Hi All,. I am looking for advice about color blow out. This photo is an example. I based the exposure on the hummingbird but the colors were so intense on the flower that I lost detail. I thought I would be able to fix it in post processing but the detail wasn't there to pull out. I like to do as little in the computer as I can. Any advice for taking subjects that are significantly different in color intensity?
Underexpose, I'd say Ruth, as RGB will all go down in value. I append a histogram of you image as posted, and as you can see, the red is maxed out, and the green close (as befits the reddish-orange colour of the flower). If you'd lowered exposure, it would all shift left. Your blues may be off the dark end, but as with most kinds of images in digital, underexposure can often be concealed whereas blowout is intractable. Now, if only your hummingbird waited around while you fiddled with camera settings...
This is really helpful! Thank you so much for your time and input!
Chris is right; lowering the exposure settings will help. Assuming this was shot in RAW, you may yet be able to pull out some detail. My go-to trick for something like this is to adjust the Levels first and then fine tune in Curves (this is in Capture One, so there may be differences in Lightroom or whatever app you use).
In the attached image, all that was needed was some Levels tweaking to bring the overexposed blue channel under control (notice the subtle difference in the histogram), but this isn't possible with a JPEG. It's been years since I played with Lightroom/Photoshop, so I don't know how this will translate.
I do Levels first, and then Curves too, in (forgive me!) ACDSee. This is very frequently how I start any "post".
Same here. Levels is my first exposure correction.
Why do you guys use this workflow? I always thought u might as well just use curves since its basically an expanded version of levels.
Thank you for this! I am so happy that I asked this question. I really appreciate your time and wisdom.
You might try exposing for the highlites which will underexpose the shadows. This works pretty well for shooting Sunrise/Sunsets. Then you raise the shadows to your liking.
Example: I set my camera on Aperture Priority, f8, and ISO100 and take a test shot (Sunset). If the camera has chosen 1/125 as the proper shutter speed, I then switch to Manual, f8, ISO100 and 1/250, take the shot and check the histogram.
More often than not, it works.
I will! Thank you!
If your camera has a live histogram, use it and watch the right edge of the display to keep it clear of a really tall spike that would indicate over-exposed highlights. Some cameras also have a “zebra” feature that will overlay on top of blown highlights and makes it really easy to catch them before you snap the shutter. Video cameras have had this for years and it’s now being adopted into a lot of still cameras.
I think the exposure looks pretty good. The main issues with this photo are the red cast and the busy blurred background. If you're going to work on selective color intensity a photoshop layer with blend mode set to color might be your best bet.
Thank you! I will check this out. I really appreciate your input!