Anyone else have trouble with the color red in the K100D?

If so, what do you do to correct it.

I shot this photo with the 35mm @ f/8 and 1/125 (two stops under exposed)

Then brightened it is PSE5.

Of the five shots I took, it seem the underexposed one had the best detail and best color representation when post processed.

Any suggestion as to how I can improve this??

Ed

[Alvin]

I shoot in Natural colour mode, not bright. That might help.

I shoot in Natural colour mode, not bright. That might help.

Thanks Alvin, I've tried that and don't see much difference.

Anyone else?????

[Alvin]

Bump down the saturation in the camera a touch? I forget which one...will repost

[SWEngineer]

Anyone else have trouble with the color red in the K100D?

If so, what do you do to correct it.

I shot this photo with the 35mm @ f/8 and 1/125 (two stops under exposed)

Then brightened it is PSE5.

Of the five shots I took, it seem the underexposed one had the best detail and best color representation when post processed.

Any suggestion as to how I can improve this??

Ed

Hi Ed. I think all cameras are going to struggle with dayglo colors like the flowers here. They tend to be much brighter than surroundings. So, metering can be problematic. (Treat them like a highlight, perhaps.)

I use a DS and don't shoot JPG very often, so I can't help w/ the camera settings. But I can help with the PP. Your image is dark and very flat in luminosity. It's also extremely saturated, especially in the reds and magentas. Don't know if you'll like this any better, but here's my attempt to improve your image. I got this by reducing saturation while brightening and increasing the contrast of the luminosity. I also shifted the reds towards yellow (away from magenta) to get a redder red. But magenta may be the real color for all I know.

Of course I'll delete my version if you object to my having used it. Happy PP.

-Mark

Hi Ed. I think all cameras are going to struggle with dayglo colors like the flowers here. They tend to be much brighter than surroundings. So, metering can be problematic. (Treat them like a highlight, perhaps.)

I use a DS and don't shoot JPG very often, so I can't help w/ the camera settings. But I can help with the PP. Your image is dark and very flat in luminosity. It's also extremely saturated, especially in the reds and magentas. Don't know if you'll like this any better, but here's my attempt to improve your image. I got this by reducing saturation while brightening and increasing the contrast of the luminosity. I also shifted the reds towards yellow (away from magenta) to get a redder red. But magenta may be the real color for all I know.

Of course I'll delete my version if you object to my having used it. Happy PP.

-Mark

Mark, I don't mind your using it at all

In fact, I appreciate your having done so.

I guess that at some point in time, I'm going to have to switch to shooting RAW. But, I'm trying to get more understanding of the digital process before I do.

If you don't mind. I'll post the original underexposed shot along with one that is properly exposed. If you see fit to do so. Play with either, or both of them.


Here is the underexposed one that I used for my original PP'd one.



And here is the properly exposed shot..



As I said, if you see fit....


Thanks,

Ed

I've had similar issues with Pink and Deep Reds. I'd sure like to know a solution as well.

[SWEngineer]

Well, I saw fit to play with them both. It was enlightening, really. I manged to get both starting images looking pretty much like my original variant. I have to say, it wasn't that easy, especially with the "properly" exposed version. Why? well, here are some thoughts:

Both versions are way underexposed in the blue channel. That is, the blue channel is clipped hard at the low end. On the underexposed image, making a strong levels correction on the image luminosity expands both the red and blue channels, keeping the color balance reasonably healthy. Bringing the saturation
up pushes the red channel towards the right as expected. Starting with the "proper" exposed image presents a problem in that levels correction isn't much help. You have both reduce the luminosity and increase its contrast. This is hard to do without curves. Saturation is also harder to fix here because it needs a non-linear transformation as well. This requires mapping saturation to grayscale to do the transform then mapping the grayscale back to saturation. It's not hard, if once you learn how.
Bottom line: in images with enormous saturation, underexposing enables "linear" corrections (levels luminosity + saturation increase) while "proper" exposed images are hard to fix as they are essentially 'overexposed' for the lower saturated elements of the image. This requires multiple non-linear transformations to fix.

For me, the secret to color PP is learning to identify what's wrong with an image and fix those components individually (e.g. saturation, luminosity, a particular color channel, etc.) It's often much harder fixing the whole image as one. Have fun with your PP and future RAW adventures.

-Mark

Mark, I don't mind your using it at all

In fact, I appreciate your having done so.

I guess that at some point in time, I'm going to have to switch to shooting RAW. But, I'm trying to get more understanding of the digital process before I do.

If you don't mind. I'll post the original underexposed shot along with one that is properly exposed. If you see fit to do so. Play with either, or both of them.

Thanks,

Ed

[little laker]

I haven't noticed any problems with reds on mine, I wonder if there's something consistent that we can all take a picture of to compare..... like a coke can. You'd have a good idea if it's your camera then.

[roentarre]

I have similar problems with reds especially with direct light coming from the above. If the reds are not in direct sun, the colour will be accurately recorded on my k10d.

I tend to change the white balance and saved it differently. -2 to the left and -3 down on the scale or adjust the red hue in colour balance of photoshop after the image taken .

I think most of my last few cameras struggle with colour red and yellow in direct sunlight coming directly from the above.