Correct colors

[tommykjensen]

The colors in this photo are not correct. It was shot in JPEG fine.

Exif data:
Exposure time: 1/30
F-stop: 3.5
ISO speed: 400
Focal length: 18.0000
Flash: Not fired
Exposure mode: Auto
White balance: Auto
Aperture: 3.6147
Exposure bias: 0.0000
Camera model: Canon EOS 300D DIGITAL

What can I do to improve the colors?

http://photo.klein-jensen.dk/photo.php?n=room_wrongcolors.jpg

[ryuwulf]

first off it looks like tungsten lighting.

Set your camera to tungsten or use the manual white balance. this should correct the lighting.

In general, its best to take the best pic possible so you waste little time in the darkroom, in your case the digital darkroom.

in a business situation time = money, and there is never enough time.

hope that helps

[mcneguy]

Take this with a grain of salt because I'm not entirely sure that I know what I'm talking about but it appears as if to me that you have a white balance problem, maybe fluorescent lighting in the room?

Just a guess..

[tommykjensen]

first off it looks like tungsten lighting.

Set your camera to tungsten or use the manual white balance. this should correct the lighting.

In general, its best to take the best pic possible so you waste little time in the darkroom, in your case the digital darkroom.


I know that but its kind of to late now, not that this photo is of great importance but still it could be a good learning experience.

Since it was not shot in raw I can't change the white balance so what can be done if anything?

[garethhhhh]

And to add... If you're not sure which white balance setting to use, then shoot RAW. You can always correct white balance in post processing. :wink:

[tommykjensen]

And to add... If you're not sure which white balance setting to use, then shoot RAW. You can always correct white balance in post processing. :wink:

Yes I know that but it was shot in jpeg so what now?

[r2d2]

Have you tried to adjust curves? i know this sounds obvious.......just was not mentioned

[ryuwulf]

Have you tried to adjust curves? i know this sounds obvious.......just was not mentioned

r2d2 is right. You can use levels to adjust the colors. More than likely you will choose levels and select the red channel and start playing around with the setting until it fits your specs.

Curves are really advanced and take a lot of practice to adjust the curves just right. Once you master curves you can tackle most color probs.

Levels is the quick and dirty way of fixing your pic. In most cases levels will do the trick.

Also i mentioned this before in another thread, but if you want to be really hardcore about controling color. Convert to cmyk and start playing with the curves.

You are given more controll now with 4(cmyk) options instead of 3 (rgb)

[r2d2]

WOW!!! My first "advice" post and i sound like i know what i am talking about?? YEPPIE!!! I have graduated to 1st grade.. :P :P

There are lots of info on levels/ curves on the forum. Two websites that are very helpful are:

http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/command_primer.shtml
http://www.gurusnetwork.com/tutorials/photoshop/curves1.html

the 2nd one really helped me to understand it further... :P :P

May the force be with you

[PacAce]

You can corect the colors in the room so that it's more accurate but then, your light coming into the room from the window will become blue. The reason this is is because of the two different light sources in the picture, the incandescent lighting and the daylight lighting.

If I were to fix this picture, I would make a duplicate layer and color correct the light in the room. I would then cut out the window in this layer, which would now be too blue, so that the window on the original layer shows through with the correct color.

Of course, this is an over-simplication but you get the idea.

[BDM]

The window is a dead giveaway. The camera was set for daylight. But the interior lighting was tungsten. The light through the window looks OK because it was daylight. But the interior light was too warm, it being tungsten.

You will encounter the classic delemma in this type of shot in that you can correct color for the tungsten light (by setting the camera white balance to tungsten) but then the daylight through the window will be very blue. In order to have both types of lighting approximately correct you have to manipulate things so that both the interior and the exterior have the same color temperature.

Motion picture photography handles this sort of thing by either using artificial lighting with a high blue content or by using a warm (Wrattan 85) gelatin filter material over the windows.

The best method for still photography is probably to light the interior not with tungsten light but by strobe light (or blue photoflood bulbs). Strobe light (either with the on-camera flash or studio flash units) has a light color approximately the same as a normal sunny daylight. The only other thing needed for good results is to balance the strength of the strobe lighting to the strength of the daylight coming through the window. Usually, you want the window light to be a bit brighter (for a "natural" appearance) but not so bright as to wash out.

That's probably more than you wanted to know.

Bruce

[maderito]

The window is a dead giveaway. The camera was set for daylight. But the interior lighting was tungsten. The light through the window looks OK because it was daylight. But the interior light was too warm, it being tungsten.


Also, the interior is terribly underexposed. The histogram thus is compressed to the left. The data in the blue channel is pushed so far to the left (because the image is warm) that it is actually lost. Most of the captured image data is concentrated in the red and green channels. Without the blue channel data, the image cannot be properly color corrected. It's comparable to the situation when highlights are blown and data is permanently lost.

[BDM]

The window is a dead giveaway. The camera was set for daylight. But the interior lighting was tungsten. The light through the window looks OK because it was daylight. But the interior light was too warm, it being tungsten.


Also, the interior is terribly underexposed. The histogram thus is compressed to the left. The data in the blue channel is pushed so far to the left (because the image is warm) that it is actually lost. Most of the captured image data is concentrated in the red and green channels. Without the blue channel data, the image cannot be properly color corrected. It's comparable to the situation when highlights are blown and data is permanently lost.

Incidentally, in my previous post I mentioned balancing the daylight and interior light levels for "natural results. If you decide to use strobe light for the interior the best way of doing it is to set the camera for manual exposure. Select a reasonable shutter speed - - say 1/60 second as a trial and take a shot. Adjust the lens F stop until you see a good exposure for the interior light. Since your in camera flash metering won't work in the manual exposure mode you will have to experiment a bit. Once you have found the proper F stop and exposure for the strobe lit interior, you should then observe the window light. If it is too bright, leave the F stop alone but increase the shutter speed to say 1/125 and take another shot. You can increase the shutter speed some more if needed up to a maximum of 1/200 on the Drebel - - strobe flash cannot be used at higher shutter speeds. Should the window be too dark, you would decrease the shutter speed to say 1/30 second, etc. until the balance of intensity of the interior and exterior light is to your liking.

Remember, exposure for strobe is controlled by the lens stop only while daylight is controlled by both the lens stop and the shutter speed. So after you have achieved a good exposure for the interior strobe lit scene, you can then control the daylight coming through the window by adjusting the shutter speed only and the strobe exposure won't be affected. Don't exceed the 1/200 limit though or only a portion of the frame will be exposed by the strobe.

I hope this makes some sense.

Bruce

[Roger_Cavanagh]

I recently reviewed (http://www.rogercavanagh.com/software_reviews/15_curvemeister.htm) a nice utility called Curvemeister that would help with this kind of adjustment.

It's a kind of souped up curves. :)

I have no connection with the author.

Regards,