Projects 4 and 5: Camera colour performance and personal colour range

Building on what I had learned in Project 3, the next two projects enabled me to investigate the colour performance of my camera more thoroughly.

The colour chart

I was given the task of photographing a colour chart included in the course materials, then comparing the photograph with the chart provided. Even though I used the pre-set White Balance option, there was a noticeable colour cast when I opened up my photograph in Photoshop. I corrected this using the ‘Auto Color Correct’ command. There was a definite difference, and the histogram was now more balanced. It stretched to both the left and right axis, indicating that the image now contained both pure black and pure white.

Onscreen, all colours except black looked lighter and more saturated than in the printed version. However, when I printed my version out, it appeared almost identical to the copy provided by the OCA. As mentioned in my last post, I need to bear this in mind when preparing my images for printing.

The photographed and printed charts also looked very different to the OCA’s digital version of the chart. Whereas the digital version included solid blocks of colour, the printed and photographed versions did not – when using the eyedropper to sample colours from the photograph, it was apparent that the RGB values of each square were not consistent – e.g. if I took a sample from the top corner of a square, and another sample from the middle, the values were markedly different.

A personal range of colours

My next task was to prepare a chart that included a range of the colours that I use most often.  I chuckled when I saw the Dorset coast mentioned as an example of a subject that you may photograph often, as that is my favourite subject of all!

I was asked to think about the types of colours that I am most attracted to, and that I use most often. It’s no secret to my friends and family that I am somewhat obsessed with the colour purple, and flicking through thumbnail of my favourite images shows that this obsession follows through into my photography! I often use the Color Balance or Curves tools to add slightly more magenta, red and blue to my images.

I am hoping that I understood the directions correctly – I chose the colours below by looking at a folder of my favourite hundred or so photographs. I looked for the images that I found most pleasing in terms of colour, and also looked for colours and tones that repeated in two or more photographs. Then I used the ‘eyedropper’ tool to fill in the grid.

I generally prefer more saturated, brighter colours, which I know are not to everyone’s taste. In particular, I love the somewhat clichéd vivid sunrises and sunsets. In spring and summer, I enjoy photographing the bright greens of vegetation against deep blue skies, using a polariser to boost contrast. I guessed, then, that my own colour palette may need to be viewed wearing sunglasses! Here it is:

As I predicted, there are several bright colours there, and those who prefer photographs to represent reality as closely as possible may not find them appealing. Although the colours were all taken from natural scenes – macro shots and landscapes – I have a tendency to boost the vibrance in Photoshop, and I am aware that the resulting images may not look natural. I have ‘outgrown’ my love of HDR (preferring the gentler ‘dynamic range increase’ technique instead), and perhaps one day I will fall out of love with the vibrance slider too. At the moment, however, I’m happy sticking with the brighter colours.

I was a little surprised at first to see that my very favourite colour – something like this:

(*Sigh* I could look at it all day!)

... doesn’t appear in the chart. I think this is because I do at least try to retain some grip on reality (however tenuous the link!), and that colour does not really appear anywhere in nature. Even photographs of bright flowers do not reach that level of saturation (98%) and brightness (95%)! Using the eyedropper to measure the colours in my chart above shows that the majority of them have much lower saturation and brightness values, so perhaps I use a little more restraint with my processing than I thought. However, there's no doubt in my mind that if I had taken samples from the original, unprocessed files, most of the brightness and saturation levels would have been significantly lower.