A6000 Color Off

Donde · Oct 3, 2018

I haven't been able to identify the species yet in order to be able to find other images of it but the two yellow stripes on the wings are not yellow at all to the naked eye they are clearly pink. I have also found this camera to misinterpret butterfly wing color on another occasion. Here I shot first with out flash and then with flash hoping to help the camera identify the color but no change. I wish I'd had the presence of mind to run for my cel phone to see if it's camera interpreted correctly but I didn't. I see that the a6000 has two color space options: sRGB and Adobe RGB. I had the camera set to the former and I haven't tried the latter yet so I wonder it would have seen the colors correctly.

With out Flash

With Flash

jcdeboever · Oct 4, 2018

Not sure but that was the reason I didn't go with Sony when ditched the Nikon stuff. I didn't like the colors, they seemed off to me in the store. I think it was the same camera too. I remember the guy switched the color space and had me try it that way and I still didn't like it. I ended up going with the Fujifilm system because someone let me borrow one (XT1) and I was hooked from the controls and color rendering, not to mention the acros simulation. Hopefully someone has a solution for you.

Donde · Oct 4, 2018

Thank you jcd.

VidThreeNorth · Oct 15, 2018

Colour balance is an issue with all cameras and has been since colour film was used and analog television days. Changing the colour space might help, but that is not it's purpose. The purpose of the colour space is to best utilize colour response to the two main outputs: sRGB is designed for use with colour monitors (computer screens and such) which in turn were related to early TV technology, and AdobeRGB was intended for prints. AdobeRGB utilizes colours outside the expected response of colour monitors. The simplest rule is that if you are going to make prints then use AdobeRGB, and for all else use sRGB.

But "colour spaces" refer to outputted picture files, not "raw" data files. It has no effect at all on "raw" files. Most of us on this forum probably use "raw only" or "raw + jpeg" output. I doubt if many of us use "jpeg only". I use "raw + jpeg" and "sRGB" on my Sony a5000. If the JPEG comes out with a good appearance I am very happy. If not, then I just ignore it and make my own output based on the "raw". If the JPEG is very close to what I want, then I might make a small correction to the JPEG instead of starting with the "raw".

But what you could do is start learning to control the "Color Balance" in the camera. As far as I know, the "Color Balance" control does not affect the "raw" files. It is applied to the JPEG. To make a difference on the "raw" file, real optical filters are necessary. Your a6000 should have an array of pre-set colour balances, and also a "full" adjustment base on colour temperature ("K"). But that is probably a helpful but incomplete control. A proper adjustment needs at least "Color Balance" and "Tint". Traditional "Color Balance" only adjusts between Blue and Red. "Tint" is the "Green" content. And then all this is affected by "saturation" (aka "intensity"), brightness and contrast.

But the main thing about using controls like these in a Mirrorless camera is that you should get a good idea of what result you will have when looking at the viewing screen. Personally, I don't really pay attention to colour balance in the view finder for still pictures, because, as I wrote above, if I don't like it, I just change it later in editing.

But if you manually adjust the colour based on the display, you should be able to come close, and may even get it perfect.

TreeofLifeStairs · Oct 15, 2018

It might have to do with how the color of the butterfly’s wings is created. Most things we see have a simple pigment or color. Light hits it and absorbs one wavelength and reflects the others. With a butterfly’s wings it’s a little different. They are iridescent. Light will travel through several transparent layers and will end up reflecting several times and compound the intensity of the color. Not only does it become more intense but sometimes the color will shift too.

Now, the camera’s job is to essentially reproduce what we see but we all know our eye is far better than any camera.

Sent from my iPhone using ThePhotoForum.com mobile app

Donde · Oct 19, 2018

Well let me add to this. The color in the wing bars where yellow appears in my photograph was exactly like the fuchsia in the image below of another species.

VidThreeNorth · Oct 20, 2018

The picture in #6 has a green background which is probably shifting the colour balance enough to keep the colors right. Remember that your camera does not know how any particular picture should look. It is programmed to ASSUME an AVERAGE picture situation. It doesn't know anything about insects.

I took a look for a good reasonably simple article to learn from and actually, I'm not sure if I found one that will help you or not. Still, if you re-read what I posted before, in the end, I've summarized it right: If you use auto-white balance, then sometimes your camera will get it right, and sometimes it won't, and in that case, it's up to you to correct it in post. I think you need to learn how a camera actually works. But anyway, this is the starting point article I thought might help:

The A to Z of Photography: White Balance
By Rod Lawton July 27, 2018 Cameras

"The A to Z of Photography: White Balance | TechRadar"

VidThreeNorth · Oct 21, 2018

Actually, after thinking about it more, the best advice I can give you is stop using the "Automatic" colour balance for these pictures. You need to look at the lights you are using and decide whether they are "tungsten" or "fluorescent" or whatever they are, and then set the colour balance manually, as close as you can.