Photo Noob question

[Paandemonium]

How does one de-blue their peesures?

[Acielot]

I think you can create a filter with Photoshop and the like that is specific to your tank lighting. Then apply your custom filter and you will get consistent de-blued photos.

[Paandemonium]

But photoshop is sooooo expensive u.u

[Acielot]

But photoshop is sooooo expensive u.u

I feel your pain . I'll try something out soon on GIMP and see if it will work properly there.

 

Maybe ask Lalani, Veng, Withers or someone else who can take awesome pics and explain how to de-blue them.

[Ebn]

Give Adobe CS2 a shot. It's free from Adobe since it's so old they don't want to maintain their activation servers.

 

https://www.adobe.com/cfusion/entitlement/index.cfm?pid=4485850&e=cs2_downloads

 

I've logged on via that link and it's still active.

[Withers]

Do some research on white balance, that's what you need to adjust to correct colors in pictures. The bottom line is that your camera can try to correct it but the most accurate way to do it is after the fact using software like iPhoto, Lightroom or Photoshop.

 

If you're using a phone to take pictures there might be an app somewhere that can apply filters to help reduce the blue but I don't know of any.

[Paandemonium]

Do some research on white balance, that's what you need to adjust to correct colors in pictures. The bottom line is that your camera can try to correct it but the most accurate way to do it is after the fact using software like iPhoto, Lightroom or Photoshop.

 

If you're using a phone to take pictures there might be an app somewhere that can apply filters to help reduce the blue but I don't know of any.

Do you have any cameras you would recommend?

[Withers]

Nearly any camera these days can do white balance corrections. I can't really give any kind of recommendation without knowing what you want to use it for / what budget you have / etc.

[Veng]

Sorry for being late to the party.

 

What you are looking for is white balance, and the best way to do that is to shoot raw and process the raw file into a jpg your self instead of letting your camera do it for you. When you shoot in jpg, not only is information lost, but the camera that was never designed to take 14K or 20K color temp photos is applying a white balance of 5K or 10K when it processes it and you get the blue.

 

When you've taken the raw image on your camera, you'll need to manually process it. Lightroom is cheap (and you can get a 30 day demo for free from adobe if you want to try it out). But if you don't want to spend any money, digital photo pro should have come with the camera, assuming it's a canon. The slider you want it the color temp, and you'll be able to change the blue to white (or even red).

[Polarcollision]

For no need to fiddle with RAW files, set a custom white balance on your camera off something white in your tank.

[Veng]

I don't see why people are so opposed to raw files. If you want to point and shoot crap, then just whip out your cellphone and snap a picture, why bother with a decent camera? The average photo can be processed from raw to jpg in literally 1 second exactly as it would have been in the camera if you wanted to. Processing one with developmental changes (like dropping blacks so you get the black background everyone loves in tank photos, turning down highlights that always crop up in tank photos, removing pincushion and vignetting, etc) can be done in about a minute after you've done a few and make a world of difference in the quality of your photos.

 

Also, not all cameras have the ability to take white balances at 20K, even with the custom white balance feature. Many limit out at 10K, so you won't get a perfect white balance. Nor can you adjust it as well after the processing.

[Polarcollision]

I assume that was directed at me? I'm not interested in a 'this is the best way' conflict. Simply pointing out another option for those who get turned off by fiddling with RAW sliders. After shooting in RAW for nearly 9 years, I don't always feel like processing *yet more* RAW files of the aquarium. It's just more tedious work fixing the red, green, and yellow color shifts that drive me nuts -- which the kelvin slider cannot correct for. If done correctly, custom color balance on the 5D MarkII corrects for all color shifts. When I do feel like fiddling with RAW files that need adjustments beyond the lens correction, I prefer photoshop for superior tonal fine tuning controls to anything in the RAW editor. If you are not acheiving the desired black background on the original exposure, exposure compensation on camera can accomodate that as well as the blown highlights.

 

It's great you're getting into the controlability features of RAW format and hats off to anyone who enjoys it. I know I once did. For those who just want a quick, high quality photo you can look at my recent thread photodump to see what custom white balance can do.

[Withers]

Some cameras can handle white balance adjustments for aquariums, some can't. It just depends on the light used and the camera's abilities. If it can, that's a huge plus because that's much easier. A custom white balance on a 5dii is going to give much better results than a custom white balance on a $200 camera.

[Ebn]

You can also just shoot in RAW and JPEG at the same time if your camera will allow it. Quick post with the JPEG and the RAW if you want to fiddle around with it. I shoot exclusively in RAW just due to the latitude that it gives me. Setting custom white balance isn't for everyone and every condition.

 

Here's a shot run through an action that I made for a buddy of mine awhile back (original was JPEG format so no RAW involved). I don't remember which CS version I was on (either 3 or 4), but all he had to do was press a button and voila.

 

[Veng]

I assume that was directed at me? I'm not interested in a 'this is the best way' conflict.

I have no interest in a conflict at all. I just wanted to dispel the myth that working in raw is difficult, or really even a different workflow.

 

As far as your 5D Mark ii, it's a very nice camera, that has the ability to do a wide range color temp. Rebels can't go to the same color temps as the pro lines. It would be nice if they could.

[Polarcollision]

I have no interest in a conflict at all. I just wanted to dispel the myth that working in raw is difficult, or really even a different workflow.

 

As far as your 5D Mark ii, it's a very nice camera, that has the ability to do a wide range color temp. Rebels can't go to the same color temps as the pro lines. It would be nice if they could.

Oh good - I'm glad it's just the text not translating. Remember the old rebel XTi? I shot with that one for a while and my experience is that the custom color feature was just as good as the mark2 for eliminating color cast. The difference is that it was manual moving of the white point on the screen--more guesswork. The 60D I gave Tim does a good job too, so it's not just the Mark2 that will get those results. No idea if the waterproof P&S has the option. Now I'm curious... The discussion makes me wonder if technique is what's holding up the performance since it *is* a bit of a pain in the ### to get the custom color set the first time without a grey card. Once it is set, you never have to change it to photograph the aquarium as long as the lights are at the same power, just select that WB profile either on camera or in RAW. Can you tell I'm over the workflow hassles and only want to spend time on the creative aspect of photography? :-)

 

That said, shooting RAW and converting to photoshop is the best workflow because it leaves the *option* to exercise a high level of control. I would not recommend shooting JPG unless the goal was high resolution snapshots.

[Veng]

That said, shooting RAW and converting to photoshop is the best workflow because it leaves the *option* to exercise a high level of control. I would not recommend shooting JPG unless the goal was high resolution snapshots.

Exactly my point.