white and yellow subjects question

[leifus]

Sorry if this has been asked before..

How can you make white and yellow flowers come out in the detail say a maroon flower does? Most of the photos I take of white and yellow flowers seem to return block colour - for example with buttercups, the flower seems to be a solid block of yellow...

any ideas?

[MeadsMan]

I think you need to expose for the brightest part of your photo,to keep detail in the brightest part.Most cameras if left to there own devices will take an overall exposure reading,in an attempt to keep detail in all parts of your photo.If your camera has spot or partial metereing try that.If not try and fill the frame with the brightest part of your subject,remember what the shutter and aperture readings are,switch to manual and dial in these settings,and recompose the photo and shoot,you could also bracket your exposure in manual for different results.That is what I would do,hope that helps.Just remember if you expose for the bright parts of your photo,you are likely to lose some detail in any shadow area.

[Hobjob]

As MeadsMan says; basically underexpose.

You can't do anything with overexposed areas, but underexposed areas
can usually be improved. Dull days are often better too, as you don't get
the bright sun spots.

[Lancashire Lad]

I agree withthe above - expose for the highlights.

Buttercups (and lesser celandines) in particular have a "reflective" quality to the petals, and I find photographing either of these very difficult.

If I have found a good specimen, and am able to get a nice composition, I usually end up taking a large number of photos at slightly different settings, to ensure that at least one should be "on the button".

I find it very difficult to assess yellow flowers on the camera's lcd screen, and can only really decide what's any good when they are uploaded to computer.

Same principle applies to anything white, expose for the highlights, which will, in theory, mean that you should have to slightly overexpose. (The camera meter sees white as 18% grey - so to make it come out as pure white, you need to slightly overexpose).

A good example is a snowy scene. If you expose as per the camera's metering, you can end up with a muddy grey scene, instead of the pristine white that you remember seeing. (Athough some camera's metering systems are much better at overcoming this problem than others).

The best general rule is to become familiar with using the histogram feature of your camera. That can tell you a lot about how right or wrong any particular shot has been exposed.

Regards,
Mike.

[Gill Catton]

Originally Posted by leifus

Sorry if this has been asked before..

How can you make white and yellow flowers come out in the detail say a maroon flower does? Most of the photos I take of white and yellow flowers seem to return block colour - for example with buttercups, the flower seems to be a solid block of yellow...

any ideas?

What camera are you using? Is it a DSLR or a point and shoot or something inbetween?

[Stevelphoto]

In addition to what has been said, try using a picture style with no/low colour saturation, or shooting in raw. Most camera sensors have a problem with recording yellow without oversaturating it, so turning down the saturation should make the camera record the yellow less 'aggressively'. If the colours then appear dull to you afterwards, you can easily give them a boost in an imaging program on the computer.

[loripo]

Having had similar problems I read up on it and found refernces to 'spot metering' This is advice from Geoff F on a 2008 thread...

With flowers it is suprisingly difficult to get excellent results every time. For general tips I would say:- Avoid direct bright sunshine. Use a small aperture as your depth of field can be as little as 1/2 inch otherwise, this will vary with the available light level. Always use a tripod, or other firm support. Use spot metering and also adjust exposure compensation if you are getting a partial reading from the background; also, flowers with light and dark areas will need special care to prevent blown highlights, it is better to underexpose the dark areas and use software to improve the balance later. Keep the ISO as low as possible, having regard to the previous considerations. Avoid windy days, or provide a windbreak.

With practice, all of this becomes second nature to you and results just keep improving.

[Geoff F]

One other thing. Try using a Custom White Balance for true colours.

The procedure varries between cameras so consult your instruction book. It may appear a bit confusing and time consuming at first but once you get the knack of this routine it only takes a couple of seconds and is the best way to guarantee correct colours.