heavily which basically means
balancing out your colors between the shots
and then grading them to give them a certain look so with these creative
styles you're almost giving that look in camera
so you don't have that process when you're editing you can
shoot in a flatter profile and then bring back the colors
afterwards but if you're not into color correcting and grading
this can be tricky so creative styles do have the benefit
in getting the look that you want in camera to make your workflow
quicker and if you've exposed and lit your shot properly
and set the right white balance in theory you won't have to do
any color grading or color correction with your images and video files
now these flatter profiles are a more advanced way of filming
and are mostly in the picture profile settings
but we'll talk about that another time so back to creative styles
these will just shift your settings around in the camera
making your images or videos more or less saturated
more or less contrasty as well as changing the sharpness of those images
and you can even shoot in black and white if you want to however if you do
shoot one of the black and white styles and you're only shooting in the jpeg
stills mode or you're filming in the video mode
your camera won't record any of that color detail
just a black and white image so that's something to be aware of now if you have
picture profiles turned on the creative styles menu option will be
greyed out so if this is the case turn off picture
profiles then you'll be able to access your
creative styles in the sony cameras this is standard
this is vivid this is neutral this is clear this is
deep this is light this is portrait this is
landscape this is sunset this is knight this is
autumn this is black and white and this is
sepia so there are quite a few different profiles when
you're actually flicking through them on the back of the camera
it doesn't seem to be that many but in reading through them all
there are a load of different creative styles and if that wasn't enough
there are also six interchangeable slots as well
these are just where you can choose one of the presets above
and then make the changes although you can make the changes in the actual
presets themselves so i'm not sure why they've done this
although i suppose you could have six slightly
different versions of the same preset if you really wanted to
and as you can change the contrast saturation and sharpness
you can really tweak and tune all of these different ones
so i suppose it's just like having six really customizable areas
to save your favorite ones in so as i've said even in
each of the preset styles you can change one or all of the three customizable
settings contrast saturation and sharpness so
these can be manipulated to a certain extent and you can kind of tweak and
tune the look that you like the one thing i really like about
creative styles is that you can scroll through these settings really quickly
and pick the one that best suits the look that you are going for and the
beauty with these over picture profiles is that they have those slightly
creative names so they kind of point you in the right direction as to which one
to choose for the scene that you're filming or for
the scene that you're photographing in that jpeg mode although saying that a
lot of them do look very similar now if you go on to
the manufacturer's website they do get quite ponzi with their
descriptions this is how sony describes them the
standard mode is for shooting various scenes with rich
gradations and beautiful colors so like every scene we want to shoot
with the vivid the saturation and contrast are heightened
for shooting striking images of colorful scenes and subjects
such as flowers spring greenery blue sky or ocean views with the neutral creative
style the saturation and sharpness are lowered
for shooting images and subdued tones this is also suitable for capturing
image material to be modified with a computer
so this is kind of an idea of shooting in flat profiles
a little bit like in picture profiles where you have s log
but just not as aggressive so it will give you a slightly wider dynamic range
but not a massive one like in s-log but you also won't get the problems that
sometimes do arise when shooting in those s-log
profiles with the clear setting this is for shooting images in clear
tones with limped colours in highlights suitable for capturing radiant light so
i had to look up the word limpid as it's not really a word
i use on a regular basis limpid is an adjective
of liquid free of anything that darkens completely clear
so i'm guessing when you're photographing or filming liquids
now i'm not talking dirty water just clear liquids
the deep setting is for shooting images with deep and dense colours
suitable for capturing the solid presence of the subject
they say that light is for shooting images with bright and simple colours
suitable for capturing a refreshingly light ambience
portrait apparently is for capturing skin in a soft tone
ideally suited for shooting portraits with the landscape setting the
saturation contrast and sharpness are heightened
for shooting vivid and crispy scenery distant landscapes also stand out more
with the sunset this is for shooting beautiful reds of
the setting sun with the night setting the contrast is
lowered for reproducing night scenes so i'm guessing this increases the
dynamic range so you have more detail in your highlights
and more detail in your shadows now with the autumn setting
this is obviously for shooting autumn scenes
vividly highlighting the reds and yellows of changing leaves
then we have the black and white setting and obviously this shoots an image
just in black and white so it takes away all of that color detail
then there's sepia this is for shooting images in a sepia monotone
so basically it's a little bit like black and white but it's got more
yellows and reds in that image so it's still a monotone color but it has
that kind of oldish look to it here they all are side
by side apart from sepia as it wouldn't fit and
to be honest it seems more of a gimmick these were all
shot one after the other over a few minutes
and used the same settings i didn't use any nd filters
just the tamron 17 to 28 millimeters at 17 millimeters now standard neutral
portrait and night look very similar and then vivid clear landscape and
sunset also have similar characteristics there
will be slight differences but this is the way i look at them i
group them together in these groupings now the ones i use
the most are either standard neutral or portrait
then i add a little bit of color correction if needed
now the one thing that really interests me with this image
is how much that background actually changes
some of them are blue some of them are light blue and some of them are purple
so it really does change how your image looks depending on what colors you have
in your image now you're probably thinking okay that's
all well and good but which one should i choose and that's the
thing there is no one right setting for all conditions and these
different settings hint at this if it's a sunset scene try using the
sunset profile for landscapes try using that and if
you're shooting flowers try using vivid the one bit of advice i
can give you is once you've found the look that you
want try not to chop and change around from it you get your look and you film
the whole scene in that one look and don't change them
so all of the shots look very similar and it's the same if you're
photographing a certain scene you might have 10 or 15 shots of the
same subject so keep it in that one creative style
the great thing with creative styles is that they give you the look that you
want in camera so no shooting in a flat
profile to then get frustrated when editing you get your white balance
set your style get good exposure and then you're good to go
now there are a lot more to colors and creating good images
than just creative styles the quality of the lens you are using
will affect your images as well as the light scenario you have chosen
and the way that you positioned yourself compared to where that light is coming
from then there is the level at which your
monitor is calibrated right through to how your eye sees those
colors so there are so many things to think
about and so many things to kind of build into the process to get a
good image but creative styles do offer a few
inbuilt looks that you can add to your images be it with film
or jpeg stills and like with any setting in your camera
you need to go out and use it play with it until you know what it does and how
it works with each of the lenses that you have
then you can choose which one works best for you this is really the only way
you're going to learn how to use your camera properly and this is just as
important for videography as it is with photography
keep going out and shooting with your camera i know life can get busy and
before you know it weeks and months have passed by but what you need to do
is try and set some time aside whenever you can and then just go out
and shoot something whether it's the flowers in your back
garden a city street or one of the national parks in your
country there is so much to go out and see and we have
these fantastic tools that we can capture it in our own creative styles
now what do you think of these creative styles
do you use them a lot have you tried them or is it something new to you
let me know in the comments below and if you like this video
try this one next and if you want to learn more about photography
click on this playlist down here and if you haven't already
be sure to subscribe for weekly tutorials in photography and videography
i'll see you next time