Need Help with Deep Blue Sky - DPChallenge Forums

06/05/2004 07:15:07 AM · #1

I have taken a picture using a polarizer to deepen the blue of the sky in a picture I am using for the Deep Focus Challenge. When I posted the picture in DPC and viewed it the deep blue looks something like paint flowing downwards with some lavender and purple contamination. I have tried Neat Image and selective Gaussian Blur to try to reduce this contamination but it doesn't eliminate it to my satisfaction. I would like a nice sharp consistent blue sky. I would post the picture but I still plan to use it. Any suggestions?

GolferDDS

06/05/2004 07:25:17 AM · #2

Here is a sample image of the sky taken from another picture from this shoot.

06/05/2004 07:51:43 AM · #3

Looks OK to me. There is a little noise, but I don't see the color contamination you refer to.

06/05/2004 08:14:08 AM · #4

I have the same problem. I don't have the solution, though. Resizing in increments seems to help a little. Usually, I just give up and post a different photo. Maybe someone can help us both.

06/05/2004 09:09:28 AM · #5

Can either of you provide some details? Are you on Macs or PCs? Using Photoshop? It would help if I could see the problem, but the shot posted looks fine.

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

06/05/2004 09:43:30 AM · #6

Maybe it's our monitors. I have an older ViewSonic flat screen 17".

Last August, I asked for help on this one. I gave up.

Edit: I didn't mean that nobody helped me. I meant I couldn't duplicate what they suggested. The more I tried, the worse the photo looked. The original looks solid blue. It's just when I try to resize for web.

Message edited by author 2004-06-05 09:49:48.

dsidwell

Canon EOS-5D

06/05/2004 09:47:52 AM · #7

You could try a few things to see if any will work:

1. Use a sky blue gradient at a small percentage. Your sky will not then be even, but it will be bluer.

2. Use the Replace Color tool, select the blues and due a slight hue shift to more of a blue that you want.

3. Use the Hue/Saturation tool, select the blues, and fiddle with them until you get the color you want.

4. Select the sky with the magic wand and do a slight gaussian blur to see if that helps with any 'noise'.

Good luck!

dsidwell

Canon EOS-5D

Canon EF 17-40mm f/4.0L USM

06/05/2004 09:48:59 AM · #8

Originally posted by Marjo:

Maybe it's our monitors. I have an older ViewSonic flat screen 17".

Last August, I asked for help on this one. I gave up.

As with the original post in this thread, I don't see a problem with this shot. The sky looks lovely and blue to me.

Firsty

Fujifilm X-E1

Fujifilm XF 18-55mm f/2.8-4 OIS

06/05/2004 09:50:08 AM · #9

looks fine here too

06/05/2004 09:59:06 AM · #10

On both these shots, I see bands of pixels that look real blotchy.

Edit: or...maybe it's my calibrated eyes...I had lasic eye surgery! Did you Inede?

Message edited by author 2004-06-05 10:02:59.

06/05/2004 10:04:50 AM · #11

I don't see any problem with the second photo either, just some slight noise. Could be your monitor or Photoshop preview settings. Try looking at the same shot on another monitor.

Message edited by author 2004-06-05 10:06:51.

06/05/2004 10:09:08 AM · #12

Great. It's bad enough we have to worry about color matching. Now we have to deal with enhanced vision! Will the upgrade expenses never cease?

kirbic

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

06/05/2004 10:10:17 AM · #13

Make sure your monitor is set to truecolor (24-bit or 32-bit) color depth. I know it's a simple thing, but you'd be surprised how many folks are still running lower bit depth settings and trying to do photo work. It doesn't work well.

KarenB

Canon EOS-70D

Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

06/05/2004 10:12:04 AM · #14

and, if they are voting with those settings, it could lead to lower scores.

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

06/05/2004 10:22:58 AM · #15

Funny, scalvert.
My voting is averaging around 5. !?
I guess, I'm a simple person, Kirbic. Old, too. How do I check my monitor's truecolor setting?

pcody

Canon PowerShot G6

06/05/2004 10:23:53 AM · #16

I adjusted the color balance. I reduced the magenta and increased the cyan and blue. All of the adjustments were under 10(so they are very slight adjustments). It looks as if you have some magenta and possibly some red in the sky. Used psp. If you have critical colors in the rest of the photo, you might want to work on the sky on a different layer.

06/05/2004 10:27:03 AM · #17

Kirbic suggestion is a good one. Make sure your monitor is set to Millions of colors, not Thousands.

GolferDDS

06/05/2004 10:32:14 AM · #18

Yes Marjo, that's what I see...alot of blotchyness (is that a word?). PCody's adjustment looks alot better. Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I will try them out.

kirbic

Canon RF 24-70mm f/2.8 L IS

06/05/2004 10:36:29 AM · #19

Originally posted by Marjo:

Funny, scalvert.
My voting is averaging around 5. !?
I guess, I'm a simple person, Kirbic. Old, too. How do I check my monitor's truecolor setting?

Hi Marj,
I assume you're on a PC; if so, then right-click on the desktop and click on "Properties". When the Display Properties dialog comes up, click on "Settings", and check the Color Quality. If it is set to 16-bit, try changing the setting to 24-bit or 32-bit. You may not have both 24-and 32-bit choices, depending on your graphics adapter and operating system. Either one should be adequate, 32-bit is preferred.
A final note, with some graphics adapters you may notice that it is not possible to set the highest color quality and the highest available resolution at the same time, due to memory limitations on the graphics card.

Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.8

06/05/2004 10:36:40 AM · #20

Pcody's color looks better, but the blotches are still there.

pcody

Canon PowerShot G6

06/05/2004 10:48:20 AM · #21

Sorry. But you might have to run it thru ni after you do the color adjustments. I think the blotchiness is caused by luminence(sp)in the blue channel. It's a pretty common problem for most digital pictures. You could isolate that channel and run it by itself thru ni or whatever noise filters you have in ps, then recombine them.

06/05/2004 11:01:14 AM · #22

Da! Isn't everyone happy that I'm around to ask all these questions and make myself look stupid, so you don't have to?
I changed the setting to truecolor and it corrected the blotchy bands. I still see some noise on these two photos, but like pcody suggested, Neat Image would correct that.
Kirbic, What does the 256 color setting do? and thanks for the help.

kirbic