what am I doing wrong here..

brianhanley

All I wanted to do was take a picture of some roses in evening sunlight, but all the pictures came out overly saturated as you can see.

Nikon D50, 50mm 1.8 lens,

didnt matter what WB i used, and my tone was set to normal.



:scratch:scratch:scratch:scratch:scratch:scratch:scratch:scratch

pyry

I think you've got over-exposure in the red channel, check histograms to confirm.

Re-shoot with a stop or two of negative compensation?

brianhanley

if thats the case, what do i do to adjust it? thanks!

pyry

Don't know which buttons to push on a Nikon, so I'll have to tell you to consult the manual.
Should be under 'exposure compensation'.

pathfinder

Red flowers are notorious for over exposing the red channels and blowing out the highlight detail.

pyry

pathfinder wrote:

Red flowers are notorious for over exposing the red channels and blowing out the highlight detail.

That and everything with direct sunlight mixed with shadowy areas - throws the metering off easily. Got both goin' on here

brianhanley

i tried to underexpose it and just got this..

jensen photos

pathfinder wrote:

Red flowers are notorious for over exposing the red channels and blowing out the highlight detail.

And it seems Nikon is notorious for oversaturating reds; I have the same problem with my D50. I fix it in PS.

Glenn NK

These images look as though they were shot in direct sunlight, which I find is too harsh, and invariably gives me blown out areas or harsh shadows.

Years ago when Pop Photo was about the only magazine published on photography (early sixties - Ansel Adams often had articles in it), I read an article wherein the author recommended shooting flowers on a cloudy day, and if possible in the rain. Cloud softens the light, removing all harsh shadows, and raindrops are always interesting on the petals. It results in better colour saturation without the reflections that are difficult to control without blowing them out.

In my neck of the woods, we get all our rain in the winter when there are few flowers, and when we have oodles of flowers in the summer, it seldoms rains. So I opted for another solution - a diffuser - which I use to block direct sunlight on a flower, and since the kit also contains four reflective surfaces, I use it the reflecting surfaces when the sun is down to add some warm skylight to the image. I never even consider flowers without it - it would be waste of time for me (it will also block some wind).

http://www.photoflex.com/Photoflex_Products/MultiDisc/index.html

hschlessphoto

i have had the same porbelm with my D50 and roses. Not the same lens, but the same idea. The second one looks worlds better. It's actually a very beautiful shot.

jonh68

Just desaturate in PP. I have a Nikon D50 and it does the same thing on reds. A little negative saturation and it looks more natural and recovers some of the highlights. It's not an exposure problem or WB problem as much as saturation.

Here's a picture about the way it looked without desaturating.



Here's one taking the saturation out.



These I took more saturation out.



Out of the camera, they were really red and you couldn't see any pedal detail.