Yellow flower my nightmare.

[pinakibaidya]

For last couple of years i have been trying to shoot bright yellow flowers but without success.Ofcourse i havenot applied exposure compesation but i tried to correct it during processing.I noticed that the flower is not looking the same i saw in the actual scene.On top of that white spots are appearing.I tried with both Canon compact and Nikon dslr.Can you help me with tips?I am posting one pic for example.First pic data are as follows ISO100,Metering-Spot,WB-Auto.55mm f/5.6,Focus Area-Closest area,Focus mode Auto focus single servo.Pic taken in direct sunlight.

[wlou]

Pina, hem I hope thats your name, I do not see the picture.

[DanK]

It's hard to say without more information. however, my first guess is that you are overexposing and clipping the yellows, which are the brightest part of the image. This is more commonly a problem with red flowers, but it could be happening with these, particularly if you are using averaging metering that averages in the dark backgrounds. Check the histogram on your camera. If your camera will do this, show the separate histograms for each of the three color channels. Make sure that none of them is hitting the right hand side. If they are, those pixels are overexposed, and you will get no detail (hence white spots).

[wlou]

Hello Pina, in your #2nd shot, the time is 11:44. It would be the equivalent of what the american refer to as "high noon". Or said another way, the sun is at his highest in the sky, lighting directely above. I would suggest an early morning shot, or later in the day, when the sun as come down more.

[jprzybyla]

Hello Pina, as Louise writes noontime can be difficult. Early morining gives colors that are less harse and softer. That being said sometimes the time of day cannot be chosen. Last Monday I was photographing roses at a botanical garden that did not open until 9 A.M., this time of year in Florida the sun is high and bright at that time. The colors of white, red, yellow, and some oranges blowout easily (highlights showing only a white blob, no detail). The yellow roses I shot required an exposure compensation of -1.0 to -2.0 to control the exposure. If you do not control the exposure at the time of shooting you will have major problems post processing. The white on the petals of the second photograph appear to be areas severly overexposed (blownout) that now lack detail and color. If you have any questions post them and I will try to answer them. The two examples below are from that photo shoot.

[Andrew1]

Sometimes the texture of the subject will reflect direct light in some parts that are too bright when compared to the rest of the subject. A diffusion panel works well to eliminate those points. It will drop your overall exposure a stop or two depending on the material but give one a try. A screen doesn't have to be purchased, even a thin white sheet will do. Good luck and show us how you make out with new shots.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVmfhDeyD9c

[pinakibaidya]

Thanks Joe,Louise,Andrew for your tips.your pics of yellow roses are really nice Joe

[Glenn NK]

Yes, the images are clipped (the white areas).

Do your cameras have an RGB Histogram? If so, I think you will find that one or two of the channels will be clipped. However, the RGB displayed on the camera LCD is based on a JPEG, and will not accurately reflect a RAW image - but this can be somewhat compensated for by setting the Picture Style Contrast to minus 2 (this is Canon terminology).

I have found that it's almost impossible to shoot in direct sun and not have some areas clipped or blown out. To this end, I use a diffuser, or shoot later in the day.

A question - do you shoot RAW or JPEG? There is more latitude to recover clipping with a RAW image than there is with a JPEG image.

Glenn

[pinakibaidya]

Thanks Dan and Glen for technical analysis.Actually i could not understand the phenomena called "clipping".Now your analysis will help me shoot good pics.

[dan marchant]

+1 to Andrews comment above. It is better not to shoot when the sun is directly overhead but if shooting earlier/later isn't possible then using a diffuser panel will help to soften the direct light.