Help - Red flowers are oversaturated!

[gary payne]

<p>I have been trying to improve my ability to take close-ups of flowers. I'm shooting a D700 and using a Nikon 24-70 f/2.8 which focuses to 1.2 ft, and recently added a Kenko 12mm extension tube. I'm struggling with focus, camera/subject movement, plus other issues. But the issue that has me puzzled is oversaturation of reds and pinks, primarily, to the point it wipes out the details of the image. I shoot with all in camera tricks off or neutral, shoot RAW, and use Nikon NX2 for post processing. Often, if I reduce the saturation in NX2 to the -80 -100 (max reduction in NX2 is -100) then I can restore some details. Sometime nothing works and the image is useless. Color on my non-close up landscape images is great, and in NX2 I normally set the white balance, often choose a picture control setting, and tinker wiith exposure and contrast. I rarely play with changing the color settings at all. But in close-ups of red flowers, all bets are off. Any insight into what I'm doing wrong will be greatly appreciated.</p>

[robbie_robertson]

<p>Check the RGB histogram for clipping in red. If this is happening you can adjust exposure a bit to the left to fix the problem. Your camera histogram is based on the JPEG thumb, and doesn't necessarily reveal clipping in the red channel. You can also reduce red channel clipping in the RAW conversion, but exposure correction is a better cure.</p>

[wpahnelas]

<p>i know exactly what you mean. i think it's a nikon thing, as i've noticed it on all my cameras going back to the D80. the D700 isn't much different.<br>

i can't tell you exactly how to deal with it in your work. in my case, i shoot everything using the neutral picture control file. as you've noticed, those reds don't need to be any more vivid than they already are.<br>

since you know red is an issue, do try to expose accordingly. but turning down saturation and/or adjusting the curves in the red channel can also even things out as you tweak in post.<br>

keep working at it. you'll get the hang of it before too long.</p>

[homer_arment1]

<p>Martin Evening deals with this in an article posted on Lightroom-News.com where he discusses the effects of vibrance vs saturation. Here is a link to the video. <br>

<a href="http://lightroom-news.com/2009/04/01/controling-vibrance-and-saturation-in-lightroom/">http://lightroom-news.com/2009/04/01/controling-vibrance-and-saturation-in-lightroom/</a></p>

[david_littleboy__tokyo__ja]

<p>"i think it's a nikon thing,"</p>

<p>Nope. Canon cameras do it too. Sigh. As people say, reduce exposure until the reds don't clip. It might help to use aRGB instead of sRGB if you aren't already (and if the reds aren't clipping).</p>

[steven_f1]

<p>Yes Canon cameras do this to (I have the Canon 5D MkI). On Canon cameras there are 2 histograms. A brightness histogram and a RGB (color) histogram. Based on Robbie's comment you probably also have both histograms available. </p>

<p>The brightness histogram generally works well to evaluate exposure but the information it shows does not include color. So the brightness histogram can show that the picture is OK but the red will be clipped and you might not notice this until after you download the image to your computer.</p>

<p>The RGB histogram shows 3 histograms, one for red, one for green, and one for blue. So if your red is clipped you will see it in the red histogram. Then you can adjust the exposure to correct for the problem. I would suggest using the RGB histogram instead of the brightness histogram.</p>

[tien_pham]

<p>Easy fix. Desaturate that color and use layer mask.</p>

[mountainvisions]

<p>Check the tone curve, check the red channel (as someone else noted), and if all else fails dial down the red saturation. For some reason reds seem to be tough on digital.<br>

I had the same problem with the K10D for a bit, it wasn't insane, but it was a bit punchier than velvia which is about as punchy as I can take. my issue was the tone curve, in RAW if you use the native software it saves your settings as defaults when you load the photo. Easy to fix if you realize it's going on. In 3rd party software (Adobe, etc) it doesn't save the sat, contrast, or tone curve settings so this isn't an issue.</p>

[steve_thompson]

<p >I’ve a D300 and would think the 700 would have similar features. I can get the RGB histogram in camera in the Playback mode/ Display.</p>

[peter_hovmand]

<p>Solution: Avoid red flowers. Very simple :)</p>