"Hard to Get" Colour

[WestLothian]

I am delighted that, after all the attempts with Sony compact cameras over the years, the Nikon D80 has managed to capture the deep red of our Rhododendron this year.


(Cropped & Resized in PhotoShopElements)


The Sony seems to overload on all this red...

http://www.wildaboutbritain.co.uk/ga...W_original.jpg

[nightshade]

Peony red was always my favourite colour,your Rhododendron red is beautiful
my D70s is good with colours and I have a good showing from my pocket Sony
W50

[jennyb]

Can anyone explain to me why we get such dramatic differences in colour with different cameras? With my point and click camera my bluebell photos come out blue but with the Canon they come out purple. The point and click photos are much better.

What can I do to adjust the colour to be more natural (ie: more like what I see) using the Canon?

Jenny

[wildlifesnapper]

Originally Posted by jennyb

Can anyone explain to me why we get such dramatic differences in colour with different cameras? With my point and click camera my bluebell photos come out blue but with the Canon they come out purple. The point and click photos are much better.

What can I do to adjust the colour to be more natural (ie: more like what I see) using the Canon?

Jenny

Hi Jenny,

bluebells are a nightmare arn't they. Try this.

Photograph them as near to midday as possible (the light is a cooler colour) on an overcast day (not sunny!) and set the cameras white balance to sunny.This should give more blue cast. You can then do any tweeking in photoshop if needed.

neil

[WestLothian]

jennyb
"Can anyone explain to me why we get such dramatic differences in colour with different cameras? With my point and click camera my bluebell photos come out blue but with the Canon they come out purple. The point and click photos are much better. "


This answered a lot for me:-

Old Thread on Nikon Colour Calibration

The sensors are not anywhere near as accurate in detecting the colour values as I had assumed. They do a good job for 90% of the time then they need some help to get it right.

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by wildlifesnapper

Hi Jenny,

bluebells are a nightmare arn't they. Try this.

Photograph them as near to midday as possible (the light is a cooler colour) on an overcast day (not sunny!) and set the cameras white balance to sunny.This should give more blue cast. You can then do any tweeking in photoshop if needed.

neil

Thanks for this. The problem is that they are only out for about 3 weeks and we have hardly had an overcast day this month (not complaining)! I went out this afternoon (could not manage midday) when they were in partial shade and managed some slightly "bluer" shots.

Jenny

[jennyb]

Originally Posted by WestLothian

jennyb
"Can anyone explain to me why we get such dramatic differences in colour with different cameras? With my point and click camera my bluebell photos come out blue but with the Canon they come out purple. The point and click photos are much better. "


This answered a lot for me:-

Old Thread on Nikon Colour Calibration

The sensors are not anywhere near as accurate in detecting the colour values as I had assumed. They do a good job for 90% of the time then they need some help to get it right.

Thanks. I had not seen that thread before. I will take a good look at it.

BTW I meant to say earlier that your Rhododendron photo is beautiful The colour is amazing.

Jenny

[WestLothian]

The strange thing is that when the sun is off it the colour changes and adds more deep blue.
It is like a Mix of strong "Navy Blue" and "Post Office Red" so intense that it mixes in the eye.
The colour seems to come from the flower itself not from the reflected light. None of the shade shots match the colour correctly so far.

[nightshade]

With colour slide film you always had to be aware of
the time of day for the difference to the colour balance
Television Production: Color Temperature
When I bought my Nikon, I Was Told the colours would always
be better than another brand because the ccd was more easily colour corrected the other type of chip requires more electronics and
alogorithems to correct the colours

[Jon]

Originally Posted by nightshade

With colour slide film you always had to be aware of
the time of day for the difference to the colour balance
Television Production: Color Temperature
When I bought my Nikon, I Was Told the colours would always
be better than another brand because the ccd was more easily colour corrected the other type of chip requires more electronics and
alogorithems to correct the colours

Nightshade, do you know you could be struck deaf for saying that!! Most canon users will be ruffling up their feathers and stomping around! No seriously though, I suspect there will be slight variations in colour capturing and indeed camera settings, equally people's visual acuity varies. The thing is that once captured, the image colours can be manipulated to you heart's content using colour temp and hue etc.
Jon