If you look at this shot, Mississauga's City Hall is the proper colours due to lighting, but the Living Arts sign is supposed to be blue.

In this shot, the sign got washed out somehow (purple near the edges of the sign). On the LCD when I reviewed the shot it seemed fine (I was too cold, already being out for 2 hours in "negative stupid" weather. I didn't spend as much time as I should have to review). When I got home and examined the RAW file gave me this surprise.

Is there any way to recover the original colour of the sign? If not, what should I do if I shoot this again? I don't have any PP experience (other than resizing, brightening, sharpening...very basic stuff) - just one of those types of people who prefer to print my own stuff "as it was shot" with minimal PP, if any at all.

Thanks for any tips!

Shot with K100D, handheld, SR was on, ISO 1600, 1/4 sec at f8, 28mm (using kit lens), RAW converted to jpeg using Bibble with default settings, resized for screen using Windows Image Resize Powertoy.

[kpfeifle]

If you are using Bibble, try using Sean's Roy plugin...very good for altering color.

[Ole]

The sign is overexposed. If you don't want to post process you'll need a graduated neutral density filter, so that you can reduce exposure on the right hand part of the picture. I don't know if such filters are available in a form and shape that would fit.
I pp'ed your photo (hope you don't mind) in the righthand side and the sign got blue:

[Alvin]

Ole, thanks for the advice about the filter, and no, I don't mind anyone performing a pp on my shots. What exactly did you do (so that I can learn for next time)?

Thanks.

[Ole]

In Photoshop: I created a levels layer, and adjusted the slider in the middle until the sign looked right. Then i filled in a black to white gradient (from left to right) in the mask attached to the layer so that the adjustment I made only affected the side of the sign.

[Alvin]

Ole, I guess it's something for me to start learning now - Post processing. LOL. I'm taking notes, don't worry about that.

I guess I learned a bit about my K100's dynamic range handling too.

In hindsight, I should have taken a tripod. I hear of people taking two photos -one underexposed to get the sign properly, and another to get City Hall right. I gather that I should be able to "combine" the two in Photoshop?

Thanks

Ah-hah! - see your pic. Nice! Examining the pp'ed photo again, if I wanted to retain the "glitter effect from the overhead lamp, just another gradient layer?

[Ole]

Yes you can.

Another approach is to shoot raw and convert the shot twice, first time with the highlights adjusted, second time with the dark area adjusted, and then combine the two. The advantage is that the two will fit pixel by pixel even when you don't use a tripod.

[Alvin]

Yes you can.

Another approach is to shoot raw and convert the shot twice, first time with the highlights adjusted, second time with the dark area adjusted, and then combine the two. The advantage is that the two will fit pixel by pixel even when you don't use a tripod.

LOL - I do have the RAW's! Would I be able to adjust the levels with Bibble? Hmmm given that I don't have Photoshop, what to use to combine the resulting files?