Controlling colors in photos?

Besides white balancing, controlling clothing in the shots, and trying to minimize color spill from grass, objects, etc. are there any other ways of controlling colors in photos in camera? I'm obviously new to all this and just wondering if there are any other things I should look into to improve color in my photos?

Thanks.

Maybe you could be more specific about exactly what your goal is or what "look" you're going for, but in general I would simply say that the lighting is key - I think the further I get into photography the more that I really understand and appreciate this. What they say about the "golden hour" is so true - the colors can really pop during the early morning and (sometimes) during the early evening hours, when the conditions are just right.

So in general I'd say that controlling or using your lighting is going to have a tremendous effect on how the colors come out.

I recommend the book "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson, as a great resource in improving your photos in general, but IIRC he goes into some detail about colors.

If you are asking how to get accurate colors you might want to look into the Colorchecker Passport. It is a color chart and software system that you shoot under the light you will be using for your photo and then you calibrate Lightroom (in my case) to make adjustments to the file to get it to match the chart.

Tint is another thing you can control. By "tint" I mean the balance between magenta and blue/green.
I control this in iPhoto after the shots have been taken, but there are probably settings whereby you can do this in-camera, as well.

southwestform wrote in post #17656459
Besides white balancing, controlling clothing in the shots, and trying to minimize color spill from grass, objects, etc. are there any other ways of controlling colors in photos in camera?

Besides a good Custom WB, I don't know of an other way to do it in camera.
But remember that the "correct" WB isn't necessarily the "right" WB for a particular image? Would you want to neutralize the nice colors in a sunset?

How about Have you calibrated your monitor?

And the right browser makes a difference, too. WEB BROWSER CHECK - Test Page - ICC profiles and Photoshop Color Management

if you shoot RAW there is nothing to control in camera, you merely get a starting point when you open it in a raw editor.

Your light source is also an important factor, and how it reacts with the materials in the scene.

Not all light is created equal, and some produces very narrow bands of colour which will change how things look.

mike_311 wrote in post #17657700
if you shoot RAW there is nothing to control in camera, you merely get a starting point when you open it in a raw editor.

Ahem, that's incorrect. Your RAW editor will have one heck of a time fixing colour casts resulting from mixing light sources with different hues. There are quite a number of variables to control in camera, at the moment the exposure is taken.

@OP, it'd be great if you could post an example of a 'problem photo'. In general, you will er, generally, get some casts from the light bouncing off surfaces. This is NORMAL. I'd call these natural colour casts, viz. the slightly greenish tint you get from sunlight bouncing off grass, and wouldn't sweat them too much. You could 'neutralise' them in post processing, but that would also yield a photo that is too neutral as to be irrealistic—say, spot on skin, but magenta-ish grass—not good.

If you're working with more than just natural light (i.e. flash), then you need to be more careful and consider gelling the flash to match the other colours in the scene. Again, without an specific example, it's hard to guide you.