[Dewman]

I've always had a real problem rendering vivid reds in my photos. I've been told that a lot of it has to do with the Pentax system in general, but I continue to try and improve on my results. Yesterday, I tried the "muted" setting in the "Custom Image" section of my K-50. Although it rendered detail in the red rose without washing out, it lacks the vibrant reds I'd like. And so, the hunt continues.

---

Last edited by Dewman; 03-09-2015 at 11:24 AM.

[Caver]

I've always had a real problem rendering vivid reds in my photos. I've been told that a lot of it has to do with the Pentax system in general, but I continue to try and improve on my results. Yesterday, I tried the "muted" setting in the "Custom Image" section of my K-50. Although it rendered detail in the red rose without washing out, it lacks the vibrant reds I'd like. And so, the hunt continues.

So, you are in the search of the Holy Grail of the reds
I didn't saw your previous "reds" but this looks fine for me!

[Rimfiredude]

Looks like it might be a little overexposed on the middle leaf. You might bring the exposure down and bring it back up in PP. You are shooting raw?

[Dewman]

Looks like it might be a little overexposed on the middle leaf. You might bring the exposure down and bring it back up in PP. You are shooting raw?

No, no RAW for me. I've just begun anew on this quest and will work on it as the urge strikes me. The Valentine's Day roses sparked my interest yesterday. Reds! Ugh!


By the way, Nelson.... I pointed a fellow member toward your auction on eBay.... for the Sears 28mm macro lens. He saw a photo I had posted using that fine old lens and decided he wanted to find one. Your copy looks really nice. I love mine.

[MikePerham]

Some folks have suggested this image is over saturated. However, it is actually quite an accurate reproduction of the colour of this begonia.

[Dewman]

Some folks have suggested this image is over saturated. However, it is actually quite an accurate reproduction of the colour of this begonia.

I agree, Mike. Begonias aren't as "red" as a red rose.... not as vivid. Your photo is exceptionally sharp! Love sharpness! My rose photo was muted.... not the REAL DEAL red as it was in real life. But, such is the chase for the illusive RED!

[sholtzma]

What happens when you tinker with the red balance in pp? Do you use ACR?

[Rimfiredude]

No, no RAW for me. I've just begun anew on this quest and will work on it as the urge strikes me. The Valentine's Day roses sparked my interest yesterday. Reds! Ugh!


By the way, Nelson.... I pointed a fellow member toward your auction on eBay.... for the Sears 28mm macro lens. He saw a photo I had posted using that fine old lens and decided he wanted to find one. Your copy looks really nice. I love mine.

Shoot raw and your problems will be over. Reds used to drive me nuts.
btw...thanks for the recommendation. It is hard to believe, but the Quantaray 28 is the winner, one of the sharpest I have tested.

[RAART]

Did you tried manual focus Mamiya 645 or older M42 Auto Mamiya lenses? IMHO their rendering of the reds are just good...

[asp1880]

For good reds in OOC JPEGs, try the natural custom image setting, and play with the saturation and hue sliders. Esp. hue +1 can work really well for some reds.

Regards,
--Anders.

[clicksworth]

And so, the hunt continues.

Whatever you did there is good. Maybe is just isn't possible to get real deep reds with a digital camera as it was with slides. What we get is an almost-red mashed up against the end of the colour space. Here is something I have been trying. It doesn't make anything more red than red, just amplifies the slight differences in hue to give a bit more printable contrast. I overdid it here for effect. I used Gimp, or anything that can decompose into HSV.

[Dewman]

Whatever you did there is good. Maybe is just isn't possible to get real deep reds with a digital camera as it was with slides. What we get is an almost-red mashed up against the end of the colour space. Here is something I have been trying. It doesn't make anything more red than red, just amplifies the slight differences in hue to give a bit more printable contrast. I overdid it here for effect. I used Gimp, or anything that can decompose into HSV.

It seems to have imparted a little more delineation, but it certainly introduced a lot of blue. Yeah, reds are a problem that never seems to be fully resolved, at least with Pentax cameras/sensors. I've seem some magnificent commercial photos that render reds as lifelike as humanly possible, but then again, they're probably using cameras that cost tens of thousands of dollars!

[TER-OR]

From what I can gather it's the sensors which have a slight preference toward red. The jpg engines don't help, anything vibrant or saturated will blow them out of proportion. RAW processing helps a lot, though, for sure.

Eventually we'll have a new line of sensors, perhaps even new multichannel recording. I wonder whether the sensor in the K3 has this red preference as well?

[RAART]

from RAW file developed in LR... Flash off-camera used.