Where did my colors go? - DPChallenge Forums

10/22/2003 07:30:19 PM · #1

I hope folks don't mind my posting images to help illustrate my frustrations. Here is one:

I see beautiful colors, golden & lemon yellows on the leaves of the trees. I put the camera to my eye, fiddle with the controls, try and get enough light.. and then... some gremlin (ok ok, me) gets in and messes it all up!

Example

Seriously though, I'm trying to figure what I did wrong to make the colors that looked so pretty to my naked eye, look so blah to the camera's eye. Was it my aperture? my shutter? my exposure values? The light value? Direction? All of the above?

I admit I have a tough time determining what ap & shutter values are appropriate, I've read the tutorials and looked at the charts and it makes my eyes cross.

I also realize there is quite a bit of shadow in this image, but that was purposeful. I wanted the brilliant yellows on the edges of the trees, where the light was hitting but.. I did something wrong.

Any thoughts? Just for reference, it was a beautiful sunny day, and I don't think I had my polarizing or ND8 filter on for these shots.

- Sia

10/22/2003 07:33:51 PM · #2

What settings? Are you using automatic or manual?

10/22/2003 07:43:16 PM · #3

I was using both automatic and manual settings throughout the day. I don't think there's a way for me to figure out which I used on that particular image though.

I ran through the gamut of complete manual, ap priority to shutter priority and completely automatic. So it could be any of the above.

Perhaps it'd be easiest to assume I manually picked the values.

Which are: AP F3.2, Shutter 1/250, Exposure -1.0 and IS0 100. Had white balance on for a sunny day, no flash. My little info display says the metering mode was 'multi' but I'm not sure what that means.

10/22/2003 07:49:17 PM · #4

Is this straight out of the camera? Any post-production work? Just resized and uploaded?

jmritz

Fujifilm X30

Custom Made Pinhole

10/22/2003 07:53:56 PM · #5

faidoi, the F717 saves the info in the pictures properties. It would say Normal if AUTO, and Manual if so.

10/22/2003 07:55:39 PM · #6

Straight from the camera, just uploaded, renamed but not resized. I shot it using the 640x480 size mode.

What's the verdict, doc? I can take it! ;)

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

10/22/2003 08:02:09 PM · #7

Originally posted by LucidLotus:

Straight from the camera, just uploaded, renamed but not resized. I shot it using the 640x480 size mode.

What's the verdict, doc? I can take it! ;)

That could be the answer "640x 480". You capture less information this way. That's why the colors are not as saturated. If you use a higher image size you should see a huge improvement.

When you use a lower size you lose a lot of the details. I may look very nice on the screen but when you get home and see it on your moniter it doesn't look as good.

My camera is like a cousin to yours and I always use 2048x1536 and shrink it down later. Unfortunately it takes lots of Memory Stick space, but your pictures would be a lot nicer.

Anyone lost theirSony Manual. You can download it.

Message edited by author 2003-10-22 20:24:06.

jimmythefish

Canon EOS-10D

10/22/2003 08:14:42 PM · #8

640x480 on the F717 sucks...don't use it, even if that's your final image size planned. I never shoot on that setting with mine. It always comes out very soft and never has enough information to really work with when you want to manipulate the image.

The colours of the F717 are quite muted. I usually bump the colour saturation after the fact a tiny bit, though not by much or you start getting posterization (colour separation) in the image where the colour gradient starts showing. Also, the use of a polarizer helps with the colour saturation and helps knock down reflections on leaves and gets more colour from them as a result.

Using evaluative metering isn't the best for trees in that situation, as you're metering to average out the scene's brightness. The sky behind it is very bright, so the tree will be dark to balance the scene. I'd use center-weighted or spot metering for a shot like that, so you can expose the tree properly and overexpose the sky a bit, which would come out bright anyways.

As it was shot, the EV of -1 and the evaluative metering led to an underexposed tree.

James.

joshua

Canon EOS-500D Rebel T1i

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II

10/22/2003 08:15:30 PM · #9

i think the picture looks pretty flat because it has been overexposed. one way to try to correct this would be to work with some contrast and brightness settings to see if you can get rid of some of the haziness. you could also bump up the saturation a little. but at 640x480, you won't be able to do much without distorting the photo

10/22/2003 08:31:29 PM · #10

Aha, I didn't realize the image size in the camera made that much difference. I use it because I have problems downsizing my images, I'm still trying to figure out how to use Gimp (don't have Photoshop).

As an aside, I've tried downloading that manual and nothing seems to happen. I have mine around somewhere but I'd like a copy for my computer just in case.

Thank you guys for the help. It made sense and helped me focus on one (of many) area that I have trouble with. I'll try using a larger size initially and see how that affects my shots.