SCL-PP-031PICTURE PROFILE

Obsidian Contrast

A dramatic, high-contrast monochrome style with inky blacks and crisp whites. Ideal for architectural details, powerful street photography, and making subjects stand out with impressive clarity.

No sample photos for this recipe yet. Use Contribute photo below to upload the first frame from your Sony Alpha.

Community & tweak proposals

Discuss and vote on the best colour recipe variants for Obsidian Contrast

Please in the navigation bar to write a comment.

No comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts.

Core White Balance engine

White Balance Shift

AWB (Priority White)

TemperatureAWB (Priority White)ColourCamera decides the temperature per frame — consistent only if the light is

The colour temperature the camera balances for. Set it higher than the actual light and the image renders warmer; lower and it renders cooler.

Overall tone

Overall this reads close to neutral — whites stay white, so the recipe’s colour character comes from the profile rather than from the balance.

How Temperature, A/B and G/M combine

Three dials, one result. Temperature declares what light you are claiming to shoot under, and the two shifts nudge the outcome off that declaration.

The part that trips almost everyone: a higher Kelvin number produces a warmer picture, not a cooler one. The number describes the light, not the output. Tell the camera the light is 8000K — very blue — and it compensates by adding amber, so the file comes out golden.

That is why Temperature and Shift A/B are really one amber–blue axis in two different units, and why a warm Kelvin paired with a B shift is not a contradiction. It is a broad warm base with part of it deliberately pulled back. It buys precision the Kelvin dial cannot give on its own: a single 100K step is worth about 15 mired down at 2500K but only about 1 mired up at 9900K, so the shift is the finer control at the warm end and the coarser one at the cool end.

Camera parameters setup

Picture Profile

Black Level-15ContrastBlacks crushed hard — deep, punchy shadows with dense contrast

Adjusts the master black level. Lower (-) values deepen shadow contrast for rich, punchy blacks. Higher (+) values lift shadows for a soft, matte, film-like faded look without affecting highlight contrast.

GammaStillContrastStandard curve — contrast as the camera renders it by default

Selects the gamma curve that defines overall tonal response and contrast foundation. Options range from standard contrast (Movie/Still) to smooth filmic curves (Cine1–4, S-Cinetone) or ultra-wide dynamic range for grading (S-Log2/S-Log3, HLG).

Black GammaWide -7ContrastShadow detail pulled well down — dense, moody dark areas

Controls contrast specifically in low-luminance shadow regions. 'Range' (Narrow/Middle/Wide) sets the shadow width affected, while 'Level' (-7 to +7) darkens or lightens that shadow zone to fine-tune shadow texture.

Obsidian Contrast

Community & tweak proposals

White Balance Shift

Camera parameters setup

Picture Profile

Color Depth

Detail