Pastel flowers falling flat

[Mark Howell]

A shuttebug colleague of mine is developing a very detailed webiste on flowers and plants throughout the Southeast. He came to me earlier because he's having problems capturing accurate color when shooting certain pastel colored flowers, particularly light yellows and blues.

I looked at the shots and they're not over exposed and have decent mid-tones, shadows and highlights. On the attached example, the flower's green stem appears to be well saturated, but the yellow petals fall flat. These are pretty vibrant flowers and should be more "highlighter" and less "legal pad" in color. Adjusting saturation through his Canon's Camera Raw software didn't help much.

I'm wondering if the problem might be a white balance issue. He was shooting in AWB and spot metering. By the way, he shoots with a Canon 20D. I gave him a grey card so he could use a custom WB when he reshoots the flower. I also suggested he sets the exposure meter to center weighted in hopes that it might sample more of the flower and give him a more accurate exposure.

Other than that, I'm stumped. Any ideas?

Oh yeah, this is my first post after signing up today so be gentle.  

Here's the pic.

[dobson]

I think that this might be a WB issue. The flower looks much too cold. I happen to have some photos of this flower too, (with a 20D on AWB, even).

[attachment=2198:attachment]

This shot was taken on an overcast day and may be responsible for the different WB. My suggestion is to adjust the WB if it was shot RAW. If not, you may just have to wait intil June (or whenever they bloom there) and reshoot in RAW or custom WB.

Phillip

p.s. It isn't a colorspace issue is it? For web, it should be saved in sRGB.

[Richowens]

Mark,

Part of what we see in your post is colorspace. The photo should be in sRGB for the web posting, this one is in AdobeRGB.

I saved the photo, converted to ProphotoRGB and did a color balance on both the highlights and midtones of 26 points of yellow in each.

That tells me it is white balance problem. Your friend might try rconverting it and warming up the white balance.

Rich


[attachment=2199:attachment]

P.S. A touch of red wouldn't hurt, it would kill some of the green.

[Mark Howell]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Good to know I was on the right trail. I'll have him convert all his files to sRGB.

Rich, how did you adjust the 26 points (same as percentage?) of yellow in the highlights and midtones? Use Selective Color asjustment layer in PS and add 26% yellow to whites and neutrals? I'm tyring to replicate so I can show him. How would one do that in Camera RAW?

TBH, I doubt he'll take the time to do that much post work. He has thousands of shots and usually just crops, changes resolution, and uploads to his site

Thanks again for the advice.

Mark

[framah]

He might also want to use a diffuser between the flower and the sun so the petals are a little more  equal. The left petal is a bit bright and the right petal is a bit dark.

Having  a diffuser along on a flower shoot is a must. Also a small reflector to bounce light into dark areas when needed would help as well.

Pretty flower... what and where is it?

[Mark Howell]

He might also want to use a diffuser between the flower and the sun so the petals are a little more  equal. The left petal is a bit bright and the right petal is a bit dark. Having  a diffuser along on a flower shoot is a must. Also a small reflector to bounce light into dark areas when needed would help as well.

He's started using a ring light flash to fill in the shadows which has been an improvement. As for a diffuser, he shoot's handheld and as far as I know doesn't carry many accessories with him save a monopod.

Pretty flower... what and where is it?

Not a clue what it is, but it grows in the central Mississippi. Dobson posted a shot and might could be of more help on it's name.

[dobson]

The flower is some sort of Darlingtonia (a carnivorous pitcher plant). That species is grown as an ornamental on the west coast, though we have similar native species here, too.

Phillip

[Richowens]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Good to know I was on the right trail. I'll have him convert all his files to sRGB.

Rich, how did you adjust the 26 points (same as percentage?) of yellow in the highlights and midtones? Use Selective Color asjustment layer in PS and add 26% yellow to whites and neutrals? I'm tyring to replicate so I can show him. How would one do that in Camera RAW?

TBH, I doubt he'll take the time to do that much post work. He has thousands of shots and usually just crops, changes resolution, and uploads to his site

Thanks again for the advice.

Mark
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Hi Mark,

I did a quick and dirty adjustment using a color balance adjustment layer. ( Layer/ new adjustment layer/color balance) default is midtones, moved slider to the yellow side 26, then clicked highlights and did the same.

What I did was more exploration than a correction. If he is using a flash for fill, then this can render the shot a little on the cool side. He can compensate for this with the white balance in his raw convertor before it gets to PS.

Hope this helps.

Rich