Detail/Richness of Colour

Xplosion · 25 May 2008

Hey,

I'm just starting out with my DSLR and love being able to mess around with the settings however seem to lack the detail/sharpness that alot of you guys show in your pictures, I was wondering if I could get some basic advice to help me out, it also sometimes seems like my colours are bland,

I'm using a Nikon D40 with Kit lenses and will post some pictures up soon but was wondering,

1. Does increasing shutter time mean more detail is captured?
2. What methods are their to control the "richness" of colour?

Thanks

stevewestern · 25 May 2008

OK, the time the shutter is open is directly linked to the aperture of the lens - if the shutter is open longer, you need a smaller aperture (ie the size of the opening in the lens) so that the correct amount of light gets in. If you use a slower shutter speed, you will also use a smaller aperture, unless you overexpose. This will not give you more detail, and may result in blur if the subject is moving, or you can no longer hold the camera still.
Controlling the richness of colour could be down to using a polarizing filter, or processing after taking the shot (you can also underexpose slightly etc, but I am going with basic camera use)
I am sure it can and will be explained better by another more expert member than me shortly, and please do post some pictures.
One question - are you shooting in RAW or jpeg - RAW files need more processing..

hillwalkinggirl · 25 May 2008

Xplosion said:
Hey,

I'm just starting out with my DSLR and love being able to mess around with the settings however seem to lack the detail/sharpness that alot of you guys show in your pictures, I was wondering if I could get some basic advice to help me out, it also sometimes seems like my colours are bland,

I'm using a Nikon D40 with Kit lenses and will post some pictures up soon but was wondering,

1. Does increasing shutter time mean more detail is captured?
2. What methods are their to control the "richness" of colour?

Thanks

Do you have software to post process or do you have to do it in camera? If you need to do it in camera then have a look at this link. He gives you some very useful info on camera settings etc. http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/d40/users-guide/index.htm

In answer to 1 - no it will not mean more detail is captured.
In answer to No 2 - you would need to increase saturation but the above guide will give you some help on this. It's best to do in software if possible though.

If shooting in RAW then you will need to sharpen the photos in software as no pre sharpening is applied in a RAW file.

Xplosion · 25 May 2008

well....i'm confused as to whether I should use RAW or high quality jpeg, i'm quite familiar with photoshop but somehow feel like it's sort of "cheating" to edit photo's on the pc? Maybe i'm just being naive as I'm new to this game

Also, how much do lenses make a difference to detail captured? Apologies for the million questions lol

mewstar · 25 May 2008

i too like plenty of colour on my photos, so if i feel they need more, i tweak them in Photoshop. (curves, contrast, saturation & unsharpen mask)

rasmusrok1 · 25 May 2008

Photoshop is the way foreward if you have time to learn. It can really salvage some flat shots! Good luck

hillwalkinggirl · 25 May 2008

Xplosion said:
well....i'm confused as to whether I should use RAW or high quality jpeg, i'm quite familiar with photoshop but somehow feel like it's sort of "cheating" to edit photo's on the pc? Maybe i'm just being naive as I'm new to this game

Also, how much do lenses make a difference to detail captured? Apologies for the million questions lol

Well when film was the norm most togs used the darkroom to post process - Photoshop is just the digital equivalent.

ab$olut · 26 May 2008

I find nearly everything out my canon 400d comes out flat :shrug: ive tried using the right white balences and switching lenses but its all the same :shrug: maybe I need some L glass

mewstar · 31 May 2008

has your Canon got VIVID colour? try that

StewartR · 2 Jun 2008

ab$olut said:
I find nearly everything out my canon 400d comes out flat :shrug: ive tried using the right white balences and switching lenses but its all the same :shrug: maybe I need some L glass

Have you got the right colour space enabled? Most PCs use sRGB, but if you're using AdobeRGB then everything will look muted.

If that's not the issue, why not show us some pictures?

Dangleman · 2 Jun 2008

ab$olut said:
I find nearly everything out my canon 400d comes out flat :shrug: ive tried using the right white balences and switching lenses but its all the same :shrug: maybe I need some L glass

Difficult to say exactly without seeing examples and getting more details.

I can definitely vouch for better glass having an effect though (though you probably didn't want to hear that

). I've recently upgraded to the top quality Nikon lenses and there's a big difference in richness of colour and saturation, as well as clarity. Before I always felt I had to boost saturation in PS or vibrancy in Lightroom, now I don't have to at all.

yourapocalypse · 2 Jun 2008

I use AdobeRGB, with the same colour profile set up on Photoshop on my Mac. Would sRBG be a better bet, then?

StewartR · 3 Jun 2008

yourapocalypse said:
I use AdobeRGB, with the same colour profile set up on Photoshop on my Mac. Would sRBG be a better bet, then?

This isn't my specialist subject I'm afraid, and I don't know anything about colour management on a Mac. Hopefully an expert will be along soon. Or searching in the 'post processing' forum might help.

Chappers · 3 Jun 2008

If you are using Photoshop then which colour space you use isn't really that important as the software will take care of the differences for you. However unless you understand colour management ( and it really isn't all that difficult.) I would use sRGB.

The problem is to understand why your pictures are flat. Personally I would suggest you capture your images as RAW. More data is preserved in the image this way. Using Adobe Camera Raw in Photoshop enables you to adjust the image to your liking. Is it cheating Hell no! Films have different characteristics that gave the photographer the look he wanted. Velvia was the choice of most landscape photographers, was it accurate no , was it pleasing, yes. So don't have hang ups about that.

Do lenses make a difference. To a small extent yes. But going from a kit lens to a expensive piece of high end glass isn't going to make your images jump out of the screen at you.

Also check your preferences in Photoshop. make sure you've got your monitor profile set correctly. This is occasionally where problems like this occur. If you don't have a calibration device have a look for the generic monitor profile that came with the computer. Not ideal but better than nothing

percymon · 3 Jun 2008

The kit lens will not be helping in terms of image quality, but then the colour rendition is an much down to the camera software as anything - use of unsharp mask in photshop and some added saturation will improve things.

Digital photography is far from just point and shoot - its probably more complex than film; where all you had to worry about was Kodak vs Fuji and whether to take it to Boots or the camera shop for processing (not a situation that a lot on here would recognise !)

nigelcampbell · 3 Jun 2008

Xplosion said:
well....i'm confused as to whether I should use RAW or high quality jpeg, i'm quite familiar with photoshop but somehow feel like it's sort of "cheating" to edit photo's on the pc? Maybe i'm just being naive as I'm new to this game

Also, how much do lenses make a difference to detail captured? Apologies for the million questions lol

OK... stop right there!

Will £2,000.00 worth of L series lens improve your image quality? Probably - but in the same way that an Aston Martin DB9 will improve your driving experience. However, to follow the analogy, what we're talking about here, is learning to drive.

So stick with your current set up and also carry on with Jpeg for the short term. You can certainly get more out of RAW files, but there are a lot of other things to consider first and it is easier to deal with those without adding any more technicality to the mix.

Without seeing samples it is difficult to give constructive criticism. But I would advise you to set up a test shot and vary the settings on your camera - exposure time, aperture (don't forget to take notes) also vary between auto focus and manual.

If all the results lack the sharpness and saturation you desire then it is either some post processing techniques you need to learn - or maybe some incamera set up advice.

There are plenty of folks around here to help if you post some pics - but don't think that you can't get good images with the set up you have.

IMHO of course