Exposing for Red

JayMurphy

What is the best way to exppose for the color red? When I take photos of flowers (red flowers) I can't seem to get the exposure correct. I either clip or under expose. I have been going to the botanical garden in my area (Phoenix) I usually shoot late morning (10 to 11). I can start earlier to possibly get better light or go later and wait for the sun to get lower.

Any suggestion?

Thnx in advance...

leadZERO

Examples? Equiptment? Settings? Conditions?

Not to sound rude, but you've given us too little information.

dmmattix

Actually I believe it was covered a bit ago. I was pretty sure I remembered it.

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=86242&highlight=Exposure

Just did a search on "Red Exposure" in this forum.

Regards,

pathfinder

I think LiquidAir's answer explains a lot about red exposure.

The exposure of red flowers is where one notices it a lot. You need to set your cameras histogram to display the Red, Green and Blue histograms ( if your camera can do this ) and use that information to help with images with very large areas of deep, bright, highly saturated reds.

If you shoot in RAW, you can dial back the red Saturation slider in the RAW converter to help also.

Kowboy33

Color Problem
Think I'm looking for the same answer. Recently was asked to come shoot a dance contest for my friend, but most of my work has been outside. So, moving inside with a flash changed things. I went to one of her practice sessions to test and got not so great results.



Her gown should be bright orange, and washed out to this more muted color.

Using a Canon D-30, 70-200 at 2.8 wiht a 200ISO. I read the other answers, and I tried all types of settings, but could not get the bright orange color, like a construction warning sign orange. Tried shooting all manual too letting the camera do the work, and all were the same.

Any suggestions?

pathfinder

Pretty girl.

By D30, do you mean this Canon D30, reviewed here?

Shooting jpgs or RAW? If jpgs, what color space are they in Adobe RGB or sRGB?

If jpgs, what color parameters in the camera? There are several choices seen below... Particularly color saturation and contrast.


What White Balance did you choose? AWB, sunlight, tungsten, flash, or did you attempt a Custom white balance? I am discussing tools for setting custom white balance here


This looks like a combination of tungsten and flash. Any other lighting present? I suspect there is a ton of yellow reflection from that floor. That may be where some of your color went.

If RAW, which converter and how processed?

Kowboy33

missed color
Yes the canon 30D, I start typing and stop thinking! lol

Always shoot RAW.
The ligthing was bad, even with a 2.8, they were still under exposing, so I used a 430 flash. The photo info says it was set to "Complusory Flash Mode", and it did fire. And the WB setting says "Manual" on the photo info in smug mug, probably had it set to AWB. But I know tried a few photos using the expodisc and adjusting the color tempeture, no good results.

The rooms ligthing was flourescent. It was a dance studio and had a mirrored wall, which i kept my back too.

I figured it was the poor lighting and the flash.

I did fool wiht some of the color settings, still did not get the orange, but this "cremesicle" color just got more intense. Even tried boucing the flash off the ceiling and walls, no real change. From what i remember, I eventually left it on a standard mode, maybe with a little extra color saturation, it helped a little.

believe, I use Adobe RGB. (at work, so don't have my camera with me).

My flash photography is my weak spot, that and indoor shooting. Never get the mixed ligthing correct. Why i got the expo disc, but that does not get the result everytime. also not sure how to use it in mixed ligthing.

thanks.

pathfinder

Kowboy,
It sounds like you made several attempts that should have helped; not sure I know the correct answer for you here.

I still think the combination of fluorescent lighting and the yellow varnished floor were big factors. Some folks use a green gel over their flash ( to help it match the fluorescent light ) and then shoot a custom white balance frame with the Expo disk with the masked flash and the ambient fluorescent lighting. Basketball shooters write about the aggravation of fluorescent lights and yellow varnished floors a lot.

I am writing about color balancing with the Expodisk and other means [url=""]here[/url] I have not gotten to fluorescent light yet - that is sure to be a minefield, I suspect.