blown reds

dirtyghettokid

i have this lovely poinsettia plant here......i always want to get a photograph of it, but always the red channel is blown to bits. this happens with a lot of red plants, flowers. i've done a bit of searching, but couldn't really find anything that works.

i have tried shooting EV-1 .. i've tried messing with curves, tweaking WB.. the reds are just blown! perhaps it's the lighting in the house (not daylight).

i use aperture to process my raw files, as my version of photoshop will not open my canon raws.

does anyone have tips for shooting red items? or ideas for PP correction..

clipping channels...do not want!

thanks!

Ben D Bus

I'm certainly no expert, but if the houselights are affecting the reds, have you tried lighting the plant with a speedlight and upping your shutter speed to eliminate the ambient light from the equation? Maybe even add a gel to cool the light further?

dirtyghettokid

Ben D Bus wrote: »

I'm certainly no expert, but if the houselights are affecting the reds, have you tried lighting the plant with a speedlight and upping your shutter speed to eliminate the ambient light from the equation? Maybe even add a gel to cool the light further?

no i didn't do that.. the halogen (house) lights gave everything else a nice "look" just the silly plant looks wrecked.

Ben D Bus

Maybe a speedlight on low power, zoomed in on the plant to flood it with white light, but slow enough shutter to allow the halogens light everything else? Maybe place something between the plant and the halogens? Could get complicated, but that's part of the fun... :pac:

gloobag

Use the Adobe DNG Converter to get your RAW files into Photoshop, then check out the 'Camera Calibration' module in ACR. Under 'Red Primary' you can adjust the hue and saturation of the Red Channel independently. This isn't the same as adjusting the reds in the 'HSL' panel. It's helped me tame some wild reds in the past.

dirtyghettokid

great, will try that out -- thanks!

DaireQuinlan

Is the channel blown in the RAW ? i.e. Have you oversaturated the sensor ? Is there a way to check that ? Halogens aren't as bad as tungsten, but they still tend strongly toward the red IIRC. Shoot something that's red as well and your in camera exp. meter might be just bottling it.
If this is the case you might just have to take exposure down a notch. Or take an incidental reading if you have a meter handy.

dirtyghettokid

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Is the channel blown in the RAW ? i.e. Have you oversaturated the sensor ? Is there a way to check that ? Halogens aren't as bad as tungsten, but they still tend strongly toward the red IIRC. Shoot something that's red as well and your in camera exp. meter might be just bottling it.
If this is the case you might just have to take exposure down a notch. Or take an incidental reading if you have a meter handy.

from the histogram on the camera, it is clipping, even with -1EV. hmm...
i've read though, that the histograms on the cameras aren't that accurate.
i had my metering set to evaluative, which could have thrown a spanner in the works. i'm going to try spot metering later this evening with -1EV again and see. don't have a meter outside the camera, except an app on my iphone, which probably isn't worth anything.

pete4130

Custom White Balance for the light?

dirtyghettokid

pete4130 wrote: »

Custom White Balance for the light?

i'll try that also. i was playing with WB in aperture, but to bring the red's out of the bad, it made everything else look wrong.

appreciate the replies, have a few things to try now. i'm determined to get a useable photo of this feckin poinsettia!

the iphone doesn't clip as much

pete4130

I mean do a custom white balance before shooting?!

dirtyghettokid

pete4130 wrote: »

I mean do a custom white balance before shooting?!

i know what's what ya meant. i was only saying i hadn't done that, but rather was messing with the WB after importing the raw into my mac

pete4130

Misunderstanding on my behalf

OldGoat

Put the poinsetta into light shade for a few months till all the bracts turn green. :cool: