The 10th essential creative option is the contrast setting.
The contrast setting affects the overall tonality (or the contrast between the darks and lights) of your image. By adjusting this setting (to the plus side) you can make the blacks in your image (shadows, darker areas) much blacker than they appear and the brighter areas much brighter.
With a high contrast setting in play, less detail would be seen in the darker areas of your image. Decreasing the setting softens the appearance of contrast in your image, making shadows appear less dark and blown out highlights less bright, saving a lot of detail that would otherwise be hidden.
Understanding the Contrast Setting
The Contrast Setting
The level of contrast can be set precisely (in most DSLRs) in increments from [-3] to [+3]. When set to the minus side, the image looks softer. When set on the plus side, the image becomes harder.
Adjusting the Contrast Setting
The contrast control is usually mapped (located) with the other character options your camera offers (saturation, sharpening and hue) and is often found directly below the sharpening option.
To find the contrast control, you may have to maneuver through several menus. In Rod’s Nikon, for instance, it takes three steps. In my Canon, it also takes three steps.
Nikon
- Find Picture Control
- Choose Picture Profile
- Choose Contrast Setting
Canon
- Find Picture Style
- Choose Picture Profile
- Choose Contrast Setting
Check your camera manual to discover the route to your Contrast control now.
To change the contrast setting, simply move the highlighted icon either to the left or to the right. On most DSLR cameras, moving it to the left (-) lowers the contrast setting and moving it to the right (+) raises the contrast setting.
Contrast Comparisons
While in the field, we will often ask our new students to shoot extreme variations of character and supporting features. What follows are a few comparison contrast examples. The left images have the least (-) amount of contrast possible, while the right images have the most (+) amount of contrast as possible. If you’ve never played with your contrast options, we suggest you do so as quickly as possible.
Click an image to launch the slideshow.
Next: Essential Creative Option #11 – The Saturation Setting
This is post #13 of 16 of In Camera Magic: The 12 Essential Creative Options, a free online photography course for creating spectacular images right in the camera.