Colours, colour settings or post editing?

tom32y

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Hi,

This is my first post on this forum, and hopefully can get some advice!
Ive been taking photos for a while now with my Canon 1000d using various lens’s, ive now just upgraded to a 5d to try improve the quality of my photos. I have previously been getting a problem with the 1000d that my photos seem to be washed out and not very colourful. Ive tried adjusting the picture styles to some luck but it does tend to make the photo very dark at the same time.

Would this be more to do with my settings in camera or should I be doing more post editing work to get them to look more colourful? I will post a few sample images later on when im home to see what people think and how to improve the colours.

Thanks for your help!
 
you can set the camera to shoot washed out or blurringly bright colours, most of us set our cameras to shoot normal ,then muck about in post processing, sorry ,but have Nikon so don'tknow how to access the Canon but someone will have a Canon on here...........won't they :shrug:
:D:D
 
It sounds like you are having trouble setting the correct exposure, for some reason.

Sorting that out should be your first priority, then tweak the Picture Styles to taste. There is no need to go anywhere near post processing to get excellent results, as there is a lot of basic control in Picture Styles. If you switch to post processing, most of what you will do will just be replicating what you can do in-camera.

The major benefit of post processing is really to further enhance an already good image, by using some of the features that aren't available in-camera, but if you haven't got the basics right you'll stuggle.

Post up a sample pic.

And welcome to TP :)
 
Right ive got some photos uploaded now, heres a few that ive taken where the colours just dont seem very strong.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4882811799_51dd6001c6_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4883339442_eb3cdb4764_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4883333920_a63435540d_b.jpg

They were all taken using a 1000d on a fairly good non L series zoom lens. Now that ive got myself a 5d im hoping that the better sensor will increse the quality and ability to capture the more realistic colours. Im aiming to get the colours a bit better like this

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4882757687_0c0da7089e_b.jpg

Ive also had some success with a polarizing filter but didnt have one that fitted the zoom lens at the time.
Thanks for everyones help


Staff Edit : Images changed to clickable links. Pictures must not exceed current forum limits as per the rules.
Please feel free to replace this with a fresh/resized image and remove this text :)
 
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To be fair you aren't going to see a drastic increase in picture quality by going to a 5d. All you need to do is shoot in RAW, then tweak the curves and saturation slightly later on in post processing.
 
It would help if you could leave the exif data intact in the images.
 
Sorry i have no idea what the exif data is! So you would recommend shooting in raw then? do you batch edit your photos when doing this process and what program do you use to adjust and convert the RAW files??

Thanks
 
If you regularly add the same bit more saturation and or contrast, then using the Picture Style editor that comes with a Canon, you can make your own custom picture style and add that to the camera, so they'll be how you like them straight from the camera.
 
To be honest I think your colours are normal if you look at the bikes or some of the cloths like the blue t and hat plus the yellow hat you will see what I mean. I think you might find your photo removed to link as too big....
The EXIF is the data that tells what your camera settings was if you have saved for web they get removed just re-size to 800 pix max on long side and save jpg we can then see what setting you had
AS you do sport I would not have gone for a 5D but a 50D or 7D what made you pick a 5D?
 
So you would recommend shooting in raw then? do you batch edit your photos when doing this process and what program do you use to adjust and convert the RAW files??

Thanks

Its down to personal preference really. I like the added flexibility of RAW, you just have to spend a little extra time tweaking them after. If the images are similar i usually make a pre-set and just apply them to all the photos which speeds things up a lot.

Program wise i use a combination of Lightroom + Photoshop, before that i used adobe cameraRAW/photoshop. But there is a list of free programs here
 
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Exif data is the technical info about the camera and lens and exposure settings etc you used to take the pic. It is tagged to the image file (unless you delete it, which sometimes gets done automatically with some software) and when we click on it here, with an Exif reader, we can see everything (usually). When you click the info button next to the LCD and the exposure settings etc come up, that is headline Exif data.

So not knowing what you used, which doesn't matter that much, here's where I think your problems are. You are shooting a difficult subject in terms of exposure, in difficult light - bright low sun. The sun is reflecting off white helmets and fairings which are acting pretty much like a mirror, and then there are much darker bits around the wheels and under the bike. In other words, the dynamic range is is too high for the sensor to accommodate fully, so you have to compromise a bit. Any sensor will suffer in the same way, they are all pretty similar in this respect and you have an extreme range there - the white bits are very bright indeed.

The other thing about moving subjects is that the exposure meter will be fooled as you pan around, according to the colour/brightness of the bikes and also whether they are set against a bright sky or shady grass etc. It shouldn't vary, because the light itself isn't actually changing, but the camera doesn't know that and while it will do its best all it is doing is giving its best guess. To keep the exposure constant, you need to switch to manual which locks the settings.

For this particular subject, use spot metering. This mode is only to be used with caution and when you know what you're doing (evaluative is generally much less easily fooled) but here you have a good target for spot metering, ie large areas of tarmac and grass, and you can use them as a reference later on to check that the light hasn't changed. So set spot on manual and take an exposure reading with tarmac filling the centre circle and zero the indicator in the viewfinder. Now check the LCD and see what it looks like. Check the histogram (good link on histograms here http://www.sekonic.com/images/files/HistogramsLightmetersWorkTogether.pdf ) and make sure you have 'blinkies' on, which is the highlight over exposure warning enabled in the menu. This flashes on areas of the subject that are too bright and are blown to pure white and lost. Some of this is inevtitable on a subject like this, but then when a white helmet has the sun shinging on it, it is white so that's okay - just make sure important stuff isn't blinking where you want to see some tone detail.

Now adjust the exposure (shutter speed, f/number or ISO) and take another pic until it is how you want it and since you are in manual, it will stay there so long as the light on the subject doesn't change. Note however that there will be an extreme diffence between bikes with the sun on them, and the shady side which obviously has no direct sun and will be much darker. Personally I would avoid that situation when the sun is low if you can, as to get that right you will need a lot more exposure to get the shady side right and the background will go very light.

Now go back to your target image, eg tarmac, and note the viewfinder readout. It will say maybe +2/3rds or something, but that doesn't matter. That's your reference and whenever you see a cloud go over etc or the sun dips further, go back to that target and if necessary adjust the controls again so it goes back to +2/3rds. That will keep your exposure constant, and constantly correct.

On the colours thing, your pics don't look too bad to me and generally auto white balacne makes a good fist of it in daylight even if it struggles in room light etc. Or you could try the pre-sets for cloudy/shade etc, or even do a custom white balnce but that shouldn't be necessary. However, if you shoot in Raw and post process you can bypass all of the camera's presettings (which are only applied to the JPEG file and tagged to the Raw) and adjust the colour etc in any which way you like. Another advanatge of Raw is that there is usually a bit more headroom on the highlights so you might be able to retain a little more detail there.

But if you want the camera to do it all, I would turn down the contrast in picture styles a bit in that situation, say -2. And maybe restore a little more punch by upping the saturation to +1. Give it a go, trial and error. And remember that these settings only apply to the JPEG output so if you shoot Raw they are irrelevant - with Raw pretty much the only thing that is applied to the image file is the basic exposure (it is Raw, uncooked).

General comment, for shooting bikes you need a long lens. Canon 70-300 IS is very good and affordable but with the full frame sensor of the 5D you will have a wider field of view than the 100D which has a smaller sensor. So if bikes at distance is one of your priorities, you should aspire to something like the Canon 100-400L, which can be had for under £900 used - check the for sale forum here, it is excellent.

Sorry this has turned into a bit of a lecture ;)
 
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It sounds like you are having trouble setting the correct exposure, for some reason.

Sorting that out should be your first priority, then tweak the Picture Styles to taste. There is no need to go anywhere near post processing to get excellent results, as there is a lot of basic control in Picture Styles. If you switch to post processing, most of what you will do will just be replicating what you can do in-camera.

The major benefit of post processing is really to further enhance an already good image, by using some of the features that aren't available in-camera, but if you haven't got the basics right you'll stuggle.

Post up a sample pic.

And welcome to TP :)

I agree with this, it's a major pain that my 1Ds doesn't have picture styles as it just means I have to do the editing afterwards on the computer.
 
if you want brighter colours you just need a bit more saturation and maybe a small amount of extra contrast
easy enough for someone to demonstrate by tweaking your shots but you are not allowing editing

doubt a 5d will make notable difference unless its default picture style settings are different, and anyway they're probably user adjustable on both 1000d and 5d so easy to tweak a 1000d to get the same settings

small blurred bikes with direct sunlight reflected off them against a huge background of brown grass are going to look a bit dull compared to a bike that's filling the shot with the sunlight more behind the camera so the panels are reflecting sky and trees

but they dont look terrible to me, sure you're not just viewing them wrong - have you adjusted your monitor properly ? is it calibrated ?
 
Thanks everyone for your help and comments, will be taking onboard to try improve my photos!
 
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