Camera/Picture help please!

[SA]

My camera does great with nearly all colors.  Reds and blacks are easy.

However, I have 2 teal items that look flat out blue when I take the pics.  GRR.

Any hints or tricks or camera settings that can help me?

[kat]

Do you have anything outside your backdrop that’s dark or multicolor? For teal or olive I have to take a wide shot and crop it. It seems that if I take a tag picture, it comes out accurate, and I believe that’s because there’s other things for the camera to focus on.

[zoesam]

I have a great camera for color & teals & turquoise still suffer. Sorry, but I've never figured out any tricks, my trick is just that I take a sh%tload of photos with various types of light & pick the best. Then I "fix it in the mix" (photo editing in this case). I have always wondered why the turquoise/teals, when everything else is perfect.

[chapeaunoir]

Your white balance is off - try including something that's medium gray in your photo - set it next to your item. It will serve as a gray card. Put your focus closer to the gray item and take your photo. That should correct balance.

If that doesn't work, if you have Windows you can fix it in their photo program. I don't know what MAC comes with.

ETA: You've got too much blue spectrum light in there. I have that trouble, too. Some cameras tend to over-saturate (the one I'm using does that) and it'll do it on the blue and/or red spectra, depending on a lot of other things. Mine does it on both, unfortunately.

[jandsknight]

Sometimes I've used this trick with success: Place a multi-colored object of about the same thickness near the item. Focus on that with the real target still in view. Or you can focus on the multi-colored thing and then move the camera over the real target without moving the camera closer or farther away.

[val2525]

Adjust the color in a photo editing program. Much easier than trying to get your camera to cooperate, IMO. For less "blue", add a little yellow to the picture.

[kat]

I think I’m the only one that doesn’t edit photos.
I am always afraid it will look right on my monitor but no one else’s. I used to do graphic design for a living for 15 years but refuse to do my own. Maybe because it feels like work. I crop or make collages but that’s it. Otherwise I snap my pictures right into the listing and if they are off, I mention which picture is closest. I hope I didn’t jinx myself, but I’ve never had color issues from buyers.

[SA]

I'll try and get something gray in there. The walls are a beige color outside the borders of my backdrop.
No matter what I do (adjusting, etc) it stays a true blue.

Thanks for the tips. I'll try it when I take pics on Sunday. I have an amazing IC Connie jacket in teal that I could not get a decent enough picture of (not even if I were to get a closeup or try to explain it's teal when it looks dead blue. But if I can't get a good pic. I can't sell it. That means I'll have to keep it

[SA]

And it's my size......

[val2525]

What a hardship, Liz

[SA]

Not sure if I'd rather have the money or the jacket.
Or I could wear it - then sell it used later.................. AAAAHHHH!

Sometimes it's great selling clothing.  I can have a rotating wardrobe.

[SA]

I tried again. More like 10 times again with different colors in the background. Nothing. The teal looks solid blue.

And AAAAAHHHHHHH

I took pics of a forest green cardigan. It looks TEAL.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? GRR.

[chapeaunoir]

Dec 27, 2017 15:20:29 GMT SA said:

I tried again. More like 10 times again with different colors in the background. Nothing. The teal looks solid blue.

And AAAAAHHHHHHH

I took pics of a forest green cardigan. It looks TEAL.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? GRR.

It's the white balance - this may be a case where it'll need to be fine tuned in imaging software because between the light spectrum and the colour it's just a no-win situation.

Remember the dress that went viral on the interwebz - in some photos I think it was black or brown and in others it was gold or ivory? At any rate, whatever it was, the colour digitization was right in the middle of a range so that it could flip from one to the other.

[val2525]

Dec 27, 2017 15:20:29 GMT SA said:

I tried again. More like 10 times again with different colors in the background. Nothing. The teal looks solid blue.

And AAAAAHHHHHHH

I took pics of a forest green cardigan. It looks TEAL.

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY? GRR.

Stop torturing yourself. Use Photoshop or another editing program and fix the color that way. It's a heck of a lot easier and faster than trying to make the camera do all the work. IMHO anyway.

[chapeaunoir]

After I set the white balance to my photo situation, I just left it there. Maybe about 2% of the time I'll use a gray card, but most of the time I do everything in imaging software - most of the time I have to use three different programs, but my photo situation is difficult (even with our wonderful skylights) so I have to compensate, and it's quicker.

It was good, though, to try all of those backgrounds as you get a sense of how different backgrounds affect the photo quality and accuracy - that's actually useful knowledge.

But, yeah, I'd just fix that one in post.

[57roses]

I can't remember if you use a mac. The photo editing that came with mine has a white balance adjustment with 3 choices: neutral gray, skin tone or temp/tint. It sometimes makes a world of difference as far as correcting the color.

If you post a photo here we can see what adjustments can be made.

[SA]

Thank you all so much.
I've researched them both, and it looks like other sellers that have more true color pics are done on brown or gray backgrounds.
I think I'm going to try my solid gray and solid black background for both - then crop the backgrounds out if it works.

If it doesn't I'll try something like Photoshop (is there a free version?)

57roses Yes, I'm on Mac. I've never used the photo editing (or photo anything) that came with the computer.

I use Picasa, but no matter what I do with any of the settings, I can't get either of them true to color.

[zoesam]

Dec 28, 2017 12:24:25 GMT SA said:

I use Picasa, but no matter what I do with any of the settings, I can't get either of them true to color.

Have you tried the neutral color picker, under the "sun" tab?  That's the one I find best for these situations, using white as the neutral color (which means you have to have white in the pic).   Color Temperature, also under the sun tab can also be helpful for these & Auto Color under the wrench, which you've probably already tried can be helpful too.  But the Neutral Color Picker tends to be best. 

ETA:  Oh & sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised by the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button.  I don't usually use it since I prefer to fix contrast, color & shadows separately, but when I remember to try it, it sometimes gets the combo right on. 

[SA]

Yep. I’ve tried both. It’s what I typically do to my pics.

[zoesam]

Bummer. A lot of people don't know abt the neutral color picker, so just wanted to make sure.  Between the 4 settings I mentioned, I can usually get something usable. Since you've tried different backgrounds, I would try different cameras at this point. Each one has a different spectrum & I hate the spectrum on both my Nikon & my Canon, as they are both way too blue, only my cheapo Kodak has a true color spectrum. As long as I shoot with the Kodak, the Picasa Neutral Color Picker will usually get it close enough. If I shoot with the Nikon or the Canon, it doesn't. So for me, it's a combination of camera & editing software. If you don't have other cameras you can try, post your pic here & one of us can give it a try.

 

[val2525]

Dec 28, 2017 12:24:25 GMT SA said:

If it doesn't I'll try something like Photoshop (is there a free version?)

Not for the Mac. You can get photoshop for $9.99/mo on subscription. It's deductible, I deduct under dues & subscriptions.

Some other alternatives (including a few I think I may check out), some are free or very inexpensive:

mac-how-to.gadgethacks.com/how-to/9-ways-get-by-without-photoshop-your-mac-0165313/

[kat]

Get them listed. I sold two teal sweaters yesterday