Color Problems

nkmaurer · Oct 15, 2007

Lately I have been having some color problems and I can't narrow down the problem at all because it is happening with both cameras 30D and Rebel XT. Some images have vibrant color and then some have a gray cast to them or the color is just blah. This is before editing! It is happending in studio light situations and outdoor.....pretty much everywhere. I can't notice it on the LCD screen, or really in photoshop. How I notice it is when I am showing a slideshow. (I just open up the folder on my PC and click on view as slideshow) That is when I notice the difference on the color as well as when it is printed. When I see the difference using the slideshow option and pull it back up in photoshop I can't tell the difference again. Any ideas on what could be causing this???

Like everyoe else, once I get more money I would like to be able to invest in color calibration stuff and books on exposure. I'm just at a loss here. I will love the way a family would look and then I notice that the color is blah! I find myself having to check before I show them the pictures. Some can be corrected in photoshop and some it is harder to get a natural looking skin color.

Help me please!!

Thanks!

doobs · Oct 15, 2007

Are you shooting at a low ISO on a cloudy day or low light situation? That can happen, seeing as how it's getting to be winter now and you need more light for lower ISO shots. Try shooting at least 400 ISO on a fairly cloudy day.

Also, have you tried adjusting the contrast on the camera (if you can)?

Universal Polymath · Oct 15, 2007

Do you have the option to change the color space (ie. sRGB, AdobeRGB, etc.) in camera with your Canons? See, I can do that on my Nikon D200, and I was having a very similar problem to the one you just described until I realized that. One color space was generally better for pictures intended to be printed right away (which was the default on my camera), and the other option was intended for pictures edited in Photoshop (or a similar program). And sure enough, pictures I brought into Photoshop that I had set to the default space would look terribly washed out and gray on my computer, regardless of how awesome they looked on my camera's LCD. After I fixed this problem, the pictures looked much, much better on my computer, and really close to what I was seeing in my camera.

Look through your camera's options menus, there might be something to this. I know we're shooting with entirely different cameras, but perhaps there is a comparable setting on yours that you should set?

Also, I'd recommend getting a Spyder. Monitor calibration will also do wonders for you.

nkmaurer · Oct 15, 2007

I can't find how to change the contrast, I need to get out the manual and figure that out. But, I did see how to change the color space. It was currently on SRGB so I am going to change it to AdobeRGB and see what changes that makes.

Thanks!

Universal Polymath · Oct 15, 2007

nkmaurer said:
I can't find how to change the contrast, I need to get out the manual and figure that out. But, I did see how to change the color space. It was currently on SRGB so I am going to change it to AdobeRGB and see what changes that makes.

Thanks!

No problem, hope that makes a difference! It certainly did for me!

fmw · Oct 16, 2007

Color accuracy is a matter of white balance. Color saturation (prior to digital editing) is a matter of the quality of the light. Now, it's time to go to the library and check out some books.