Evening all,
Having spent thousands of pounds updating my cameras & lenses, I feel it was a total waste of hard earned cash, as my rejection ratio has steadily increased over the past year or so.
The main reason being 'cyan cast visible'. Now I'm not a professional photographer or photoshop guru. I have researched this 'cyan cast' on the internet, but I'm still none the wiser.
Is there anyone who could explain 'cyan cast' in lay-man terms, what causes it & how to rectify it either through initial camera settings or during the photoshop editing process?
Many thanks in advance.
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- whisperjet
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RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
May I suggest that you post some example pictures for reference. Apart from that it is important to remember that it is not necessary to invest thousands of pounds for camera equipment. Even with a basic DSLR and kit lenses it should be easily possible to have pictures accepted here.
Stefan
Stefan
Nobody is perfect - not even a perfect fool.
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
Cyan cast is a result of incorrect white balance.
To correct it in Photoshop, click on Image, Adjustments, Colour Balance.
Then move the top slider sightly towards Red until the Cyan cast is eliminated. Note that a VERY small movement should be all that is needed.
I sincerely hope that you do not measure your worth as a photographer by your acceptance ratio here. This site caters for a very narrow segment of the world of photography, with acceptance criteria that are unusual to say the least.
I also hope that you did not invest thousands of pounds just to get photos accepted here. As has been said, any DSLR with a half-decent lens can do the job.
To correct it in Photoshop, click on Image, Adjustments, Colour Balance.
Then move the top slider sightly towards Red until the Cyan cast is eliminated. Note that a VERY small movement should be all that is needed.
I sincerely hope that you do not measure your worth as a photographer by your acceptance ratio here. This site caters for a very narrow segment of the world of photography, with acceptance criteria that are unusual to say the least.
I also hope that you did not invest thousands of pounds just to get photos accepted here. As has been said, any DSLR with a half-decent lens can do the job.
Nikon D700, Nikkor 80-400, Fuji X Pro 1, Fujinon 35 f/1.4, Fujinon 18 f/2
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
Thanks Viv, any ideas how to adjust using photoshop elements 8? Can't find it anywhere!
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
| Quoting corndog69 (Thread starter): The main reason being 'cyan cast visible' |
Just a guess, but are you using a Canon DSLR? Canon set their cameras up to have a slight cyan cast as it gives a slight warmth to photos and in general, a better look. This slight cast isn't appreciated here though and needs to be removed and is probably the root of your problem. The way I get around it is to include a slight reduction in the red channel during my workflow. If you use levels as part of your workflow to correct any slight exposure imperfections and contrast, it's a 5 second extra step. Simply open levels, correct the histogram in the RGB channel then change to the red channel and reduce the centre value from 1.0 to 0.96 on a bright day, or 0.97 on a dull day. I've found this removes the slight cyan cast with Canon DSLR's. It's not something you need to do for every photo, I incude it with maybe 75% of them.
Darren
[Edited 2012-08-27 14:37:24]
Equipment: 2x Canon EOS 50D; Sigma 10-20 EX DC HSM, 50-500 EX APO DG, Canon 24-105 f/4 L, Speedlite 430EX
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- Tonyholt777
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RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
Well said
Dunno about Elements 8 but in 9 you can simply go to the color options and select color correction. It will let you select an area that is either white or light grey and should remove any color cast.
T
| Quoting viv (Reply 2): I sincerely hope that you do not measure your worth as a photographer by your acceptance ratio here. This site caters for a very narrow segment of the world of photography, with acceptance criteria that are unusual to say the least. |
Dunno about Elements 8 but in 9 you can simply go to the color options and select color correction. It will let you select an area that is either white or light grey and should remove any color cast.
T
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
Many thanks Darren, I'll try it. I can't see a difference myself, but obviously the screeners know what they're looking for. And yes, I am using Canons.
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
| Quoting corndog69 (Reply 6): I can't see a difference myself |
You'll notice the slight redness reduce if you try the above. It's only uploading here you need to worry about it.
| Quoting corndog69 (Reply 6): I am using Canons |
It's just the way they set the camera up and gives good results generally, but needs removing for here.
Darren
Equipment: 2x Canon EOS 50D; Sigma 10-20 EX DC HSM, 50-500 EX APO DG, Canon 24-105 f/4 L, Speedlite 430EX
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
| Quoting dazbo5 (Reply 4): Just a guess, but are you using a Canon DSLR? Canon set their cameras up to have a slight cyan cast as it gives a slight warmth to photos and in general, a better look. This slight cast isn't appreciated here though and needs to be removed and is probably the root of your problem. The way I get around it is to include a slight reduction in the red channel during my workflow. If you use levels as part of your workflow to correct any slight exposure imperfections and contrast, it's a 5 second extra step. Simply open levels, correct the histogram in the RGB channel then change to the red channel and reduce the centre value from 1.0 to 0.96 on a bright day, or 0.97 on a dull day. |
Wait a minute here.....Cyan is not the same as red. Cyan will give a cool cast to the photo, not a warm one.
My 50D often has a quite notable red/magenta cast. I generally get rid of it exactly how you said, but this is making the photo look MORE cyan/green, not less!
If you have a cyan cast, removing red from the photo will probably make it appear worse....
I'm watching Jeopardy. The category is worst Madonna songs. "This one from 1987 is terrible".
RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
| Quoting corndog69 (Thread starter): Having spent thousands of pounds updating my cameras & lenses, I feel it was a total waste of hard earned cash, as my rejection ratio has steadily increased over the past year or so. |
Sorry, whenever someone makes such bold statements, I have to check and see if what they're claiming is true. You've had eight rejections for cyan cast in the past year, total. That's hardly something worth getting worked up about, and definitely not worth doubting why you would spend a significant amount of money on your hobby. As well, those eight rejections came from six different screeners, over a period of many months, so there is definitely some consistency.
As the others have mentioned above, you should be able to correct it relatively easily with a simple adjustment of your color settings. I have taken the liberty of using one of your cyan rejections as an example. The right side has been adjusted to have a slightly warmer tone, something that is more acceptable for here.
If you are simply processing jpegs directly from your camera, then the settings to adjust would be in-camera; if you are importing and converting from RAW, then most likely it is the conversion settings that are the problem.
Dana
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- dendrobatid
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RE: More Rejections Than Ever Before?!
| Quoting dazbo5 (Reply 4): Canon set their cameras up to have a slight cyan cast as it gives a slight warmth to photos and in general, a better look. This slight cast isn't appreciated here though and needs to be removed and is probably the root of your problem. The way I get around it is to include a slight reduction in the red channel during my workflow. |
That is the opposite of the case. ADDING red will reduce a cyan cast. A cyan cast will give a cool feel to an image, a generally unattractive feel, especially to any skin tones whilst a slight red tone will be warmer and more pleasant to skin tone.
A cyan (blue-green) cast is very unnatural and Dana has shown the effect very well above, the sky on the left shows quite a strong cyan cast and the red is wrong on the fin too. Recognising casts is not easy when they are slight but it is important to learn to recognise a cast and how to remove it. Those of us who scan slides for instance need to recognise a magenta cast and how to neutralise it (adding green) as this is very common.
Colour casts and dealing with them is a photographic basic and whilst the main players, Canon and Nikon are a little different, the differences are the nuances of excellence. Picking up an expensive camera and lens will not make you a photographer, reading will however help with technique and this is a good place to start......
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/white-balance.htm
Mick Bajcar
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