Water not blue

JerryL

JerryL

Suspended / Banned
Messages
338
Name
Jerry
Edit My Images
Yes
Hope this is not a silly question, but when photographing Avocets on and by the water yesterday, the mere was a lovely deep blue when looking visually. When I processed the pictures the water was more a brown & subtle blue mix. It ruined what would have been some nice close-up shots.

This mid distant shot shows some blue, although by eye I recall it being a deeper blue.



In this closeup zoom the water is brown. I recall when taking this thinking it would be a lovely shot of the bird in the blue water.



Why would the conditions change just by zoom? WB was set to sunny/fine weather and exposure was 0.0.

Would a polariser help?

Would appreciate any advice to try and improve for the future.
 
polariser would have the opposite effect. It'd cut down on reflections which are what give you the blue colour.
 
Stupid question, but you weren't wearing sunglasses were you? mine make blues bluer.
 
Jaffster said:
Adjust the white balance!
Click to expand...

Ahh so it's a white balance issue then. So if it was sunny and I had it on Sunny WB what would work best? Is it me or the camera that's wrong?
 
matt2martin said:
Stupid question, but you weren't wearing sunglasses were you? mine make blues bluer.
Click to expand...

No I wasn't although it's a good point, that's why I wondered if a polariser would help, but 'The Matt' suggested that would make things worse.

If WB is not compensating for the conditions, then what setting would? Cloudy?
 
Donki said:
Did you shot in raw? If so the WB is easily adjusted. :)
Click to expand...

Yes I did shoot RAW, for the first time actually. I have Lightroom but not sure how to do the WB adjustment. How is this done?
 
JerryL said:
Yes I did shoot RAW, for the first time actually. I have Lightroom but not sure how to do the WB adjustment. How is this done?
Click to expand...

Not sure if you are using a Mac or a PC. If you're using a PC;

1. Ctrl+ALT+2 (This takes you to Develop) or you can select Develop under "Window" in the top menu
2. Find your picture
3. Towards the top right you will see the Temp slider under Treatment
4. Click on the Eyedropper icon to the left of the Temp Slider
5. Hover the tip of the eye dropper over an area of the bird that should be pure white or grey (You will see a magnified view) and click

This should get you close to what you are after. Then try tweaking the Temp slider.

If this doesn't get what you are after, you will have to do some masking of the bird and try adjusting the water only.
 
JerryL said:
Yes I did shoot RAW, for the first time actually. I have Lightroom but not sure how to do the WB adjustment. How is this done?
Click to expand...

On the list of adjustement on the right hand side, about 2 inches down it says wb, its only small but click on it and it had a drop down list of the the different wb settings, just click on which one suits the photo best:)

edit, this is in lightroom 2 by the way
 
Thanks, I managed to find the WB tool and picked a neutral color. I think I have made things worse, but I'm going to have a play with masking tool to see if I can lift the exposure a it more on the subject as it has also got a blue tinge to its feathers instead of white.
 
Maybe it's just me but the white balance looks ok. The whites look pretty white. Maybe you're just remembering the scene differently to how it was?
 
The Matt said:
Maybe it's just me but the white balance looks ok. The whites look pretty white. Maybe you're just remembering the scene differently to how it was?
Click to expand...

Could be, I managed to grab some similar shots off my son who was taking some at the same time with his D50, his WB was a little better but not wildly different result, so yes it could have been perception of the mere as a whole I remembered. Anyway, pleased with his shots so will probably bin the worst ones I took.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top