Getting green as blue

[alexacatalin]

<p>Hi, <br>

I had to photograph some jewelry today and I used for the first time 2 flashes. <br>

Everything went great, except for 2 objects that are green and I got them with totally different colors. What was green I got as blue. <br>

http://www.alexacatalin.com/uploads/141.jpg<br>

I'm using a Canon 7D. <br>

Can somebody help me with some tips? <br>

Thanks! </p>

<p><img src="http://alexacatalin.com/uploads/141.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[Bill C]

<p>Hi, I'm guessing that you are shooting jpegs with white balance = auto? If so, the auto WB is likely the problem. In auto, the camera tries to figure out what kind of lighting is in use, and adjusts accordingly. Had you included human skintones, or foliage, etc, in the shot, modern digital cameras often do a really good job. However, this particular scene doesn't have anything obviously recognizable. I, myself, can't even visually see that anything is wrong with it.</p>

<p>I'm pretty confident, that if you were to do a custom white balance (you shoot a white or gray test card, then have the camera use this as a reference), the color would be fine.</p>

[alexacatalin]

<p>Hi Bill, <br>

Thanks. I'm shooting Auto WB, but I'm shooting raw. I couldn't fix it in Lightroom, I guess I'll have to try again with a manual WB. </p>

 

[Bill C]

<p>Hi Catalin, since you have raw images, it seems to me that they ought to be fixable. </p>

<p>I don't know how knowledgeable you are, so I apologize if I'm stating the obvious, but I imagine that Lightroom is using the camera's WB value as a default. You should be able to override this, and try something like "daylight" or "flash." I don't know Lightroom, so I can't say exactly how to do it. Since you are using a couple of flashes, this ought to be close (but I'm still a fan of custom WB whenever possible).</p>

<p>If you've already tried this, then something else must be going on. Looking at the image, I don't see specular highlights on the body of the stones, so I know they are not reflecting your lights directly; perhaps they are reflecting a blue ceiling, or the like, much as a mirror would. Just another guess.</p>

<p> </p>

[Stock-Photos]

<p>Consider putting a piece of white paper in the image (which could be cropped out later) <br>

Adjusting the image to make the paper white should get colors <em>close </em>to correct.</p>

<p>Also if you decide to shoot jpg, set WB to Flash.</p>

[patricklavoie]

<p>the white balance when you developed seem off a bit.. i was able to get this from your jpeg...just set youres correctly under the BASIC tab..</p><div></div>

[alexacatalin]

<p>Indeed, it's the white balance. I thought it can't be, because the background color was correct and the brown stone from the middle was also ok. <br>

It looks like this with WB set to Flash: <br>

The green is finally back, but everything else is way to yellow. I guess bring a white paper and setting a customized wb is a must. <br>

<img src="http://www.alexacatalin.com/uploads/142.jpg" alt="" /></p>

[paddler4]

<p>Bill C has the explanation. If you are really concerned about accurate white balance, the best thing is to get a neutral gray card (I use a whiBal) and use an image with that in it to set the white balance in Lightroom. You can then adjust it to taste and copy or sync the setting to additional images.</p>

[alexacatalin]

<p>Thanks for the tips, guys! You are great! </p>

[peterbcarter]

<p>As a note, when I was a smoker I used to use the inside of the package to sample the white. In Canada they are made out of cardboard. Convenient. I now just carry a sheet of copier paper in my camera bag. I get the camera to custom WB with it where ever I am. Even when shooting raw, LR will take those camera settings into account when making it's initial rendering.</p>

<p>Back then, I did not use raw - tiff was available in camera. I had better exposures because I took the time and the cameras were slowwwwww... ;)</p>

[bernard_lazareff]

<p>@ peter carter (and all). Beware! copier paper containes brighteners: outdoors, paper will fluoresce, meaning incident UV will be converted to blue. Performing a WB on that paper will shift the balance to yellow. Something similar might happen under flash or fluo tube illumination; probably safe only under incandescent light.</p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Catalin, in your first post, you state that you used two flashes to take this shot. However, when I look at the EXIF data for this image, is states that the flashes were turned off. This discrepancy suggests that the problem may be in your use of flash. Can you pls fill in all the details about your flash, how they were triggered / connected, settings, etc.</p>

<p>Another observation that suggests the problem is with the lighting is that in the image you posted using a WB setting of "flash" the background looks too yellow. I suspect that this is because you are getting a mixture of flash and ambient light (which is probably tungsten). This can cause all types of color problems.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

[alexacatalin]

<p>Hi Tom,<br>

I used 2 flashes that I trigged with 2 radio transmitters. The chair I used as background was set in front of the window, but I think it was already to dark outside to get light from that window. Actually, I had to turn on a small lamp (tungsten) near by just to have some light on my objects in order to get easily a good focus. I guess the extra light could've caused some problems, I usually don\t work with flash lights. <br>

I might still need to shoot this stuff for y girlfriend, so any tips would be very much appreciated. I'll stick to a custom wb, that's for sure. <br>

Thanks! </p>

[tom_mann1]

<p>Hi Catalin - Ahh. That explains the EXIF saying that no flash was fired. That often happens with Pocket Wizards and similar radio triggers. <br>

With respect to the lighting, the EXIF says you shot at 1/100th sec, ISO 500 and f/5.6, but, of course, gives no information about the strength of the remotely triggered flash, but those settings could easily include a lot of the ambient tungsten light, so, I'm now even more certain that the reason for the strange color balance is the fact that you had mixed sources of lighting. To reduce the contribution of the ambient light, I would suggest that you shorten your shutter speed to the max synch speed permitted by your camera (probably, around 1/250th), drop your ISO down to 100-200, increase your f-stop to f/11 (this will also increase your depth of field), and increase the output of your flashes to compensate. I suspect you will be much happier with the results. </p>

<p>Finally, I would comment that the images that you have posted don't have as much "pop" as most jewelery photography. Even after, say, Patrick's WB adjustment, they still look flat. You may want to consider either adjusting them in an image editing program or upping the contrast and saturation on your camera. I'm not familiar with your camera, but I bet there is a "vivid" or similar setting on your camera. Give it a try and let your friend pick which version she prefers. Below is what you might get if you crank these controls up quite a bit.</p>

<p>Cheers,</p>

<p>Tom M</p>

<p>PS - For objects of that size, you may want to consider a material for the background with a much finer texture, or elevate each piece above the background by a couple of cm to throw it more out of focus. In your shots, my eye keeps getting pulled away by the busy background. WRT light modifiers, positions of your lights, etc, let's talk about that after we know the flashes are the main sources of light for the image.</p><div></div>

[tom_mann1]

<p>...or, simply use a darker background...</p><div></div>