How to use the Extended Picture Style with Digital Photo Professional

Demystifying the Picture Style and Extended Picture Style

Alright, some people actually think that the Picture Style and Extended Picture Style are for JPG/JPEG photographer. Sorry, to break the bad news for those people. The Picture Style and Extended Picture Style are meant to assist the photographer in bringing the best truthful colors in your photo.

If you have not downloaded the Extended Picture Style and understand what it can do for your photo. Please read my previous article about Canon Standard Picture Style and Extended Picture Style.

Using RAW photo as an example below, I will show everyone on how to actually use the Extended Picture with Digital Photo Professional software from Canon. Please click on the image for enlargement if you have any difficulty in viewing the screenshot.

Firstly, you need execute the Digital Photo Professional and select a photo. Either Double clicking the photo or applying "CTRL + O" on your keyboard to open the selected photo in an edit window as shown below. This will display the photo in a window and a Tool Palette on another window on the right side of your screen. If the Tool Palette is not displayed, apply "CTRL + T" on your keyboard and it will open the Tool Palette for you.

The above screenshot display the filename with a *.CR2 file extension on the Tool Palette which means that this photo is a RAW photo format. The Tool Palette also displays the Picture Style where this photo was taken. The photo was taken with a Landscape Picture Style and we want to use the Emerald Extended Picture Style from Canon to bring out the vivid color of the sea, rich color on the sky and more contrast on the clouds. How do we do that?

The above screenshot shows us how to actually apply the Emerald Extended Picture Style on the photo. Firstly, we need to click the "Browse" button on the Tool Palette.

Secondly, we need to locate the Emerald Extended Picture Style file. For Digital Photo Professional version 3.0 and below, please locate the Extended Picture Style file that has a *.pfe file extension. For version 3.0 and above, locate the Extended Picture Style file that has a *.pf2 file extension.

After selecting the Emerald Extended Picture Style file, click the "Open" button and the software will apply the style on to your photo.

There, you have it. The above screenshot displays "[EMERALD]" on the Picture Style combo box in the Tool Palette and there is no changes on all the contrast, highlight, shadow, color tone, color saturation and sharpness controls. This means that after applying the Picture Style, you can still tweak the photo to provide better results.

But for this article, I am not going to tweak it after applying the Emerald Extended Picture Style and the result is shown clearly below.

Too bad there is not a lot of clouds on that day, we can only enjoy the contrast of that tiny bit of clouds in this photo. But overall, the sea indeed obtains a better emerald color and the sky is gaining a brighter blue.

If the responses are good, I might do an article on how to use the Picture Style on the EOS camera. It is taking a toll on my time, but I will try my best for everyone that are interested.

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