Photo help - Proper colour - Canon SLR

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by Snaz

Post editing is a must for reef shots. We bombard the subject with super violet rays to get the colours to pop and as a result our pictures are blue.

I would have to disagree with this statement...... all of my pictures that I post have no post editing at all and one of them just so happens to be POTM ATM..... I kinda feel the same as the OP..... the camera should be able to take an accurate representation of the coral with its settings and not need to be tweeked with a computer program

[syncro]

I think it depends on how blue your lights are and how far your camera's white balance will go. After you take a picture, your camera tries to guess the color of the lighting and remove that color cast. Incandescent are yellow. Flouresent lights are green. With really blue tank lighting the camera just wasn't designed to consider a light source that blue. As a result it only takes out some of the blue cast. I've found that Lightroom (a photo editing program) can't fully color correct a photo taken under just blue actinics. While it can do better than the camera, it is still limited.

Some ideas to experiment with if you can:

• try using whiter lighting over your tank (turn off actinics)
• try just a few photos in RAW and correcting white balance in a software program, if it helps then you've narrowed down the problem and maybe we can help further
• try manually setting the white balance on your camera (if available). The camera will ask you to take a picture of something white, like a blank sheet of paper, under the target lighting.
• try shooting in JPEG with a "vivid" color setting to help boost color saturation and contrast

[Snaz]

Originally Posted by fishytime

I would have to disagree with this statement...... all of my pictures that I post have no post editing at all and one of them just so happens to be POTM ATM..... I kinda feel the same as the OP..... the camera should be able to take an accurate representation of the coral with its settings and not need to be tweeked with a computer program

Could and should. Sure if your camera is capable of a property WB that is fine. Mine and the OP does not seen capable and so the need of some software help is required.

[Coasting]

Could and should. Sure if your camera is capable of a property WB that is fine. Mine and the OP does not seen capable and so the need of some software help is required.

It damn well better! It cost enough!

Well with all the discussion, checked my instructions for the camera and yippie just went in altered my kelvin colour rating for my WB to 10,000k
Didnt touch my iso, just went and tested to see what would happen.
I see a nice difference.

before


After






Still a little off but Now I think im heading in the right direction, and can fool around with the other settings.

Hoping to maybe get some more input from others though, the more I can learn the better. And I still want to avoid editing if at all possible! (other then re-sizing in paint)

[Snaz]

Click Click

[MarkoD]

It doesnt matter what camera or how much it costs. It won't perform properly unless you use it properly.

If you do use software for post, boost the contrast, brightness and slightly increase saturation. It'll make everything pop

[Coasting]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

It doesnt matter what camera or how much it costs. It won't perform properly unless you use it properly.

If you do use software for post, boost the contrast, brightness and slightly increase saturation. It'll make everything pop

Exactly why I want to figure out how to use this thing properly
This camera is new to me, bought it for myself for christmas and Haven't had a chance yet to take it out and test all the features like I did with my old SLR.

Cant find the tripod... Will play around with some of the settings now on the same 2 coral and see what happens.
My only regret.... Buying a bowfront.

[Coasting]

Iso 100, f 5.0, 1/60


iso 640, f 5.0, 1/60


iso 200, f2.8, 1/40


iso 400, f2.8, 1/30


iso 1000, f4.5, 1/60


iso 6400, f8.0, 1/60


Kept the same iso, fstop and speed for all these pictures but played with the following settings on the camer itself.
Sharpness, Contrast, Saturation, Colour tone.
Max all 4


Max all but contrast 0


Max all sharpness low.


Max all saturation 0


Max all tone 0


All 0, sharpness max


all 0, contrast max


All 0, saturation max


all 0, tone max


Any of them look any better?