Help with saturated colors, please!

[Katy Noelle]

#1


AV shutter 3.2 ev-1.33 f29 60mm

#2


AV 6sec f18 60mm

I have this gorgeous spray of orchids but the colors are, obviously, very saturated. I remember, back in October, reading about noise and/vs. "blowing out" with deep colors and, so, put the exposure down a bit on the first one. I feel like I'm having trouble getting that one to be vibrant. Then, on the second one, there's no exposure compensation but, it's hard to do anything with it in post processing without blowing the parts of the petals that are red and close to the center. You know, though, as I'm typing this, I'm realizing that I spot metered on the white in the center. Now, why did I do that? Also, it was just natural light from the window and I am thinking that, on the first one, I hadn't thought to turn the orchid, yet.

I'm not terribly fond of these shots and these flowers are a bit beat up but I will have a week or two to work on these as more of the buds open and, would appreciate your insight.

[jiro]

Katy, so you want to make the images vibrant without over-saturating the areas where there are deep red colors? Is that the idea? Kindly confirm. Thanks.

[Katy Noelle]

Yes, Jiro! Thanks! I want to brighten the photo but, then, I lose the detail in the texture of the petal.

Are you feeling better, btw? Has the weather changed for the better in Texas?

[jiro]

Yes, Jiro! Thanks! I want to brighten the photo but, then, I lose the detail in the texture of the petal.

Are you feeling better, btw? Has the weather changed for the better in Texas?

Nope, that's why I can't shoot these days. All my joints are really painful, especially the legs and my shoulder area. We are getting warmer weather this coming week so I think I can take some shots. Thanks for the concern, Katy.

Here's an idea. Make a copy of the background layer, then apply a SCREEN BLENDING MODE to this copy layer. Now, your image is bright! If on some areas it is too bright that you are losing textures and details, then... apply a mask! That's the beauty of the masking technique. You can always have control on where you want the changes to take effect. Try it, then let me know if it worked for you. Good luck.

[Katy Noelle]

Oh, dear......

Welcome to my life! I'm still twiddling my thumbs, waiting to get photoshop. I'm STILL using iphoto; so, I'd love to figure out if I can get it better in the original capture. What do you think?

I can't wait till you're feeling better because we all love seeing your photos and what you're working on!

[jiro]

Oh, dear......

Welcome to my life! Nothing quite works out the way I'd like it to. I'm still twiddling my thumbs, waiting to get photoshop. I'm STILL using iphoto; so, I'd love to figure out if I can get it better in the original capture. What do you think?

I can't wait till you're feeling better because we all love seeing your photos and what you're working on!

Sorry, My bad again. I thought you're using photoshop.

Do you have a white, thin bedsheet? Put it in front of your window to even out the light. Then bring your orchid closer to the window for a more softer lighting effect. Don't forget to use some reflector on the other side to bring detail on the shadow areas. One of my friend on another forum uses a white umbrella to cover the flowers he is shooting and it creates a very nice, even lighting effect on the petals. Then he just use a small white foam core board reflector behind the petals to reflect the light at the back. The effects was really nice. That is without using any flash on it, just natural sunlight bouncing on the white umbrella. This guy is even clever, if the background is too busy for the shot, he covers the area that can be seen on the camera frame by some t-shirts or cloth that he has. LOL! I really thought they were studio shots but when he let us see his setup we were blown away by the simplicity of it. He owns a very nice flower garden that's why he can shoot whatever he wants. These are just ideas, so you can play around with it.

Oh, last suggestion... use a gray card on first few shots so you can correct the white balance and determine the most favorable exposure value. Good luck, Katy.

[ilovelucydog]

You can download Photoshop and Lightroom and have 30 days to play with it. The trial versions are the exact same as the one you purchase. I just converted my trial versions to permanent ones yesterday. They have great education discounts if by chance you qualify for them.

Jiro, I didn't know you weren't feeling great. I hope you begin to feel like yourself soon. I was wondering why you weren't posting any pictures of late. Feel better... soon.

[Skitalez]

Hi, Katy! First, I wish to tell, that a photo very beautiful! Secondly, orchids very colourful by the nature. Probably, it is necessary to change a background to allocate or extinguish color of an orchid. Or to use other light source. What for to change a flower? I have tried - a difference few. (a mask of sharpness too much, forgive)



If it is impossible to change a flower, change illumination and a background

[Steve S]

Are you shooting in RAW or jpeg?

[jiro]

Katy, just an idea on how to brighten the shot a little bit.

[Katy Noelle]

You can download Photoshop and Lightroom and have 30 days to play with it. The trial versions are the exact same as the one you purchase. I just converted my trial versions to permanent ones yesterday. They have great education discounts if by chance you qualify for them.

Jiro, I didn't know you weren't feeling great. I hope you begin to feel like yourself soon. I was wondering why you weren't posting any pictures of late. Feel better... soon.

Thanks, Lucy! That was my brilliant plan, back at the beginning of January but, because I have an old computer (Mac OSx 10.4.11), the latest, downloadable photoshop isn't going to work for me. Just, it's a loooooong story....

[Katy Noelle]

Thanks, Guys! Okay...

I'm shooting in RAW.

The light was hazy late afternoon "sun". It was pretty soft and diffused but, maybe, too much. I did have a huge white board, off to the left to reflect the light back but it just wasn't working very well, this time. I think, again, that it was because the light wasn't good enough from the window. SO, I will take your ideas, Jiro, and work with them more. I had seen your recommendations for diffusing light in another thread, a week or two ago, and played around with a white, sheer curtain and how close it was to the light source, the other night. It was interesting to see how things changed. (You know, I remember reading about this MONTHS ago. Back to the basics, I guess.) I'll work on it more.

Also, I really hear you, Yegor. I'll try what you're saying. I'm thinking about how to do this.

Thanks for the edits, too! You retained a lot more than I could. I think that Yegor's kept a bit more of the detail but I really just need to reshoot this.

I really need to carve out a work space at home for this. I keep having to pull either a corner in my dining room or my living room's bay window apart.

AND, that's it! I give in and am going to order a gray card today.

[jiro]

Try shooting at about 1 - 3:00PM light. It's a bit harsh but since you are shooting inside your house, it is still an indirect light. Try with and without the white bedsheet and see what can give you the brightness you need.

[Wirefox]

Katy

Try GIMP. It is open source and you can get the version compatible with 10.4.11. It is not so heavy on memory as PS. As far as iPhoto is concerned you are going to struggle. However if you wish to emulate what some of the others have done above; Open the adjustment panel in iPhoto and at the top you will see a representation of the tonal or levels curves. At either end there is a slider. Drag the left hand slider in to the right so it is just nudging the first (red, green or blue) curve. If this looks too dark back off a little by dragging the slider to the left a touch. Then go to the right hand end of the curve and repeat only this time dragging the slider in to the right until it touches the point where the first curve begins to rise from the x-axis.

Sometimes you will find that the curves are bunched to the right or left against the y-axis. In these cases you should only adjust the curve at the opposite end to the bunching. This will avoid clipping. Note: I do sometimes manipulate either end depending on the effect I wan but it must be done with care.

You can then go to the temperature and tint sliders at the bottom of the adjustment pane.

Simplistically the temperature slider adjusts the red and blue channels. Blue being colder and red warmer. The tint slider adjusts the green channel but this must be used economically. An alternative is to use the dropper (to the left of the tint slider). The idea is that you click the dropper on a mid grey or whit part of the image. This can give unpredictable results but it is sometimes worth a try. You can always reset.

I think that both images are well exposed and little or no clipping is evident. As mentioned above you can increase vibrance by darkening the background. However, you really need the ability to fully manipulate the tonal curves to do that successfully in PP. This is where GIMP or PS comes in.

If you do decide to try GIMP I will certainly help out where I can. Donald is another GIMP user and I believe there are others on CiC .

I'm shooting in RAW.

That will not help if you are using iPhoto. iPhoto coverts to jpg on import. You are manipulating a jpeg once in iPhoto. (somebody correct me here if wrong)

[Wirefox]

Jiro

So sorry to hear that you are suffering. Take care and I hope you can find some relief

Best Wishes

Steve

[Katy Noelle]

Yes, Jiro - you are right about the time of day and the strength of the sun - it's still weak winter sun, here in New England, (although, I can feel it coming back more, every day.)

Steve, er, of course, I know all of this..... thanks for typing it all out, though....

We (my sister and/or husband) have a plan to download Photoshop but will they ever get around to it....???

Maybe, I should look into GIMP. Also, I believe that you are right and iphoto keeps the raw and always gives me a jpeg to work with.

Still, I always want to learn how to get it right in the first place....

[jiro]

Jiro, So sorry to hear that you are suffering. Take care and I hope you can find some relief

Best Wishes

Steve

Thanks, Steve. This is the body given to me, and I accept it.