Sunburn!

[saurtan]

Hi guys, have a question about camera settings..

I've been taking photographs for a few months now, and was rather disatisfied with the colours i was getting (especially after looking around and seeing some really nice, eye popping colours on cs). i thought all my problems were solved when i set my camera's "optimise image" to "more vivid". And this is where the problems started.

I thought i was having nice, colourful photographs until my courst instructor pointed out that my model looked rather sunburnt. :bsmilie: So.. my question is, should i be playing around with this 'optimise image' function? And if not, how can i achieve the nice colours?

Looking forward to your help! Thanks very much.

 

[felixcat8888]

Ask your instructor to help lah. get him to help with the settings lor.

 

[JaPhotos]

hmm...i'm using D50 and my setting is vivid +1. so far all people photos look ok leh. Try playing ard with your settings lor. =)

 

[JacePhoto]

I dun know about others, but for me, it was more of a trial and error. I could remember that i was deeply disappointed because i couldnt reproduce the simplest colors on my Nikon (i.e Lime Green, Pink, red, etc).

I also learnt that my LCD screen may not show the best colors you want but perhaps your LCD monitor may.

Hope this helps.

 

[zcf]

most photos you saw which are nice (especially portrait) are mostly PPed (post processed by photoshop etc), so the colour were optimised to their liking :sweat:

 

[Simon_84]

i use normal and AWB -1/-2 on my d40.

 

[saurtan]

Wow, thanks very much for all the quick replies. The instructor did mention using photoshop, but as i do not have access to it, he did not elaborate further. Simply told me to change back to 'normal' mode.
Thanks very much for the tip simon_84! I use the D40 too, so it just might work. Thanks all

 

[Simon_84]

Wow, thanks very much for all the quick replies. The instructor did mention using photoshop, but as i do not have access to it, he did not elaborate further. Simply told me to change back to 'normal' mode.
Thanks very much for the tip simon_84! I use the D40 too, so it just might work. Thanks all

could have state your cam body in the 1st post so is easier to help you mah...you can try to refer to kenrockwell d40 guide for starters.

underexpose between -0.3 to -0.7 for better results cos the matrix metering tend to overexpose shadows.
if the skin tones are too warm then change AWB to +1/+2.

yesterday one member told me load the S-curve into the photoshop and edit can already.
but not really sure how it works.

 

[dennisc]

Just shoot in RAW, tweak

 

[Churchwolf]

There are numerous things you can do. The "Auto" white balance, for example, is very poor in most digital cameras. I generally (unless I am actually aiming for a special effect) do not switch to one of the other modes, such a vivid. Most of what you want to achieve can be done using LightRoom and PhotoShop. Play with your temperature and tint settings to get the desired skin colour.

 

[geraldkhoo]

Wow, thanks very much for all the quick replies. The instructor did mention using photoshop, but as i do not have access to it, he did not elaborate further. Simply told me to change back to 'normal' mode.
Thanks very much for the tip simon_84! I use the D40 too, so it just might work. Thanks all

Try using Picasa... it is free... just do a Google search. I find it to be the simplest free software around which does most of what you need to do.

Regarding your colors, I tink what you really need to have a better understanding and use of is the white balance. When I started out, I also get colors which I did not like. I adjusted these settings like vivid, or normal, etc. but did not seem to help. Until I learnt about white balance did my colors become more to what I desired. White balance is especially important when you take people, because you dun want the skin tones to look too orangy or bluish (unless you intended it to be that way in the first place).

 

[Prismatic]

Actually most pictures straight out of the camera just need a simple contrast tweak. A slight increase in contrast ,either through in-camera setting or in PS,
will give a contrasty picture, apparent sharpness and saturation. What more complicated post-processing such as S-curves and levelling do is fundamentally
the same, achieve higher contrast in the midtones and ease it as it approaches the extreme ends.

 

[saurtan]

Dear all,
thanks very very much for all your suggestions and feedback. I shall certainly look into Picasa and my white balance. I have to admit I've been sticking to AWB, unless I'm obviously out in the sun. Thanks for all the help!

 

[Benosaurous]

photoshop is actually very easy to use for normal editing, just auto contrast, auto level, slight curve S. tada. you get a pretty good looking photo.

of course perfect photos u see in the magazines are done with alot more complicated editing. But thats when you are more comfortable with photoshop, you can start borrowing books and learn them, just like what i did.