Why do some purple flowers photograph too blue on a digital camera, and how can I correct it?
Asked 4/16/2012
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2 answers
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When I photograph purple flowers such as violas or vincas in daylight, they often come out noticeably bluer than they look to my eyes. In my example, the surrounding grass looks normal, so a simple white-balance fix does not seem to solve the flower color.
Is this a sensor-specific issue, or a general digital-camera color-rendering problem? What causes certain flowers to shift from purple toward blue, and what are the best ways to prevent or correct it in capture or post-processing?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
14y ago
2 Answers
4
White balance is only a broad-stroke correction. Depending on the actual color temperature and the spectral composition of the light, you may find a boost or a "suck-out" in some part of the spectrum even if the neutrals are rendering correctly. To get absolutely (or as close to absolutely as possible) correct color renditions, you need to profile your camera/lens combination under the light your are using. Both of the major names in color calibration tools, X-Rite and Datacolor, make profiling targets that you can use to correct your camera's color rendition across the spectrum.
Datacolor's SpyderCheckr is a new product. Much better known is the similar but older X-Rite ColorChecker Passport with its profiling software. You introduce the calibration target (a miniature Gretag MacBeth color target) into a frame in your shooting series, and then export the image to the profile creation software. Since it samples calibrated color targets across the spectrum, it can create a neutral rendition profile for that camera, lens and lighting combination that you can then apply to the rest of the images in the series.
Originally by user2719. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2719
14y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—this is a real and fairly general color-rendering issue, not necessarily a fault in one specific camera.
White balance mainly corrects overall neutrality, but it cannot fully fix differences in how a camera records parts of the spectrum compared with human vision. Purple flowers are a common problem because camera sensor/filter spectral sensitivity can differ from the eye, and UV/IR leakage or lens transmission can also contribute.
How to deal with it:
- profile the camera under the actual lighting using a color target such as an X-Rite ColorChecker or Datacolor SpyderCheckr; this is the best route for more accurate color
- shoot RAW so you have more flexibility in color correction
- use selective hue adjustment in post (for example, shifting the affected blue/purple range with tools like color zones / HSL)
- if needed, correct the flower color even if nearby colors change slightly, since a global correction may not satisfy both
So: it’s more a general digital color/spectral response issue than a simple white-balance error.
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