Not enough Blue - Levels issue

[Littlebike]

It seems every picture I take needs to have its levels adjusted. Specifically it is the "blue" level in the photoshop levels control panel. CTRL+L is the shortcut.

Seriously, every single picture!

Unfortunately I do not have more than one lens so I cannot do a comparison contrast. The only variable I have is my Hoya UV filter.

My lense is a Sigma 24-70 F2.8. My monitor is calibrated with a Spyder system.

Here is the original:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce8d3d1a246e0e0000001610

here it is with the blue level adjusted down to about 227 or so, I did not document the exact setting:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce8d3d1ada6ef00000001610

I know this is an awful picture on many levels but it illustrates my point perfectly.

I am going to do some controlled tests and see what happens but at this point I am becoming quite irritated.

I did a little looking at some other pictures that were not floral scenes and the issue did not seem as pronounced.

I am still going to do some testing.

any ideas?

[DonCoon]

What color is the flower? White?

I tried auto levels, then used the white eyedropper on the flower to set it white. Picture turned out OK. Of course this is not acceptable if this is what your camera is producing everytime.

What's your white balance setting on the camera? Better yet, shoot in Auto Mode to make sure it's set to auto white balance.

Hard to believe it could be the lens. More likely the camera or camera settings : (

[Littlebike]

I just did two test shots with of a floral arrangement using a 550ex flash. One with the UV filter and one without. The two photos are virtually identical with nearly identical histograms and blue level histograms using Photoshop as the standard.

I'm sorry, the flower is white. I live in Michigan USA and these things are everywhere here and I just took for granted that everybody would know these are white.

I was using a custom white balance for this picture using a white sheet of paper as the standard.

I wonder if the green folage could have had an impact on setting the custom balance? I made sure the papr was in the sun just like the flower.

[daveh]

Littlebike wrote:
I'm sorry, the flower is white.

Does one of those pictures look white to you?

You might want to try gray instead of white. If the white reference gets blown out there's little or no color data to work with.

[DonCoon]

Littlebike wrote:


I'm sorry, the flower is white. I live in Michigan USA and these things are everywhere here and I just took for granted that everybody would know these are white.

I was using a custom white balance for this picture using a white sheet of paper as the standard.

I wonder if the green folage could have had an impact on setting the custom balance? I made sure the papr was in the sun just like the flower.



I'm in central Michigan, FWIW. Queen Anne's Lace?

Can we assume you first took a shot using auto white balance?

Another test: Using your custom white balance setup, take a shot of the same white sheet of paper in the same setting as the flower to confirm that the custom setup is correct.

[scottbergerphoto]

How about shooting Raw and trying different white balances in conversion? You can try them all and not lose any data from you original shot. I've yet to actually use a custom white balance. Let me know if you think I should. My galleries are listed below. All shot raw, converted in BreezeBrowser(Normal Conversion), and post processed in Photoshop Elements 2.0.

[Littlebike]

daveh wrote:
Does one of those pictures look white to you?


Well, yes. I am partially colorblind but not so much that I do not know the original picture was a mess. Also, when questioning color I often use my wifes eyes for a second opinion, and my monitor is calibrated with a Spyder.

I didn't even bother with AWB this time out.

Another test: Using your custom white balance setup, take a shot of the same white sheet of paper in the same setting as the flower to confirm that the custom setup is correct.

That is exactly what I did. I essentially put the paper in front of the flower, shot it, set it, shot the flower.

You might want to try gray instead of white. If the white reference gets blown out there's little or no color data to work with.

I have been wondering about this Gray Card thing, and how to properly use it.

Here's the deal, I have only had the camera for a little over a month and have not had much time to mess with it, maybe an hour a day at most. And, those hours are in the evening so it is usually my furniture or my cats. yippee!

Beyond this, I think I might be a victim of the focus issue (very mild, just a few mm) but I am not quite ready to sound that alarm yet. As I write this I am downloading about 35 shots of a home made target and getting ready to print off an actual depth of firld target.

Thanks for the help, I really do appreciate it.

[CyberDyneSystems]

Neither of these images is even close to white on this end,. and I suspect that is the case for most of us. They are boith quite green. ?

[Littlebike]

I know I just posted but this deserves another one, I AM A TWIT!

I just went back into the canon Utility and converted it to AWB and it looks great. After I did that I remembered I tried the daylight setting before setting it up for custom because the daylight setting did not look very good on the LCD.

dont mind me, I will be over here sitting in the corner.

This is the AWB version of the picture:
http://im1.shutterfly.com/procserv/47b3d606b3127cce8d3871c80e020000001610

I am sorry for the wild goose chase. I guess I got a little rapped up in the idea that something was wrong especially since I was using a custon white balance. how could I have been wrong

And this looks a lot more white than the previous ones.

And being colorblind REALLY sucks, no matter how mild.

[daveh]

Now that would be white :D

[RichardtheSane]

Looks white to me, well done for spotting the problem.

I wouldn't go doing all the tests under the sun for your focus issue either. I did that, and managed to nearly prove to myself I had a focus issue. I don't, but a lot of tests can be inconclusive. My advice here:- Use the camera, use it lots. Use Unsharp Mask in photoshop. After some serious shooting then judge if you have a focus issue. I am very happy with my 10D which I though had a focus issue, so don't get worried by the amount of focus issue claims here. A lot of them are probably like me, needed work on their techniques.

[CyberDyneSystems]

:D

All's well that ends well :D