Mirrorless cameras have brought a lot of innovation to our craft. One of the areas that I often remind photographers about is in-camera effects. They are often overlooked because they exist outside our normal shooting routines. But they can be quite helpful.
On Olympus cameras, for example, we have Art Filters that range from dramatic landscapes to soft focus portraits. You can preview the effects on the camera's LCD or in the electronic viewfinder. Fujifilm cameras have their Advanced Filters as well as film simulations. Other brands have their own proprietary take on this as well.
When I'm leading workshops, I encourage participants to try one or two of these to expand knowledge of their own cameras, while at the same time adding more creativity to their images. I also cover this topic in my lynda.com/LinkedIn Learning title, Portrait Photography: High School Seniors. Here's a short movie that covers exactly what I'm talking about.
Built-in camera effects for portraiture from Portrait Photography: High School Seniors by Derrick Story
A few things to keep in mind include shooting in RAW+Jpeg so that the effect is applied to the Jpeg, yet you still have your RAW as an untouched safety net. And since you are now relying on those Jpegs, be sure their quality is set to maximum (Fine or Super Fine). And when you bring in those images to your photo management software, I recommend keeping the Jpegs and RAWs separate. I usually put the whole shoot in a project with albums for the different types of images inside.
You might be surprised at what you can create with in-camera effects. Sometimes it's a home run, other times it's a strikeout. But either way, I think it will energize your photography.
You can share your thoughts at the TDS Facebook page, where I'll post this story for discussion.
