How to improve colour

[Viewpoint]

Hi night86mare, i think you might have overdone the saturation bit... it now looks very unreal on my monitor (altho i agree it may not look that way on yours). Isn't it important that the final image bear some resemblance to the original? (not that i know what the original looks like -- i am just guessing).

In any case, colour adjustment is a real nightmare (no pun intended). Don't think there are easy formulas and simple rules here. Sorry i cannot be more helpful but there are just too many parameters that go into a "nice" image. Your original image may not have that "pop" but i prefer it to the (overly) adjusted ones...

 

[lastboltnut]

winnyyap, in cam setting is also PP, just that its done in camera....

Hi thanks all for the assistance and guidelines, didn't know that this pic has created such a fuss here.
To dRabelxt, emn.... actually i posted this picture because i think the colour is the worse, very dull, so i can show the rest why I think something is wrong to my camera setting.
I'm just hoping to get an answer without doing any post processing, however, thanks all for the tips given in ps (thanks catchlights, initially i wanted to show a before and after ps alteration, but since you've done it for me, really appreciate it).

 

[night86mare]

Hi night86mare, i think you might have overdone the saturation bit... it now looks very unreal on my monitor (altho i agree it may not look that way on yours). Isn't it important that the final image bear some resemblance to the original? (not that i know what the original looks like -- i am just guessing).

In any case, colour adjustment is a real nightmare (no pun intended). Don't think there are easy formulas and simple rules here. Sorry i cannot be more helpful but there are just too many parameters that go into a "nice" image. Your original image may not have that "pop" but i prefer it to the (overly) adjusted ones...

perhaps, i have not seen the lizard before so i just based it on the colour of the grass

er, i suppose for real life stuff like lizards it is better if the colour stays the same, as close to original as possible, but lighting can cause colours tos tand out better, etc. in a warm light things look different and all that jazz

for example, if you're talking about sunsets, no camera sensor is ever going to be able to capture the full dynamic range, nor the real colour which is seen by the eye

it is up to photoshop to help render the image as you saw it, i.e. your vision