Gosh, this could almost be a poll . . .

Jock Elliott

Hall of Famer
Location
Troy, NY
If you had to choose between a camera that offered more color saturation and contrast:

HX400 test 008.JPG

or one that offered less saturation and contrast but more detail:

FZ200 test 003.JPG


(both SOOC jpegs), which would you choose and why?

Cheers, Jock
 
I think what you may be seeing here is that the red channel is clipping in the top photo which will obscure some detail..... because the green leaves show PLENTY of detail.

When shooting red flowers, I often run into this problem. I nearly always underexpose when shooting solid red objects and then bring up the exposure in post. It's such a common problem that I can rarely enjoy a photo of a red flower anymore.
 
The second one, simply because the plane of sharpness is on the flower in the center that immediately grabs your attention, so in my view, the image simply works better than the other one in which the plane of focus appears to be a bit behind the flower's main body; white balance and saturation can (to a high degree) be fixed in post if it's off. Even though SOOC JPEGs aren't the most malleable material, but I'd still give it a try.

EDIT: I find Luke's observations very interesting, though - maybe I'm mistaken.

M.
 
The second one, simply because the plane of sharpness is on the flower in the center that immediately grabs your attention, so in my view, the image simply works better than the other one in which the plane of focus appears to be a bit behind the flower's main body; white balance and saturation can (to a high degree) be fixed in post if it's off. Even though SOOC JPEGs aren't the most malleable material, but I'd still give it a try.

EDIT: I find Luke's observations very interesting, though - maybe I'm mistaken.

M.

I tried to get both cameras to focus on the center of the flower. Both shooting in P mode, letting the camera make the decisions.

Cheers, Jock
 
I think what you may be seeing here is that the red channel is clipping in the top photo which will obscure some detail..... because the green leaves show PLENTY of detail.

When shooting red flowers, I often run into this problem. I nearly always underexpose when shooting solid red objects and then bring up the exposure in post. It's such a common problem that I can rarely enjoy a photo of a red flower anymore.

I will have to give that a try . . . thanks for the tip.

Cheers, Jock
 
I brought down the exposure of the first one and detail comes back to the flower. Of course, not being there, I don't know if the flower is supposed to be red or more magenta as in Jock's photo. The color can of course be changed to be more accurate.


27123411200_cc21bbd050_b.jpg
HX400 test 008
by Luke, on Flickr


I'm sure there's some good stuff here if you're interested in reading about red channel clipping.

Why do bright red flowers end up without details?
 
I brought down the exposure of the first one and detail comes back to the flower. Of course, not being there, I don't know if the flower is supposed to be red or more magenta as in Jock's photo. The color can of course be changed to be more accurate.


27123411200_cc21bbd050_b.jpg
HX400 test 008
by Luke, on Flickr


I'm sure there's some good stuff here if you're interested in reading about red channel clipping.

Why do bright red flowers end up without details?

Wow, thanks, you're right. This is good news!

Cheers, Jock
 
I don't do any bracketing as a rule, but I do run the exposure EV setting up and down quite a bit. If your camera has user/custom saved settings, you might want to set one up for flowers or other color-intense subjects. Or bracket...
 
I saw something on another thread that made me think .... per the comments about how difficult solid red flowers can be at times, I saw a great solution - break up the solid color with water drops.
 
Try a spot meter off some of the greener leaves nearby, AE-L that exposure, re-frame re-focus and shoot. Sometimes it works for me. You will still see some clipping, but not as much as trying to Matrix or whatever other Evaluative metering the camera makes across the frame.
 
All other things being equal (but they never are) I would choose detail. As mentioned above, though, there seems to be a difference in focal plane in the two images. Saturation is more of a personal choice, and there is no “correct” level. But the definition of a petal is necessary for the image to be seen as a flower.
 
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