# Camera calibration: portrait



## E_T (Apr 27, 2017)

I shoot everything in RAW, but I like to have a good starting point in LR.  I was using 'camera neutral' for a while, but switched to 'portrait.'  I don't actually shoot portraits, mainly just nature and wildlife, but I find this picture setting to be a pretty great place to start.  I still tweak things, but less so than when using neutral, since portrait already has a bit more saturation and contrast.  Just curious if others were a fan of this as well?


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## Fred Stephenson (Apr 27, 2017)

Haven't yet but will try


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## frozenframe (Apr 27, 2017)

Use Camera Standard or Neutral.


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## clee01l (Apr 27, 2017)

I import all of my RAW images and apply Camera Neutral as my starting point.  When I was learning how to develop images, I imported and applied the Develop Preset called General — Zeroed.  It was as close to an unprocessed RGB image that I could get.  And gave me a good feel for what the Develop sliders were capable of.


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## Linwood Ferguson (Apr 27, 2017)

You can also build your own profiles by having a color chart (e.g. Colorchecker Passport) taking a photo and processing it with software (included for the one mentioned, Adobe has free download of a DNG Profile Editor as well). 

This will produce the most accurate color for your camera in your lighting (which may or may not be actually what you like best, so do try all the ones that come with).

The "Camera" ones are more likely to look like the camera previews, the "Adobe" ones (even though both are from adobe) are more likely to be a bit flat and low contrast as a "neutral" starting point.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 27, 2017)

If I'm trying to match multiple cameras, especially from different manufacturer's, then I'll use Adobe Standard. I often use Camera Neutral as my starting point, but I quite like the Portrait one for my Olympus too (and rarely for portraits!). It's just personal choice. Don't set too much store by the names.


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## Ian.B (Apr 28, 2017)

I have a few basic editing presets ---- but I'm going to look into the LR wb idea above 

I don't think this has been mentioned above (??) . 
So for the less experienced: the camera mode/scene settings are not apply to the raw file --- even a monotone setting will produce a colour raw file although you will see b/w in the viewfinder and on the camera screen 
If you set raw+jpeg the camera mode setting will be applied to the jpeg file only --- that can be handy as an editing guide for the raw file 
if you set jpeg only, the camera mode setting will be applied to the file and can be hard/ish to remove or adjust ; and for that reason I always suggest you don't fiddle with camera mode settings as you can add a bit colour/contrast/vibrancy with any basic editing program . Set neutral/standard is safest way imo. I bet there not many experienced photographers who have forgotten they used vivid for the last photo; then snapped a _great _portrait photo with a vivid setting --- I know it does not work from experience  .  
I find the files with the flatter  colour and contrast  better to work with   when it comes to more serious editing


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## oleleclos (May 5, 2017)

I use the Adobe Standard profile for all RAW files. In my experience (and I believe that's Adobe's intention), this makes files from different cameras look pretty similar as a starting point for further editing.

Using any of the camera profiles would simulate that particular camera’s built-in processing, i.e. the way it makes its JPGs look (or at least Adobe's interpretation of it). This is fine, of course, if that’s what you want, and you still have a RAW file to work with rather than a JPG, so in a sense you get the best of both worlds.

But personally I prefer to start from images that are more similar - and more "neutral" - regardless of camera. I then apply my own Develop Presets for particular scene types (landscape, portrait, interior etc.) before making individual adjustments.

In any case, I often find that the best tools to get the most out of a picture are local adjustments (brushes, graduated and radial filters) rather than global adjustments.


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