A simple picture I was looking to get input on... I know the subject isn't great, etc... however on the left side I shot using Custom White balance off a gray card held in front of the lens, on the right, the camera was set to daylight... First I will say the Daylight does seem to be closer to the actual colors I saw with my eyes, although it does almost seem a little green to me. I did take a shot with Velvia, so will be interesting to compare how the slide film saw it in comparisson...
Curious what everyone thinks, personal taste as well as technical view on the color... personnally I was surprised the custom white balance varried so much given the time of day.
I think I sort of like the Custom white balanced better as it looks more like I was shooting durring better light than I was, however the green on the trees is deffinately orangish, and looks off
Both shots tripod mounted D30, Mirror Lockup, Timer release, 1/45s @ f/11, ISO 100, 70-200 f/4 @ 200mm, Polarizer used. Taken @ 2:48pm (local time, Utah) at arround 4000-5000' elevation
Both processed identically, using linear RAW conversion with Canon File Viewer utility, and Fred Miranda's Linear RAW action set for the D30, high saturation, and edge sharpening v2
Interesting.
I agree with you about the right side being too green, but I'd have to say that it's closer to where I would work the photo than the left side. The left is too orange and the sky looks way off. My biggest nit would be the bluish rocks in the right side. If I was working it I think all I'd do is to suck a little blue out of the rocks and call it good.
Check this out. I selected the right half and drug a point on the Red Channel up and to the left. On my screen, the rocks pretty much match but the sky hasn't gone all weird like the sky in the left half.
I actually stopped using a gray card since it didn't seem to get me any closer to the right colors than what the automatic presets did. Right now I shoot in Cloudy-0 and go from there. So far (and I'm sure this would just relate to MY camera system, Nikon) I'm liking the results in 95% of situations. 99.99% of all my photos get worked in PS anyway though.
Hmm very interesting, I did shoot it in auto and cloudy as well (I know doesn't matter since I can change in post, but gives me an easier way to compare on my screen) The AUTO setting is total garbage of course, very little color in the rocks at all, very neutral tonality, the cloudy just a little more yellow than the daylight....
Oddly enough the custom one looks close to yours in the rock color other than the sky, when viewed in File Viewer (canon software)... I used to have really good resuslts and what not doing this FM action set, but lately it seems as if the colors are shifting off... I've got a recent pelican photo where the blue in the water, turns too blue almost, I like it, but it's not natural of course...
I do like your tweak... My problem is and always will be that I'm still a child of Film, and so I want repeatable consistent results, I.E. an action that does the same tweaking to every file, to make it normal... I guess you could say I want my digital worfkflow to mimic slide film, with the only difference from one image to the next would be what level of saturation to choose (similar to which slide film you choose)
It's odd though as I've read numerous times by various pros that a gray card is the best way, but it seems your better off to either use a preset such as daylight (which theoretically would mimic slide film the most) or do a custom white balance in post such as selecting something neutral in the image..
Thanks for the reply and your tweak... one of these days I might actually learn how to use the curves tool :D
Discussion
2 repliesCurious what everyone thinks, personal taste as well as technical view on the color... personnally I was surprised the custom white balance varried so much given the time of day.
I think I sort of like the Custom white balanced better as it looks more like I was shooting durring better light than I was, however the green on the trees is deffinately orangish, and looks off
Both shots tripod mounted D30, Mirror Lockup, Timer release, 1/45s @ f/11, ISO 100, 70-200 f/4 @ 200mm, Polarizer used. Taken @ 2:48pm (local time, Utah) at arround 4000-5000' elevation
Both processed identically, using linear RAW conversion with Canon File Viewer utility, and Fred Miranda's Linear RAW action set for the D30, high saturation, and edge sharpening v2
I agree with you about the right side being too green, but I'd have to say that it's closer to where I would work the photo than the left side. The left is too orange and the sky looks way off. My biggest nit would be the bluish rocks in the right side. If I was working it I think all I'd do is to suck a little blue out of the rocks and call it good.
Check this out. I selected the right half and drug a point on the Red Channel up and to the left. On my screen, the rocks pretty much match but the sky hasn't gone all weird like the sky in the left half.
I actually stopped using a gray card since it didn't seem to get me any closer to the right colors than what the automatic presets did. Right now I shoot in Cloudy-0 and go from there. So far (and I'm sure this would just relate to MY camera system, Nikon) I'm liking the results in 95% of situations. 99.99% of all my photos get worked in PS anyway though.
Oddly enough the custom one looks close to yours in the rock color other than the sky, when viewed in File Viewer (canon software)... I used to have really good resuslts and what not doing this FM action set, but lately it seems as if the colors are shifting off... I've got a recent pelican photo where the blue in the water, turns too blue almost, I like it, but it's not natural of course...
I do like your tweak... My problem is and always will be that I'm still a child of Film, and so I want repeatable consistent results, I.E. an action that does the same tweaking to every file, to make it normal... I guess you could say I want my digital worfkflow to mimic slide film, with the only difference from one image to the next would be what level of saturation to choose (similar to which slide film you choose)
It's odd though as I've read numerous times by various pros that a gray card is the best way, but it seems your better off to either use a preset such as daylight (which theoretically would mimic slide film the most) or do a custom white balance in post such as selecting something neutral in the image..
Thanks for the reply and your tweak... one of these days I might actually learn how to use the curves tool :D