Tuesday, February 23, 2010

In-Camera color editing


Can be done!


Here, take a peek...

Photograph with my trusty AF-S 24-70, WB at 2500ºK, set with the WB in camera. Cannot recall the ISO, but must have been nicely high (like 3000 or so).


Exact same photograph, but with the color cast corrected... in the body! No PS used in either shot.

Now, let's get to the procedure.

Here I would post photographs of my camera menus and you'd be able to see them just as I do, but since I only have ONE functional digital camera (the other, a small Panasonic, was purchased only to photograph eBay bait), my dear readers will have to contend with my prose.

  • Now, turn on your camera.
  • Push the Menu button.
  • Go to the Retouch Menu.
  • Select "Color Balance" and then click OK.
  • The camera will take you to your shots, stored in the card.
  • Select the one with a cast problem.
  • Click OK and you will see a screen showing the preview on the top right, with a quadrant and a pointer in the lower right side of the screen. You can move the pointer 0r cursor with the multidirectional button or with your commands; at the same time you move the cursor over a color area, you can see the changes this makes on the photograph (however small the view). Once you have reached the tone you can live with, click OK again...

Presto!

Another way is to view the photo in your screen, and click OK. This will take you to a menu that includes D-Lighting, Red-Eye Correction, Trim, Monochrome, Filter Effects and Color Correction. Select Color Correction, and it'll take you to the screen with the color quadrant and the image preview.

Try it... and move it to your personal list of most-often used functions, aka "My Menu." Once you've done it often enough, you won't need to correct color in PS again... or at least you won't have to wait until downloading it.

3 comments:

Francisco Solares-Larrave said...

I must add that these photographs have not been edited any further... even though they need it (a bit of levels, perhaps, or lowering the brightness, which is a little high). However, the outcome demands less guess-work (on my part, I'm no Photoshop expert), and makes the task of downloading, sorting and editing a bit quicker.

Michael Alan Bielat said...

I like that tip there! Never used the in-camera stuff to edit my pics but I do see the value in it now. Great post buddy!

I hope things are well.

Francisco Solares-Larrave said...

Thanks for the nice comment, Michael. I just found out about this feature by playing with the menus... and trying it out with a photograph I won't post. Why? It just doesn't show the effect of what you can do... nothing else.