K1 II Red color cast in flash photos

Mars V · 09-13-2018, 06:20 AM

Are you using a reflector to bounce light into the shadows, or is there a wall? Could that have a color cast? Were you wearing a red shirt? It seems like the whole thing is a little oversaturated, but the fact that just the shadows have a red cast implies that the problem is not in post.

The right-side eyebrow of the young woman is very saturated. If you use the gradient tool in Lightroom you could bump down the saturation on the whole right side a bit, but that wouldn't help the shadow on the nose.

You said you are using two flashes in an octabox. Are they side-by-side? It seems possible that the color varies just enough between the two flash units to cause problems. It might be a pain, but you might have to gel one of the flashes to get them both in the same color range.

Is there enough power to try it with just one flash as a test? I often shoot one flash through an umbrella with a reflector on the other side to open up the shadows.

Class A · 09-14-2018, 02:29 AM

Originally posted by BigMackCam

Just out of interest, have you tried a different raw development tool?

I'd also suspect the camera profile as the main culprit.

Try to see if you can obtain/select different camera profiles. You can also use Lightroom to tweak the basic RAW development parameters (hue and intensity shifts for the three primaries), but you'll gain the most by using a good camera profile.

FWIW, I never found the standard camera profiles from Adobe or Phase One (for Capture One) to be satisfactory for the K-1.
In Capture One you can even apply profiles that were made for other cameras and some of them yield much more pleasing results.
Heck, even a profile that was made for a Sony camera to emulate Fuji colours (Provia) gives me more pleasing results than the standard K-1 profile.

Capture One is really, really nice but I don't believe for a second that they spend a lot of time on engineering camera profiles for Pentax cameras (contrary to their general marketing claims). This market just doesn't seem to warrant a lot of investment. Much the same for Adobe.

P.S.: I find it odd that the redness is so pronounced in the faces but necks look a lot less "hot" in a number of cases. Perhaps some make up / foundation is at fault? Anyhow, my best bet is still to find a more suitable camera profile.

CNunez · 09-19-2018, 12:16 PM

really weird why you get this. When I work, I shoot flash 99% of the time, both close ups and medium distance. I have never had hints of anything that shouldn't be there.

I have both used LR and C1 with same results: No errors in exposure. Standard camera profiles.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Magenta color cast while using AWB	StanT	Pentax K-1 & K-1 II	24	12-04-2017 08:05 AM
Color cast when shooting with flash?	Unregistered User	Pentax K-3 & K-3 II	4	12-12-2013 02:48 PM
Blue Color Cast to my Color Negative Prints	Slowpoke Rodriguez	Film Processing, Scanning, and Darkroom	9	11-20-2010 09:27 PM
Preserving Color Cast With RAW	zombieCat	Digital Processing, Software, and Printing	18	07-05-2010 01:04 AM
K10D red color-cast problem	Spooked	Pentax DSLR Discussion	19	05-07-2008 02:46 PM

09-13-2018, 06:20 AM	#16
Mars V New Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: New England Photos: Gallery Posts: 11	Are you using a reflector to bounce light into the shadows, or is there a wall? Could that have a color cast? Were you wearing a red shirt? It seems like the whole thing is a little oversaturated, but the fact that just the shadows have a red cast implies that the problem is not in post. The right-side eyebrow of the young woman is very saturated. If you use the gradient tool in Lightroom you could bump down the saturation on the whole right side a bit, but that wouldn't help the shadow on the nose. You said you are using two flashes in an octabox. Are they side-by-side? It seems possible that the color varies just enough between the two flash units to cause problems. It might be a pain, but you might have to gel one of the flashes to get them both in the same color range. Is there enough power to try it with just one flash as a test? I often shoot one flash through an umbrella with a reflector on the other side to open up the shadows.

09-14-2018, 02:29 AM	#17
Class A Pentaxian Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Wellington, New Zealand Posts: 11,251	Originally posted by BigMackCam Just out of interest, have you tried a different raw development tool? I'd also suspect the camera profile as the main culprit. Try to see if you can obtain/select different camera profiles. You can also use Lightroom to tweak the basic RAW development parameters (hue and intensity shifts for the three primaries), but you'll gain the most by using a good camera profile. FWIW, I never found the standard camera profiles from Adobe or Phase One (for Capture One) to be satisfactory for the K-1. In Capture One you can even apply profiles that were made for other cameras and some of them yield much more pleasing results. Heck, even a profile that was made for a Sony camera to emulate Fuji colours (Provia) gives me more pleasing results than the standard K-1 profile. Capture One is really, really nice but I don't believe for a second that they spend a lot of time on engineering camera profiles for Pentax cameras (contrary to their general marketing claims). This market just doesn't seem to warrant a lot of investment. Much the same for Adobe. P.S.: I find it odd that the redness is so pronounced in the faces but necks look a lot less "hot" in a number of cases. Perhaps some make up / foundation is at fault? Anyhow, my best bet is still to find a more suitable camera profile.

09-19-2018, 12:16 PM	#18
CNunez Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2014 Photos: Gallery Posts: 168	really weird why you get this. When I work, I shoot flash 99% of the time, both close ups and medium distance. I have never had hints of anything that shouldn't be there. I have both used LR and C1 with same results: No errors in exposure. Standard camera profiles.