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Capturing True Sun Color
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Jul 12, 2017 14:46:22   #
Thomas H. Loc: Buffalo NY
 
I took this photo this morning and I'm not unhappy with it overall. However the sun was actually a deep red color but I didn't pick that up in the photo. I shot at 1/ 8000 F 7.1 and auto ISO in shutter priority mode. I also was in auto white balance and wondering if that is the problem. There is some contrast and sharpening in post along with some minor exposure changes. Thank you so much for your feedback !


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Jul 12, 2017 14:56:13   #
MT Shooter Loc: Montana
 
Its because the sun is over-exposed. The exposure in this scene is set for the clouds.

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Jul 12, 2017 15:02:35   #
Thomas H. Loc: Buffalo NY
 
MT Shooter wrote:
Its because the sun is over-exposed. The exposure in this scene is set for the clouds.


Thank you MT Shooter. How do I change settings to fix this? Exposure compensation ?

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Jul 12, 2017 15:30:20   #
MT Shooter Loc: Montana
 
Thomas H. wrote:
Thank you MT Shooter. How do I change settings to fix this? Exposure compensation ?


Expose for the sun itself. Might require a couple of ND filters to do so. The rest of your scene will be almost black then. So you could shoot the sun first, then remove the filters and expose for the sky, then join the shots together in Photoshop for a properly exposed scene with a properly exposed sun in it.
You could also take a third exposure for the foreground trees and have a full 3 shot HDR scene.

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Jul 12, 2017 15:43:03   #
Thomas H. Loc: Buffalo NY
 
Thank you for your help MT Shooter !

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Jul 12, 2017 16:27:08   #
MT Shooter Loc: Montana
 
Thomas H. wrote:
Thank you for your help MT Shooter !


Anytime.

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Jul 13, 2017 06:28:43   #
Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
 
Would using the adjust the highlights function in PS help get the sun to the deep red color the OP wants? Or is the amount of adjustment needed beyond that?

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Jul 13, 2017 10:39:09   #
lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ
 
there are many ways to bring out the red and increase color saturation in post processing. for starters drop highlights slider to left all the way. reduce exposure slider slightly, increase vibrance and saturation. try adjusting color balance warmer toward yellow and increase magenta. The combination of those things should bring out the red and orange tones.. If you need more than you can go into the Hue Sat and Luminance settings and adjust red, orange and yellow to get the colors you actually saw...

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Jul 13, 2017 14:18:40   #
Thomas H. Loc: Buffalo NY
 
lloydl2 wrote:
there are many ways to bring out the red and increase color saturation in post processing. for starters drop highlights slider to left all the way. reduce exposure slider slightly, increase vibrance and saturation. try adjusting color balance warmer toward yellow and increase magenta. The combination of those things should bring out the red and orange tones.. If you need more than you can go into the Hue Sat and Luminance settings and adjust red, orange and yellow to get the colors you actually saw...
there are many ways to bring out the red and incre... (show quote)


Thank you for your ideas ! Much appreciated !

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Jul 13, 2017 22:35:29   #
Wanderer2 Loc: Colorado Rocky Mountains
 
lloydl2 wrote:
there are many ways to bring out the red and increase color saturation in post processing. for starters drop highlights slider to left all the way. reduce exposure slider slightly, increase vibrance and saturation. try adjusting color balance warmer toward yellow and increase magenta. The combination of those things should bring out the red and orange tones.. If you need more than you can go into the Hue Sat and Luminance settings and adjust red, orange and yellow to get the colors you actually saw...
there are many ways to bring out the red and incre... (show quote)


I also encounter this problem occasionally and much appreciate this info, thank you.

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Jul 15, 2017 17:31:33   #
via the lens Loc: Northern California, near Yosemite NP
 
Thomas H. wrote:
I took this photo this morning and I'm not unhappy with it overall. However the sun was actually a deep red color but I didn't pick that up in the photo. I shot at 1/ 8000 F 7.1 and auto ISO in shutter priority mode. I also was in auto white balance and wondering if that is the problem. There is some contrast and sharpening in post along with some minor exposure changes. Thank you so much for your feedback !


Another option, outside of HDR, is to put your focus point in the camera near the sun or on the brightest part of the image, normally the sun in this kind of photo, and then expose for the sun. In all digital shooting, exposing for the brightest part of the scene is standard. This will leave your surrounding image very dark as exposing for the sun will require you to shoot with a negative exposure compensation. You would then bring up the shadows, blacks, or darks in post, it will take some playing around and may require you processing individual portions of the image. Getting the sun is very difficult. Shooting it right as it moves from land to sky often helps to get the shot. In the case of this shot, dropping highlights will turn the sun gray as there is no data captured in the sun area. For this shot, you might also try painting a very light color over the sun so that the white, blown out part is not so glaring. Shooting this in RAW will also work out better than shooting it in JPEG as you can then process more diligently without ill effects. Probably not the best time to use auto-ISO. Auto white balance would not be a problem in RAW and could be corrected somewhat in JPEG.

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Aug 13, 2017 17:07:29   #
sazfoto
 
My photography teacher, "bracket, bracket bracket"! Also know your camera and what kind of image to expect when you put it on the computer.

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Aug 26, 2017 12:28:35   #
boberic Loc: Quiet Corner, Connecticut. Ex long Islander
 
What type of metering did you use? Spot metering is best to get the sun right.

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Sep 16, 2017 11:36:36   #
8by10
 
First, stop shooting "Auto" anything. Then bracket your exposures. To get the sun "red" as your eye saw it, you would need a low ISO, small aperture and fast shutter speed, but this will render everything else dark.

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Oct 30, 2017 14:29:53   #
SalvageDiver Loc: Huntington Beach CA
 
Another thought if your trying to recover this particular photo. You should notice a reed red ring around the sun. This ring is the color of the sun just before the sensor saturates. Even though the sun is deep red, there is so much luminosity that it blows out the sensor in all color channels. You can recreate the color in PS by creating a fill layer and filling it with the color of the red ring. You can then brush the color back into the sun. I've done this on occasion and it's lent satisfactory results for me. Be careful not to cover anything in front of the sun such as a cloud, tree branches or a layer of haze.

Just a suggestion
Mike

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