How do I improve the color of photos?

kevinNYC · Jun 19, 2017

Please see below two pairs of photos. You'll notice that the photos taken with the 350D have more true-er greens whereas the photos of the same object with a 650D show a more yellow-ish tint.

(Note that the lenses used are different, but I've tried swapping the lenses and it did not make a difference).

What do you suggest is the cause for the different greens? What do you suggest I change to make the photos from the 650D have the same color as the 350D?

Photo of grass with Canon 350D. Green of grass looks like a true color.

Photo of same grass with Canon 650D. Green of grass looks like it has more yellow.

Photo of tree with Canon 350D.

Photo of same tree with Canon 650D.

photonius · Jun 19, 2017

kevinNYC said:
Please see below two pairs of photos. You'll notice that the photos taken with the 350D have more true-er greens whereas the photos of the same object with a 650D show a more yellow-ish tint.

(Note that the lenses used are different, but I've tried swapping the lenses and it did not make a difference).

What do you suggest is the cause for the different greens? What do you suggest I change to make the photos from the 650D have the same color as the 350D?

Photo of grass with Canon 350D. Green of grass looks like a true color.

Photo of same grass with Canon 650D. Green of grass looks like it has more yellow.

Photo of tree with Canon 350D.

Photo of same tree with Canon 650D.

if you are shooting jpg (not RAW), then there are several settings in the camera that effect this. You can set picture styles, or you adjust color balance, and/or white balance, all of which can affect the output. The 650D looks warmer. so you might want to reduce the yellow a bit. Check if white balance and picture style settings are identical between the cameras. If so, then adjust the tint to how you want it. Note, that overall proper color calibration is not trivial. It starts with your monitor, where you can't be sure that it shows the colors as they should, if it's not calibrated. You would have to buy a color chart, and then make sure that the final picture on the monitor will be as close as possible to the color chart when you hold it next to the screen (consider also the room light then, that falls on your color chart inside - best would be daylight, the same as when you took the picture outside.

--
*** Life is short, time to zoom in *** ©

R2D2 · Jun 19, 2017

Welcome Kevin,

Avoid "Auto" settings. Set your White Balance to a preset, or custom.

Shooting RAW allows you to adjust White Balance during post-processing non-destructively (without having to be precise during shooting). Canon's DPP does a great job on RAWs. Also make sure your color space is consistent.

Happy shooting!

R2

Stan in NH · Jun 19, 2017

One simple question: are both cameras using the same white balance setting? For most outdoor shooting, auto white balance does a decent job. As others mentioned, this appears to be a white balance difference between the two cameras.

kevinNYC · Jun 19, 2017

Thank you! I'm indeed shooting in RAW. It's been tedious to update the color in post-processing for all photos. That's why I'm trying to figure out a way to fix it on the camera itself.

Thanks for your pointers on adjusting the yellow, picture style settings, tint and color charts.

kevinNYC · Jun 19, 2017

Stan in NH said:
One simple question: are both cameras using the same white balance setting? For most outdoor shooting, auto white balance does a decent job. As others mentioned, this appears to be a white balance difference between the two cameras.

Both are using AWB. Thanks for the pointer on White Balance- it looks like I'll need to configure the white balance on the 650D.

kevinNYC · Jun 19, 2017

Interesting- yes, I was shooting with AWB with Raw. I'll check out presets and custom. I've no clue what color space is, but I'll check that out.

photonius · Jun 19, 2017

kevinNYC said:
Interesting- yes, I was shooting with AWB with Raw. I'll check out presets and custom. I've no clue what color space is, but I'll check that out.

Ok, if you shot RAW, then it's no issue whatsoever anyway. You can process your images to whatever you like afterwards in the computer (what software do you use?). If you use Canon DPP, it will take the settings of the camera (that the camera also uses to make jpgs), i.e. style and white balance, and apply that automatically to make the first default view - but of course you can change it to anything that you want - that's the point about RAW data - which is more or less just the RAW data from the sensor.

Exit10 · Jun 19, 2017

kevinNYC said:
Please see below two pairs of photos. You'll notice that the photos taken with the 350D have more true-er greens whereas the photos of the same object with a 650D show a more yellow-ish tint.

(Note that the lenses used are different, but I've tried swapping the lenses and it did not make a difference).

What do you suggest is the cause for the different greens? What do you suggest I change to make the photos from the 650D have the same color as the 350D?

I would try shooting jpegs and see how you like the results. Its tough doing any diagnosis when you shot in raw and we don't know what you did to process the files.

Your examples with the newer camera are less than ideal - the first one is using a high ISO and the second is completely out of focus (or maybe there is movement? do you have IS switched on with the 24-105?).

Maybe try a couple of similar examples - jpegs straight out of the camera and post the results - keep the ISO low and make sure the picture is focussed and there is no motion blur.

If there are still problems and you can post those examples it should be easier to see the problem.

kevinNYC · Jun 19, 2017

Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

photonius · Jun 20, 2017

kevinNYC said:
Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

You can modify settings in the camera more, i.e. you can create your own custom picture styles. Or you can completely customise your WB (white balance correction), see page 137 of the manual for the 650D.

Also, as a side note, which color reproduction range is set (p139)? sRGB or Adobe, that makes a difference.

Check also your monitor. Compare the same image on different monitors if you can.

I presume you cannot directly compare 350D and 650D shots anymore? (take exactly the same scene at the same time).

Dareshooter · Jun 20, 2017

kevinNYC said:
Thank you! I'm indeed shooting in RAW. It's been tedious to update the color in post-processing for all photos. That's why I'm trying to figure out a way to fix it on the camera itself.

Thanks for your pointers on adjusting the yellow, picture style settings, tint and color charts.

Not sure if you can directly compare the color output of both cameras as the picture styles we have today had not been a feature of the 350D. It only had two options which were named parameter 1 and parameter 2 . Picture styles were only introduced on the rebel line when the 400D was released.

AnthonyL · Jun 20, 2017

kevinNYC said:
Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

"white" paper can be many shades of white

kevinNYC said:
2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

On my 450D I was usually set to Cloudy for results I liked

kevinNYC said:
3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

DPP is a much under-rated tool. Make sure you have the latest from the Canon Support sites. There are Canon Digital Learning Centre/Center videos of how to best use it - take advantage of batch processing and copying/pasting settings across a selected range of images.

My 700D is much better at being on Auto WB than my 450D was - yep - I'm on AWB.

digidog · Jun 20, 2017

photonius said:
kevinNYC said:

Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

Click to expand...

You can modify settings in the camera more, i.e. you can create your own custom picture styles. Or you can completely customise your WB (white balance correction), see page 137 of the manual for the 650D.

Also, as a side note, which color reproduction range is set (p139)? sRGB or Adobe, that makes a difference.

Not that he's switched to raw (#3 above). Those settings have zero effect on the raw data, just the JPEG.

photonius said:
Check also your monitor. Compare the same image on different monitors if you can.

I presume you cannot directly compare 350D and 650D shots anymore? (take exactly the same scene at the same time).

photonius · Jun 21, 2017

digidog said:
photonius said:

kevinNYC said:

Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

Click to expand...

You can modify settings in the camera more, i.e. you can create your own custom picture styles. Or you can completely customise your WB (white balance correction), see page 137 of the manual for the 650D.

Also, as a side note, which color reproduction range is set (p139)? sRGB or Adobe, that makes a difference.

Click to expand...

Not that he's switched to raw (#3 above). Those settings have zero effect on the raw data, just the JPEG.

Yes, but the sample images were done in jpg (he initially thought it was RAW). My point was actually, he doesn't necessarily have to go to RAW. There should be enough settings to customise the white balance in the body, so that jpgs look like he wants. - This is assuming his only reason to use DPP is to change the white balance. If that is the case, the OP can save time and storage space by just getting the jpg in the camera right.

Again, to the OP, check your monitor as well - that's an important part of the equation. I find auto white balance usually quite ok.

Member said:
Member said:

Check also your monitor. Compare the same image on different monitors if you can.

I presume you cannot directly compare 350D and 650D shots anymore? (take exactly the same scene at the same time).

Click to expand...

digidog · Jun 21, 2017

photonius said:
digidog said:

photonius said:

kevinNYC said:

Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

Click to expand...

You can modify settings in the camera more, i.e. you can create your own custom picture styles. Or you can completely customise your WB (white balance correction), see page 137 of the manual for the 650D.

Also, as a side note, which color reproduction range is set (p139)? sRGB or Adobe, that makes a difference.

Click to expand...

Not that he's switched to raw (#3 above). Those settings have zero effect on the raw data, just the JPEG.

Click to expand...

Yes, but the sample images were done in jpg (he initially thought it was RAW).

And now he should continue to capture raw and my post remains factual.

photonius said:
My point was actually, he doesn't necessarily have to go to RAW.

Yes he should. Please don't recommend he go back to JPEG for so many reasons!

photonius said:
There should be enough settings to customise the white balance in the body, so that jpgs look like he wants. - This is assuming his only reason to use DPP is to change the white balance. If that is the case, the OP can save time and storage space by just getting the jpg in the camera right.

Moot with raw.

photonius said:
Again, to the OP, check your monitor as well - that's an important part of the equation. I find auto white balance usually quite ok.

photonius said:

photonius said:

Check also your monitor. Compare the same image on different monitors if you can.

I presume you cannot directly compare 350D and 650D shots anymore? (take exactly the same scene at the same time).

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

photonius · Jun 22, 2017

digidog said:
photonius said:

digidog said:

photonius said:

kevinNYC said:

Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

Click to expand...

You can modify settings in the camera more, i.e. you can create your own custom picture styles. Or you can completely customise your WB (white balance correction), see page 137 of the manual for the 650D.

Also, as a side note, which color reproduction range is set (p139)? sRGB or Adobe, that makes a difference.

Click to expand...

Not that he's switched to raw (#3 above). Those settings have zero effect on the raw data, just the JPEG.

Click to expand...

Yes, but the sample images were done in jpg (he initially thought it was RAW).

Click to expand...

And now he should continue to capture raw and my post remains factual.

Member said:

My point was actually, he doesn't necessarily have to go to RAW.

Click to expand...

Yes he should. Please don't recommend he go back to JPEG for so many reasons!

I thought we live in a free world, where the OP can choose himself.

Member said:
Member said:

There should be enough settings to customise the white balance in the body, so that jpgs look like he wants. - This is assuming his only reason to use DPP is to change the white balance. If that is the case, the OP can save time and storage space by just getting the jpg in the camera right.

Click to expand...

Moot with raw.

Member said:

Again, to the OP, check your monitor as well - that's an important part of the equation. I find auto white balance usually quite ok.

Member said:

Member said:

Check also your monitor. Compare the same image on different monitors if you can.

I presume you cannot directly compare 350D and 650D shots anymore? (take exactly the same scene at the same time).

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

digidog · Jun 22, 2017

photonius said:
digidog said:

photonius said:

digidog said:

photonius said:

kevinNYC said:

Based on the replies in the thread, I tried the following:

1. Custom White Balance. This turned out to be harder than I had imagined. I used a blank page from my printer, but the custom white balance photos turned out to have too much green.

2. Preset White Balance. The Sunlight preset had the best results. It is still a little warm, but it is close.

3. Raw vs JPG. Although I believed I was shooting in RAW, the settings were actually in JPG. Switched to RAW & installed DPP. DPP provides some good tools to correct the green.

4. IS & Filters. As expected, IS options didn't have any impact. Filters (UV and CP) did not have any impact on the color.

My best bet seems to be to use the Sunlight Preset White Balance and then color correct using DPP.

Click to expand...

You can modify settings in the camera more, i.e. you can create your own custom picture styles. Or you can completely customise your WB (white balance correction), see page 137 of the manual for the 650D.

Also, as a side note, which color reproduction range is set (p139)? sRGB or Adobe, that makes a difference.

Click to expand...

Not that he's switched to raw (#3 above). Those settings have zero effect on the raw data, just the JPEG.

Click to expand...

Yes, but the sample images were done in jpg (he initially thought it was RAW).

Click to expand...

And now he should continue to capture raw and my post remains factual.

photonius said:

My point was actually, he doesn't necessarily have to go to RAW.

Click to expand...

Yes he should. Please don't recommend he go back to JPEG for so many reasons!

Click to expand...

I thought we live in a free world, where the OP can choose himself.

He can. Based on good or poor advise! He's now shooting raw; good move on his part based on understanding the massive advantages of a raw workflow,

photonius said:
photonius said:

photonius said:

There should be enough settings to customise the white balance in the body, so that jpgs look like he wants. - This is assuming his only reason to use DPP is to change the white balance. If that is the case, the OP can save time and storage space by just getting the jpg in the camera right.

Click to expand...

Moot with raw.

photonius said:

Again, to the OP, check your monitor as well - that's an important part of the equation. I find auto white balance usually quite ok.

photonius said:

photonius said:

Check also your monitor. Compare the same image on different monitors if you can.

I presume you cannot directly compare 350D and 650D shots anymore? (take exactly the same scene at the same time).

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

The Light Stalker · Jun 22, 2017

Simple answer, shoot with RAW. If you have to, take a sample picture of a white card. Heck I even sometimes use my 18% grey lens cleaning cloth.

Open the capture in Canon's DPP and use the eyedrop tool with RAW for WB. Click on the white (or 18% grey) target to get a good white balance. I open the RAW file in PS CS6 as a TIFF to do further enhancements. Your methods may vary.

--
“Don't shoot what it looks like. Shoot what It feels like.”
— David Alan Harvey

digidog · Jun 22, 2017

shutterbug nut said:
Simple answer, shoot with RAW.

Exactly and for so many reasons.

For the OP or others, a superb if not somewhat long piece on why rendering an image is such an important part of the art/technology of photography:

http://www.lumita.com/site_media/work/whitepapers/files/pscs3_rendering_image.pdf

The Light Stalker said:
If you have to, take a sample picture of a white card. Heck I even sometimes use my 18% grey lens cleaning cloth.

Here's an inexpensive WB tool (I still prefer an X-rite Passport so I can build custom DNG camera profiles something DPP doesn't support however):

DIY: Reliable and Cheap Universal White Balance Reference Device

photographylife.com

How do I improve the color of photos?

New member

Veteran Member

Forum Pro

Senior Member

New member

New member

New member

Veteran Member

Senior Member

New member

Veteran Member

Veteran Member

Senior Member

digidog

Guest

Veteran Member

digidog

Guest

Veteran Member

digidog

Guest

Senior Member

digidog

Guest

Similar threads

Keyboard shortcuts