Without title

bdcolen

Richard

Did she lose her keys? Nice color and composition, though it lacks the clarity we usually see in your work. Another cell phone shot maybe? I am a little puzzled though at why I get an uneasy feeling from this scene. On the surface, it's all comfort and prosperity...maybe I've just read too many Stephen King and H.P. Lovecraft novels and the architecture reminds me of them.

RSL

It's a pleasant shot, BD, but there's way too much blue in it. Grab a middle-gray dropper and click on the white apple in the middle of her laptop and you'll see what I mean. I think the excess blue is why Richard cringes.

bfjr

got an Amytiiville feel to it but hey it's a nice house / landscaping and it's got WiFi

So wants the rent $$

bdcolen

Yes, it is a cell phone photo - phone held up over the high brick wall surrounding the house. Probably too blue. Lots of blue in the scene...

RSL

Yep, lots of blue in the scene. A blue sky will do that. But I wasn't kidding about using a middle gray dropper on the white apple on the laptop. I tried it before I suggested it. After the click there was still a lot of blue, but the color cast disappeared and the colors popped into their proper relationship. When you see a color cast like this, if you can find something in the scene you know is middle gray or pure white, a single click with the dropper can solve the problem. I'd post a corrected copy of the picture so you can see what I mean, but I've been advised that on Dgrin it's bad manners to demonstrate something like that with a post.

bdcolen

RSL wrote: »

Yep, lots of blue in the scene. A blue sky will do that. But I wasn't kidding about using a middle gray dropper on the white apple on the laptop. I tried it before I suggested it. After the click there was still a lot of blue, but the color cast disappeared and the colors popped into their proper relationship. When you see a color cast like this, if you can find something in the scene you know is middle gray or pure white, a single click with the dropper can solve the problem. I'd post a corrected copy of the picture so you can see what I mean, but I've been advised that on Dgrin it's bad manners to demonstrate something like that with a post.

Feel free to post - I am well aware of how to do a basic color correction, but don't always bother to do so with cell phone photos, which, generally, I figure are what they are - but then again, sometimes I work the hell out of them.

RSL

Okay, BD, here's the one-click change. Not exactly working the hell out of it, but effective. It's really quite a pleasant shot.

bdcolen

RSL wrote: »

Okay, BD, here's the one-click change. Not exactly working the hell out of it, but effective. It's really quite a pleasant shot.

Yup. Thanks. And here it is with auto adjust curves, and then the setting for neutral tonality....Interestingly, this is allot closer to what i observed, than the warmer, far more yellow version.

RSL

Still too blue, but still a very pleasant shot.

In the end, though, color in any picture is a call shot -- up to the guy who makes the picture.

bdcolen

RSL wrote: »

Still too blue, but still a very pleasant shot.

In the end, though, color in any picture is a call shot -- up to the guy who makes the picture.

Well, the question might be whether reality is captured in the heavily yellow treatment you suggest, or in the "too blue" treatment that I offer - noting that I was there, and you weren't. Yes, it is possible to make anything 'neutral.' But does 'neutral' reflect the reality that was observed?

RSL

BD, Frankly, unless you're doing advertising shots where the color has to be exact, I'm not sure that "reality" in terms of color has a lot to do with it. As I said, the color in the final product is up to the photographer. No photograph reproduces colors exactly unless it's a studio shot under absolutely controlled lighting conditions, and, even then the final product ends up being "good enough," not exact.

bdcolen

RSL wrote: »

BD, Frankly, unless you're doing advertising shots where the color has to be exact, I'm not sure that "reality" in terms of color has a lot to do with it. As I said, the color in the final product is up to the photographer. No photograph reproduces colors exactly unless it's a studio shot under absolutely controlled lighting conditions, and, even then the final product ends up being "good enough," not exact.

True, Russ. And thus it seems that you keep insisting that a heavily yellowed treatment of a shot you didn't take is the correct treatment, rather than the slightly bluish tint, which I, as the photographer, suggest captures the reality of the moment.

RSL

I don't insist on anything, BD. I said there was too much blue in the picture. There IS too much blue in the picture. Photoshop can demonstrate that. So what? You want the color cast in there and it's your call.

bdcolen

RSL wrote: »

I don't insist on anything, BD. I said there was too much blue in the picture. There IS too much blue in the picture. Photoshop can demonstrate that. So what? You want the color cast in there and it's your call.

And you really don't recognize that your "correction" has traded blue for yellow?

RSL

Blue always trades for yellow. Yellow is the complement of blue, just as cyan is the complement of red.

But I should add that I kind of like the extra blue. It gives the picture the ominous feeling that Richard mentioned. On the other hand, that the blue is a color cast is obvious on first glance.

bdcolen

RSL wrote: »

Blue always trades for yellow. Yellow is the complement of blue, just as cyan is the complement of red.

But I should add that I kind of like the extra blue. It gives the picture the ominous feeling that Richard mentioned. On the other hand, that the blue is a color cast is obvious on first glance.

OMG. This image was shot in deep shadow in late afternoon. It WAS freaking blue. Note the color of the grass and leaves - natural green. Note the color of the grass in your correction - sick yellow.

The fact that one can use a dropper in Photoshop and adjust anything to neutral tones does not mean that that bears any relationship to reality.

End of discussion for me.

RSL

Yep. I can see the grass and the leaves and I can see the blue color cast in them. It's not too surprising. As you say, "OMG. The image was shot in deep shadow in late afternoon." That almost insures a blue color cast. But, as you've reiterated and I've agreed, it's your call.

M38A1

Why do none of bd's shots display for me? Hmmm.....

Richard

M38A1 wrote: »

Why do none of bd's shots display for me? Hmmm.....

Dunno...they used to be there.

lizzard_nyc

darn, I was curious about the blues. Can't see the shots either.
I'll be back.

bfjr

lizzard_nyc wrote: »

darn, I was curious about the blues. Can't see the shots either.
I'll be back.

It was Blue, then it was Yellow, then it was ................ gone

bdcolen

Richard wrote: »

Dunno...they used to be there.

No idea what happened - but here it is. Though I hesitate to post it for fear of continuing one of the silliest exchanges - over a very mediocre image - in quite some time.