How often do your colors clip in the histogram? Do you adjust HSL?

Recently, while reading "Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5" I learned about color clipping in the histogram. I also learned that you can use things like HSL to dial back the colors so that they do not clip. However, whenever I do this, the picture's contrast/saturation looks almost too washed out.

Is my problem that I've been using things like the Auto settings and over-saturating my images for so long that I don't know what a "correct" picture looks like? Has anyone else noticed this and how often do you mess with the HSL settings?

I find it's very easy to clip the red channel with the 5D2, especially in skin tones.. Almost enough to make me switch to a 1 series..

You are correct that so many people are used to it, that it almost never gets pointed out (at least as far as red channel / skin tones are concerned). The nice thing is once you've learned what to look for, you can spot it a mile away, and it becomes much easier to fix your own images.

Depending on the channel that's clipped, consider adjusting WB a bit, that can help the appearance of the channel in question.

BrandonSi wrote in post #13738143
I find it's very easy to clip the red channel with the 5D2, especially in skin tones.. Almost enough to make me switch to a 1 series..

You are correct that so many people are used to it, that it almost never gets pointed out (at least as far as red channel / skin tones are concerned). The nice thing is once you've learned what to look for, you can spot it a mile away, and it becomes much easier to fix your own images.

Depending on the channel that's clipped, consider adjusting WB a bit, that can help the appearance of the channel in question.

Good suggestion about the WB! I never thought about that at all.

Custom WB is your friend!

bfleck51 wrote in post #13738200
Custom WB is your friend!

Yes! I always fix the WB before I do anything else. I've learned that the hard way..haha.

I never let my colours clip and I often get very flat uninteresting RAW images but these can then be tweaked back to life in DPP and Photoshop. Thats the beauty of the system, as long as nothing has been lost it can all be recreated.

Lowner wrote in post #13738236
I never let my colours clip and I often get very flat uninteresting RAW images but these can then be tweaked back to life in DPP and Photoshop. Thats the beauty of the system, as long as nothing has been lost it can all be recreated.

Can you elaborate a little more on what you do in DPP and Photoshop that you can't already do in Adobe Camera Raw? I know that you can use things like layers in PS, but other than that, what are the benefits?

NoahKrueger wrote in post #13738283
Can you elaborate a little more on what you do in DPP and Photoshop that you can't already do in Adobe Camera Raw? I know that you can use things like layers in PS, but other than that, what are the benefits?

I think Richard is referring to doing his Raw processing in DPP rather in Camera Raw, but the same things apply. The Camera Raw tools are very useful, you just have to learn to use them! It takes some time and experience, but it's all there!

Use those HSL tools when you want to adjust a particular color, and then play with the Contrast, Clarity and Vibrance controls for more of a global "tweaking".

tonylong wrote in post #13738344
I think Richard is referring to doing his Raw processing in DPP rather in Camera Raw, but the same things apply. The Camera Raw tools are very useful, you just have to learn to use them! It takes some time and experience, but it's all there!

Use those HSL tools when you want to adjust a particular color, and then play with the Contrast, Clarity and Vibrance controls for more of a global "tweaking".

Here's what I started doing this week:

1. Set contrast, vibrance, clarity, saturation to 0
2. If color clipping still exists, decrement contrast until no clipping exists
3. Go to HSL
4. Increment all values by +5 and determine which color clips
5. Set the color the that clips to 0 or -10
6. Go back to Basic tab and increment the above 4 settings until clipping exists
7. Repeat 4-6 over and over

How can I improve on this workflow?

Hmm, I don't deal with color clipping that much so don't really have a workflow suggestion! I guess I could babble, but I won't -- maybe someone else has a suggestion!

Tony knows me too well!

Her's exactly right, as long as I've lost nothing during the capture, recreating that certain "magic" which drew me to want to lift the camera can be done in a variety of software. I've not got ACR so use DPP & PS7.

I cannot offer any standardised settings because each and every image needs individual attention.