Ugly Hedgehog - Photography Forum
Home Active Topics Newest Pictures Search Login Register
Photo Analysis
Absence of color
Jul 23, 2017 11:35:49   #
khumiston
 
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at the entrance to Tampa Bay. The weather was terrible so I knew I would have to go back another day with better lighting, but took pictures from two locations so I could to see which would be the better perspective. For the first shot taken from Piney Point near Port Manatee it was raining so hard I stuck the end of my EF 600mm f/4 Canon lens out the window of my car. I was using a Canon EOS 5D Mark 4 in fully automatic mode. The second shot, about half the distance from the bridge, was taken from a picnic area alongside the Causeway south of the bridge. It was still raining but I was able to set up a tripod in the shelter of a picnic area, I used a remote shutter release with the mirror in lockup position to minimize vibration and it is the first time I tried that. The closer picture came out much sharper than the other as I expected, however, the closer one also looks almost B&W. Post processing using the Canon Digital Professional 4 software could not bring out any color. Does anyone know why the image would have no color? It was a very gray day, but it was actually darker for the shot in fully automatic mode yet that one shows more color. I noticed the one missing color was shot at f/27, 1/180 shutter speed, the one with more color was at f/5.6 and 1/750 shutter speed. Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.





Reply
Jul 23, 2017 19:11:01   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
khumiston wrote:
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at the entrance to Tampa Bay. The weather was terrible so I knew I would have to go back another day with better lighting, but took pictures from two locations so I could to see which would be the better perspective. For the first shot taken from Piney Point near Port Manatee it was raining so hard I stuck the end of my EF 600mm f/4 Canon lens out the window of my car. I was using a Canon EOS 5D Mark 4 in fully automatic mode. The second shot, about half the distance from the bridge, was taken from a picnic area alongside the Causeway south of the bridge. It was still raining but I was able to set up a tripod in the shelter of a picnic area, I used a remote shutter release with the mirror in lockup position to minimize vibration and it is the first time I tried that. The closer picture came out much sharper than the other as I expected, however, the closer one also looks almost B&W. Post processing using the Canon Digital Professional 4 software could not bring out any color. Does anyone know why the image would have no color? It was a very gray day, but it was actually darker for the shot in fully automatic mode yet that one shows more color. I noticed the one missing color was shot at f/27, 1/180 shutter speed, the one with more color was at f/5.6 and 1/750 shutter speed. Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at th... (show quote)


I don't think that camera settings have anything to do with the "B&W" image. It's a B&W scene, No more complicated than that, It was a grey day. I have snow scenes that were shot in color but look likw B&W images



Reply
Jul 24, 2017 00:41:28   #
Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska
 
khumiston wrote:
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at the entrance to Tampa Bay. The weather was terrible so I knew I would have to go back another day with better lighting, but took pictures from two locations so I could to see which would be the better perspective. ...

I visited St. Petersburg in June 2014, and was in awe of the beauty of that bridge! Of course there are really good pictures of it everywhere you look, so examples are easy to find.

Well before sunset drive across the bridge from St. Pete and go to the right side. Drive out on the remains of the old bridge, and get a fishing permit to let you slowly drive all the way to the end. There is a solid brick wall at just the right height to use as a tripod. Set the camera on it and take a shot every few minutes, using different configurations, until well after the sun has set. Lots of exposures but you definitely can, on the right day, get a shot that is as good as the best of the best.

Reply
 
 
Jul 24, 2017 12:04:44   #
R.G. Loc: Scotland
 
Ambient light comes and goes, as does its colour. We tend not to notice because our brains filter out ambient tints. If you don't manage to get a more colourful shot, adding colour using split toning can work quite well.

Reply
Jul 24, 2017 12:37:05   #
rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona
 
There is color in this photo. The sky, where it's visible, is blue. The bridge is concrete gray. The water is reflecting the most likely cloud cover, gray as well.
--Bob
khumiston wrote:
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at the entrance to Tampa Bay. The weather was terrible so I knew I would have to go back another day with better lighting, but took pictures from two locations so I could to see which would be the better perspective. For the first shot taken from Piney Point near Port Manatee it was raining so hard I stuck the end of my EF 600mm f/4 Canon lens out the window of my car. I was using a Canon EOS 5D Mark 4 in fully automatic mode. The second shot, about half the distance from the bridge, was taken from a picnic area alongside the Causeway south of the bridge. It was still raining but I was able to set up a tripod in the shelter of a picnic area, I used a remote shutter release with the mirror in lockup position to minimize vibration and it is the first time I tried that. The closer picture came out much sharper than the other as I expected, however, the closer one also looks almost B&W. Post processing using the Canon Digital Professional 4 software could not bring out any color. Does anyone know why the image would have no color? It was a very gray day, but it was actually darker for the shot in fully automatic mode yet that one shows more color. I noticed the one missing color was shot at f/27, 1/180 shutter speed, the one with more color was at f/5.6 and 1/750 shutter speed. Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at th... (show quote)

Reply
Jul 24, 2017 12:51:26   #
taxman Loc: Cleveland, Ohio
 
Looks like you exposed for the sky, which would have thrown the bridge into a near-silhouette.

Reply
Jul 24, 2017 20:58:37   #
hassighedgehog Loc: Corona, CA
 
Given the conditions, I think that is as much color as you could have gotten. The sea would have reflected the grey sky. In addition it was raining.

Reply
 
 
Jul 25, 2017 09:07:07   #
khumiston
 
The suspension cables on the bridge are yellow and are lighted. That can be seen looking closely at the 1st photo. There were also some pigeons sitting on a railing right in front of me and as I reframed the shot several times got them in some of the picture. They have color on them which did not come out either. The water in the 1st picture is dark blue/green, which, with processing software I can bring that out to unnatural blue or green shades, but that doesn't work in the 2nd photo, which I think means there is no color there at all. The sky was actually darker in the 1st photo, but it too has a dark blue cast whereas the 2nd photo it is shades of gray. It is the stark difference between color in photo 1 and none in photo 2 which was taken after the rain had eased up some that makes me suspect I did something else wrong. I am going to try the procedure again on a Sunny day with a bright subject and see what happens. One reason I took that shot with mirror lock-up and remote shutter trigger is that is what is recommended to eliminate all vibration for shooting the corona during full eclipse, and I had never tried it before. Mirror lockup was probably not necessary for the bridge shot but at least I can see that the procedure does eliminate all vibration and result in very sharp Image. Some vehicles on the bridge had lights on, which can be seen in the RAW image and the JPG on my computer. The posted photo for some reason is not quite sharp enough to see the headlights

Reply
Jul 25, 2017 13:29:41   #
khumiston
 
I ran a test using manual focus, mirror lockup and remote trigger and got the same color as in automatic mode. Those who thought the absence of color in my bridge picture were correct, it was just a dark subject on a dark day. The photo taken today in the mirror lockup mode again was at f27 and 1/60 and ISO 400 and the RAW image was very dark, so I had to increase the brightness with Canon Digital Photo 4 considerably to make the comparison so there was a difference in the luminance noise. The fully automatic shot was f5.6, 1/350 and ISO 400. However, I learned something important for using this setup to shoot the sun's corona during eclipse totality, which is to use a larger aperture in order to bring out the faintest parts of the corona. Thanks to all for input.

Reply
Sep 27, 2017 19:31:08   #
papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA
 
khumiston wrote:
I ran a test using manual focus, mirror lockup and remote trigger and got the same color as in automatic mode. Those who thought the absence of color in my bridge picture were correct, it was just a dark subject on a dark day. The photo taken today in the mirror lockup mode again was at f27 and 1/60 and ISO 400 and the RAW image was very dark, so I had to increase the brightness with Canon Digital Photo 4 considerably to make the comparison so there was a difference in the luminance noise. The fully automatic shot was f5.6, 1/350 and ISO 400. However, I learned something important for using this setup to shoot the sun's corona during eclipse totality, which is to use a larger aperture in order to bring out the faintest parts of the corona. Thanks to all for input.
I ran a test using manual focus, mirror lockup and... (show quote)


How about taking a basics photography course or just buy a good book on it and get out and shoot, friend. That's what the best of us did and still do. You might be good to just start with your camera's User's Manual.

Reply
Sep 27, 2017 19:35:32   #
papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA
 
P.S. What is diffraction to a lens and where does that begin with most lenses???

Reply
 
 
Nov 18, 2017 23:04:01   #
claytonsummers Loc: Orange County, CA
 
papa wrote:
P.S. What is diffraction to a lens and where does that begin with most lenses???


Diffraction is a physical limitation on the resolution of a lens due to the aperture of the lens. If you take a typical high quality lens, it will be a little soft at the widest aperture, then get sharper about the middle of the range, and then get softer again as the aperture gets smaller. The softness at the wide open aperture is due to the lens design not being completely corrected (called lens aberrations). The aberrations have less affect as the aperture gets smaller, but as the aperture gets smaller, diffraction starts to have a larger affect.

If you are interested in the numbers, I can put together some simple equations and diagrams.

Reply
Nov 19, 2017 15:32:51   #
papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA
 
khumiston wrote:
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at the entrance to Tampa Bay. The weather was terrible so I knew I would have to go back another day with better lighting, but took pictures from two locations so I could to see which would be the better perspective. For the first shot taken from Piney Point near Port Manatee it was raining so hard I stuck the end of my EF 600mm f/4 Canon lens out the window of my car. I was using a Canon EOS 5D Mark 4 in fully automatic mode. The second shot, about half the distance from the bridge, was taken from a picnic area alongside the Causeway south of the bridge. It was still raining but I was able to set up a tripod in the shelter of a picnic area, I used a remote shutter release with the mirror in lockup position to minimize vibration and it is the first time I tried that. The closer picture came out much sharper than the other as I expected, however, the closer one also looks almost B&W. Post processing using the Canon Digital Professional 4 software could not bring out any color. Does anyone know why the image would have no color? It was a very gray day, but it was actually darker for the shot in fully automatic mode yet that one shows more color. I noticed the one missing color was shot at f/27, 1/180 shutter speed, the one with more color was at f/5.6 and 1/750 shutter speed. Thanks for any advice anyone can offer.
I was shooting pictures of the Skyway Bridge at th... (show quote)

Your mistake. As you said, " I was using a Canon EOS 5D Mark 4 in fully automatic mode."

Reply
Nov 25, 2017 10:52:37   #
papa Loc: Rio Dell, CA
 
claytonsummers wrote:
Diffraction is a physical limitation on the resolution of a lens due to the aperture of the lens. If you take a typical high quality lens, it will be a little soft at the widest aperture, then get sharper about the middle of the range, and then get softer again as the aperture gets smaller. The softness at the wide open aperture is due to the lens design not being completely corrected (called lens aberrations). The aberrations have less affect as the aperture gets smaller, but as the aperture gets smaller, diffraction starts to have a larger affect.

If you are interested in the numbers, I can put together some simple equations and diagrams.
Diffraction is a physical limitation on the resolu... (show quote)


Quite frankly, I know, but the OP unsurprisingly does not. The question was for him to look into; that is, if he's interested in gaining full use of his $3,500 point and shoot Canon.

Reply
If you want to reply, then register here. Registration is free and your account is created instantly, so you can post right away.
Photo Analysis
UglyHedgehog.com - Forum
Copyright 2011-2024 Ugly Hedgehog, Inc.