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02-14-2017, 02:12 PM   #1
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K-S2 jpeg Portrait settings recommendations

I have been asked by a group of people from our church to take some portrait photos for a project. I have done this before but was always able to shoot in raw and send them the finished photos. For this project they want to print directly off the SD card for immediate use so I will be shooting in jpeg with no post processing. I will be using an external flash off the camera bouncing off a white board, I have no soft boxes or other equipment since I don't do a lot of this. I do have a gray color background cloth to use (old bed sheet).

I am going to experiment with the camera color & sharpening settings to see if something is better than standard camera settings.
For lens I will be using either DA 35mm F2.8 Macro, FA 50mm F2.8macro, or DA 70mm F2.4 with my K-S2 If the room I will be in is large enough I am thinking of the DA 70, as the macro lens might be too sharp.

Any suggestions for camera settings while I experiment? The date is in three weeks, so there is time.

02-14-2017, 04:28 PM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by Wingincamera Quote
I have done this before but was always able to shoot in raw and send them the finished photos. For this project they want to print directly off the SD card for immediate use so I will be shooting in jpeg with no post processing
Bring along a laptop with an SD card reader and shoot in Raw+, then edit things at the scene. If battery of laptop dies or something you can still use the jpegs from raw+.
And I agree the DA 70mm is probably the best choice. Good working distance, no distortion, pleasant bokeh, good colours. I've seen some wonderful portraits taken with it posted to this forum

If you press Info you can choose the jpeg options, like Bright, Vivid, and others. There is one called Portrait. Try it out and see how you like it. You can press Info again and do some edits on that particular jpeg mode. Note that different jpeg modes allow you different options to edit. Use a tripod, DA 70mm, ISO 100, low f-number, take a raw photo of a person and then use in-camera develop to try different jpeg modes. Then transfer them to computer and look for which ones you like best. Would be best if you could try it at the same location (or at least a location with similar light) as you will be using on the final date.
02-14-2017, 04:30 PM   #3
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I've been playing around with jpeg settings and discovered that I am unable to select "Shake Reduction" while in jpeg shooting mode, unless I selected something else that grays the selection out. I've been unable to correct back where I can turn on Shake Deduction again. It's off in both jpeg and raw.

---------- Post added 02-14-17 at 03:38 PM ----------

Thank you Na Horuk for the reply. I will shoot in Raw+, but from what I am told there won't be any time for edit, directly from the camera to the printer. They know I am not happy about this because for me it reflects on the quality of what I can do.
02-14-2017, 09:05 PM   #4
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My 2c:

On K-30/K5iis I like to start with 'Natural' and then pump up saturation, contrast and sharpening to taste.
Most of the other settings tend to bring out a little too much redness in the skin for my taste.
I also like to warm up the AWB white balance a hair as by default I find the JPG's a little cool.

This is all of course very subjective, taste driven and subject to lighting conditions.

The DA 70 is very nice for portraits and I find SOOC JPG's with this lens to be very good requiring little or no work most of the time (for a casual family portrait shooter like myself)

I think I would want to get there early, get setup and dial things in. Perhaps do a dry-run and a few test prints. It is likely what comes out of the printer won't be the same as what shows up on the camera LCD.

Good luck with the shoot!

02-14-2017, 09:19 PM   #5
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Like the post above said.... the print will be the greatest variable.... I'd want to dial that in if I could
02-15-2017, 04:53 PM   #6
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I just discovered why the SR wasn't working. I had left the two second timer turn on, which of course disables the SR.
02-22-2017, 10:15 AM   #7
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I find that the "portrait" setting actually works really well (I have the K-S1 which has an identical sensor and JPEG engine compared to the K-S2, used this also on the K-r). I usually do that with +2 saturation and +1 on high/low and sometimes on contrast as well (if I'm outside with a lens that needs it). And I don't use that setting just for portraits... everything looks good with it. But since I'm usually out with the family, it's there to give good skin tones when they are on the picture.

02-22-2017, 10:57 AM   #8
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Frankly, I would leave it at default settings and not worry about it. Everyone has a different opinion of "good" or "best", and if they want immediate prints they should not be picky.
02-22-2017, 02:12 PM   #9
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Thank you all for the help. They decided to give me a few days to deliver the photos, so I will be able to shoot in RAW after all. The room they had wanted me to use had walls of different colors (no white or gray) but would have enough room to use the DA70, but I was able to move to a smaller room with all white walls & ceilings. The DA70 will not work there, so I will be using the FA50 lens.

Again, thank you all for the comments.
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