How to take florescent pics?

[Danosborne6661]

I've recently got a D70 but taking a pic of the green on my bike has proven to be a biatch!
I think it may of just been the weird lighting, i tried a few settings and it came out like this at the BEST

http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/7388/dsc7229jj5.jpg

So what do you do for good results with weird ass colours?

[craigosh]

Fluorescent colors are a bitch. Best thing to try is to underexpose. Because they reflect light so strongly they will clip out quite easily like white will, even worse really.

Other thing to try would be to get the light as flat and even as possible, to cut out hot spots of brightness which will cause color shifts.

Can you change the color space on the d70? problem you have is your shooting neon green, and sRGB which is the default color space, is crap at reproducing bright greens like you have in that neon, which is why you got a slight cyan shift to the color, especially in the brighter areas. Thats what it tends to do. If you can change it try setting it to Adobe 98.

Greens and yellows i find are the hardest flouro shades to do. Most of the others are fairly easy.

[telboy]

I tend to under expose a little, then mess around with the saturation and levels in photoshop to get the best results.

[mole2k]

I hate florescents they can be a pain sometimes. Underexposing slightly to stop the colour shifts near the clipping point is probably your best bet.

An overcast day produces very flat even lighting as the clouds act like a big diffuser.

[Danosborne6661]

Thanks for your answers
I've just been reading a long review someones made on the D70 and its helping alot

Thats what it tends to do. If you can change it try setting it to Adobe 98.
I've just found the option for that.
If i change it to the Adobe RGB settings is there any colour settings etc i will loose or is it recommended i keep it on the Adobe RGB setting?

I'm not sure on the benefit/flaws of the sRGB, Adobe RGB settings

[jimmy]

sRGB gives you nice colours, adobe gives you muted boring and depressing colours. That's the main difference:lol:.

[mole2k]

Adobe RGB is a wider colourspace afaik but it can look very dull when viewed through most browsers as it doesnt read colour profiles so if you are uploading for web or for most printing options you'll have to convert to sRGB.

[craigosh]

Adobe RGB is a wider colourspace afaik but it can look very dull when viewed through most browsers as it doesnt read colour profiles so if you are uploading for web or for most printing options you'll have to convert to sRGB.

Thats pretty much right. Any file using a color profile other than sRGB will look dull in a browser

I prefer to shoot in Adobe RGB all the time then convert to sRGB when i need to, you can keep more color info that way.

If you want any advice on color management giz a PM and i'll try and help :D

[Halcalanky]

The best way to get colours to really pop is to use the LAB colour space within Adobe Photoshop. Take the photo underexposed, put it into photoshop and change the mode to LAB. (If you need LAB explained, I can in another very boring post ;))

Then create a new curves adjustment layer, set A and B to both be steeper by 1 of the smaller squares (or 2, just as long as they're all even) and create a very gentle S curve in the L channel.

Never fails me :thumbsup: