should you shoot with your colors flattened on the 60d?

Krunko

Well-known member
I was having a conversation with someone I randomly met in Hollywood when he saw my 60d with the shoulder rig. He was suggesting that I shoot with my color totally flat on the camera, so I have more room for color correction. What color settings do you guys use when shooting?
 
Depends on how much post processing you are willing to do.
The statement of shooting flat to have more dynamic range in post is correct.
Usually I shoot with sharpness all the way down, contrast and saturation down 2 points from middle position.
This is a flatter look out of the camera. You can increase contrast and sharpen a bit in post.
 
Usually I shoot with sharpness all the way down, contrast and saturation down 2 points from middle position.

Same here, works great for me. There are times where I've used picture styles to create a "photo stock look" but I mainly shoot as mentioned above. But just realize you can only push and pull the image so far from the 7d. It is not Red or film. Also I think your question is wrong. No such thing as flat color. You mean flat image in terms of contrast and a more neutral color I would think is what you are saying.
 
Keep in mind that saturation and contrast works in different ways.

And regarding compressed acquisition:

You can't remove contrast but you can add it easily. You can't add saturation back but you can throw it away easily.


So, why in hell shoot with less saturation if you're going to have poor chroma information to manipulate in post?
 
The settings thing really depends - in the film days, you chose film stocks, lighting, and filtering for specific scenes - you didn't just set your camera up one way and expect to get what you want in post.

I find the sharpness is the first thing that kills the image, most folks turn sharpness all the way down. If you're going for a "cinema" look with a limited saturation range, by all means shoot pretty flat. If you're doing something that requires a really saturated look, add some saturation. Try to get in the ballpark of your finished look on the chip.

Shooting flatter gives me these advantages: better highlight rendering and more open shadows; when the shadows are crushed a bit in post, it helps a great deal with shadow noise. I've been playing with the "pancake" profile lately and it seems to be a great middle ground between built-in (faithful, standard) and superflat.
 
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