grahamfourth

I am not sure if I can explain this very well, but here goes. When I look at grass or trees my eyes see "green", but when I look at an image of them taken with my camera (Nikon D3200) there appears to be much more gray coloring in it. I am wondering if there is some setting I need to adjust on my camera, or is there something wrong with my camera, or is the image correct, and my brain is just naturally filtering out the gray color when it thinks it should see green?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

White balance? Saturation setting?
Post a sample.

SS319

Those items on your desk - during the day, light streams in through the window , and then late in the day the sun gets low and eventually you turn on a lamp and then the overhead LED lights and finally, your wife turns off the lights and lights a couple of candles.

Through those five major changes in light color, the items on your desk that were red remained the same color of red; same with the blues and greens and yellows. You visual system in your eyes and your brain adjust for light balance faster than you can change the color.

A camera - not so much. a 537 nm reflecting surface will only reflect 537nm light when lit with a 5500K light source. If lit with a light source that varies from 2400 K to above 6000K, the 537 nm reflecting surface will change from a yellow green through a pure green to a very blue green. Your camera must be told what color the light is for it to faithfully reproduce colors.

So, the answer to your question is yes! this is the real color of the grass at mid day on a cloudy day - and yes, it is different at 5PM on a sunny day, and your camera records exactly the color it sees.

Note that a narrow band 537nm filter will only transmit 537nm no matter what the color of the light presented to it. - this is the basic principle of a spectrophotometer.

G Brown Loc: Sunny Bognor Regis West Sussex UK

White balance and also which programme setting you are using.
Grass 'green' varies with soil type as well as sun light. When I get north of Manchester the colour of the fields 'lightens' as you get onto limestone...this also affects the sky's blueness. (reflected light). In the Lake District you get all sorts of shades depending upon whether you are looking on Granite hills or Slate and Shale.
Oddly the best time to photograph grass is on a cloudy day as it looks best in a diffused light or use a polariser to cut reflected light.
Your eyes can be fooled because they 'take in' the whole of the scene and then 'reference' bits of it with your memory. No matter how good the camera....it does 'see' things differently. (but usually only slightly)
have fun

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Your description is precisely the definition of "saruration", or how pure a color is.

Many people like to boost saturation way up, to get more vivid colors. Green grass is one example that really shows a distinct difference. It is very much a personal preference and no matter what you do some will say it is too much or too little.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Many cameras have a setting in the Menu to adjust color saturation: normal, vivid, etc. See if you have that available. What camera are you using?

grahamfourth

I am using a Nikon D3200, primarily with a Nikon 70-300 telephoto lens.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Check out "Picture Controls" on page 78 of the User Manual.

grahamfourth

Thank you!

cthahn

You to learn about color management.

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

No he doesn't. You probably should in order to avoid giving stupid advice though.

MCHUGH Loc: Jacksonville, Texas

Try using a polarizing filter. I have found that it not only helps with bluer sky it also helps with grass and leaves on trees. I think it is sky reflection on the grass and leaves that cause the reduction in color saturation. If you have a circular polarizing filter give it a try I think you will be surprised at the results. Used this back in the film days and still use it with digital with good results. Save time in post processing.

Larwbuck Loc: Seattle, Washington

If your looking at the images on a computer maybe a monitor color calibration would be in order, are you looking at RAW or JPG, if RAW a little PP would be in order, if non of these work you have other good suggestions above.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

Saturation, white balance, time of day , and camera color settings can all make grass seem grey in spots. and if the grass thats grey is further away from the camera and the grass closer is a nice shade of green , then sometimes Fstop will come into play along with the previous mentioned items.

grahamfourth

Thank you all for your help! I appreciate you taking time out of your busy days to respond. I have learned a lot and I am looking forward to putting all these suggestions into practice.