I have a question about red...

[Stephanie C]

Yes, red. As in the colour.
It seems to really over saturate in a lot of my photos.
I only shoot for fun, so it's not a big deal or anything, but can anyone tell me why it happens?
It's Christmas time and so there have been quite a few family snaps involving red (Santa hats, Christmas dresses etc...) an in many of the shots the red goes BRIGHT red. It would be nice to know why, and how to stop it, so I don't have to selectivity desaturate the red for the family Christmas cards!

I've been searching through the forums and haven't found an answer yet.
Thanks for sparing me the time!

[Bruce A]

Originally Posted by Stephanie-C

Yes, red. As in the colour.
It seems to really over saturate in a lot of my photos.
I only shoot for fun, so it's not a big deal or anything, but can anyone tell me why it happens?
It's Christmas time and so there have been quite a few family snaps involving red (Santa hats, Christmas dresses etc...) an in many of the shots the red goes BRIGHT red. It would be nice to know why, and how to stop it, so I don't have to selectivity desaturate the red for the family Christmas cards!

I've been searching through the forums and haven't found an answer yet.
Thanks for sparing me the time!

Stephanie, it might help what camera/lens/lighting you are using and if you can upload an example and supply the exif data. If you need help with this see the FAQS section.

[Vincent_G]

deleted ..Bruce beat me to it.

[Biomech]

I don't know the relevant physics off the top of my head, but red is THE colour that punches through more than any other and can be very distracting - so avoid blobs of red in the background.

If you use Lightroom, you can desaturate the red and save it as a user defined preset. Then go to your import settings and you can apply that (or any other preset) to the photos automatically as they are being imported. That might save you a bit of time.

HTH

[Stephanie C]

Yes, I thought about that after I posted the question. I've found one that kind of shows what I'm talking about. Please pay no attention to the actual pic, I know it's no good, just look at the colour...



The red flower and beads were no where near this bright (or shiny) in person. And it's HEAPS worse on a lighter background.

I use a baby Canon 1000d, but my sis in law is having the same trouble with her 5DmkII...

There has to be something I'm doing wrong, but I cannot figure it out.

Any help or explanations would be wonderful.

EDIT - Now, that I've posted it, it doesn't look as bad as I remember, but there were others!

[Stephanie C]

Originally Posted by Biomech

I don't know the relevant physics off the top of my head, but red is THE colour that punches through more than any other and can be very distracting - so avoid blobs of red in the background.

If you use Lightroom, you can desaturate the red and save it as a user defined preset. Then go to your import settings and you can apply that (or any other preset) to the photos automatically as they are being imported. That might save you a bit of time.

HTH

I have only got GIMP, but I have been doing that and it does help, but sometimes it seems to take a bit too much tone out of the skin as well. It's a tad annoying.

I was kind of hoping I was making some kind of rookie mistake that was causing it! Haha, oh well. I guess it's something I'll have to learn to deal with. Thanks for your help!

[OsmosisStudios]

Guess what: Red is one of those colours that digital cameras just have trouble with. They always have, likely always will.

Looky here:

The big arching area is all the colours that can be displayed on a screen. The triangle inside that is the sRGB (standard) colour space. Notice how the reds are a very small section, and how the triangle doesnt go anywhere near the bottom right corner? Thats why your digital photos will always have odd red characteristics.

its what we call "gamut" and it's a limiting factor. its also why digital sensors have hard times with purples, oranges, and certain shades of green.

[Doug Pardee]

If you're shooting Raw, the coloring is determined by the program that you use to process the Raw files and the adjustments you select for the processing. If you're shooting JPEG, the coloring is determined by the Picture Style you choose and its various adjustments (for modern Canon DSLRs).

As a separate item: if you're photographing something that's big and red, where you're metering off of the red part, Canon's DSLR metering system (except for the iFCL in the very latest models) is color-blind and tends to underestimate how bright reds are. The result is overexposure of red and, to a lesser extent, yellow subjects. The overexposure tends to be even worse if you're shooting Adobe RGB JPEG. This metering quirk is something that Canon-owners have learned to expect, and to dial in a bit of negative Exposure Compensation in those cases.

[Stephanie C]

Originally Posted by OsmosisStudios

Guess what: Red is one of those colours that digital cameras just have trouble with. They always have, likely always will.

its what we call "gamut" and it's a limiting factor. its also why digital sensors have hard times with purples, oranges, and certain shades of green.

Thank you! That's very good to know. I knew there had to be some reason it was happening because it kept happening.

[Stephanie C]

Originally Posted by Doug Pardee

If you're shooting Raw, the coloring is determined by the program that you use to process the Raw files and the adjustments you select for the processing. If you're shooting JPEG, the coloring is determined by the Picture Style you choose and its various adjustments (for modern Canon DSLRs).

As a separate item: if you're photographing something that's big and red, where you're metering off of the red part, Canon's DSLR metering system (except for the iFCL in the very latest models) is color-blind and tends to underestimate how bright reds are. The result is overexposure of red and, to a lesser extent, yellow subjects. The overexposure tends to be even worse if you're shooting Adobe RGB JPEG. This metering quirk is something that Canon-owners have learned to expect, and to dial in a bit of negative Exposure Compensation in those cases.

Thank you too. I shoot in RAW because I've found it much more versatile, and I have tried a couple of adjustments to the exposure compensation, but found that (in that particular instance) with all the white and red blowing out, when I toned it down, the face and skin became underexposed. One of those cycle things. I''ll just have to keep playing around until I find something that works for me!



Thank you so much for your help everyone. It is very much appreciated!