Thanks Andreas. I have been mulling over this contrast thing. The raw is quite contrasted, actually more than Steve's repost. So here's a learner question for me, at what point should someone dial back what's captured in camera? I'm using a Nikon Z6ii with the Nikkor 70-200 lens (2x teleconverter). The colour profile in camera is set to SD (standard) with no sub adjustments.
Well Kurt ...
there is no " official " point when and how to dial back of what´s captured in your camera !!!! It is all down to personal preferences ... IMHO. And these do vary a lot .... from folk to folk .
Forget about rules in general .... as photography is a kind of art and each and every artist has different views to his/her/somebody else's work !!!!
I know some will now say ... for sure there are rules to follow to be " successful " , they are right as well . Following some rules might get you some nice comments or more thumbs up etc ....
I for myself do also follow certain " rules " ....
Now my technical answer .... to your question .
I try to keep it simple .... the major thing that counts is a good or perfect exposure during capture and a fast enough shutter speed to get a sharp base image .
As long as you shoot in raw .... the settings does not play a big role ( White balance , tone curve , color profile and so forth ) , as these can be changed in the raw converter once you process the image . I know some will say .... this should all be already dialed in in the camera menu !!! And I would agree with that .... doing it myself as well !!!
I have no idea which raw converter you use .... but basically I would start with a profile that does not contain a lot of contrast and or saturation !!!
Trying to build up contrast .... gently , instead of letting the software dictate the contrast ( created by the chosen profile or picture style ) .
Man this could go a long description .... and a thread like this is not the best place to explain it all .
Just one more thing ...
Your profile ( SD ) is actually not a color profile it is more a tone profile or picture style .
A color profile is containing basically color information ... i.e. sRGB , Adobe RGB etc .
Hope this helps ... at least a bit .
Cheers Andreas
I would recommend some research ... of how to edit raw files and very important how to shoot " expose to the right " !!!