For years, myself included, I would rely on my LCD preview to check a number of things with my image before going click. Composition, sharpness, whether or not I need to dial in exposure compensation, those types of basic things. prior to taking the picture. I still do. Recently I learned that the LCD renders the back picture preview honoring JPEG settings, rather than your camera profile, even if you are shooting in RAW mode. Perhaps I missed this in the documentation manual, but I was surprised as I was thinking the camera LCD was honoring my profile and what I saw was an accurate representation.

This can be misleading causing you to perhaps change the exposure compensation thinking the picture has too much, or too little brightness or darkness in the image. It is not a true rendering of what your camera profile is capturing.

When you get your camera, right out of the box, the factory setting for the camera profile is probably going to be Standard or Auto. Initially this may not matter to you but as you get better at your craft, you will want to change this profile and here’s why.

There are a lot of different options in the picture controls for you to choose from. In my experience and findings, the best options for capturing the most detail for the shadows and the highlights are Flat and Neutral. These seem to capture the full dynamic range and profile in the image allowing for more accurate changes in the digital darkroom when post processing.

Not a believer yet? That is OK but might I suggest this exercise to help change your mind. Go into your backyard, or somewhere outdoors. Set up your camera on a tripod and point it at anything you want to. Dial in each picture control mode while looking at the scene. Check the histogram on the back of the LCD and notice how the information changes based on the picture profile you have dialed in. You will see that the Flat and the Neutral options retain the most detail for you to work with in post.

I am not saying that you cannot experiment with the other profiles for creative affect, but if you are looking to capture the most detail in the image, the profiles I mentioned above as the best for doing that. I assure you that using these profiles will make a big difference to ensure the LCD is not misleading you.

I would love to hear your experiences and comments below.