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[OM] Re: E-1 Portrait Settings

Subject: [OM] Re: E-1 Portrait Settings
From: Moose <olymoose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 13 Apr 2005 02:44:36 -0700
AG Schnozz wrote:

>A question for the experienced E-1 folks:
>  
>
OK, so I'm answering anyway.

>.............
>
>When using either of the above configurations with adobe
>colorspace everything turns quite gray and dismal. 
>
The instructions for the 300D are very explicit about the Adobe RGB 
setting, "This is used mainly for commercial printing. Since the image 
will look very subdued, image processing will be required. This setting 
is not recommended for users who do not know about  image processing and 
Adobe RGB." Obviously they have had lots of complaints about "gray and 
dismal". Now I know you know lots about image processing and Adobe, but 
here it sounds like you are trying to get good results right out of the 
camera.

>(almost a cyan cast) 
>
The Adobe color space is really quite different than sRGB. Please excuse 
the sample camera, but it wasn't in the review of the E-1 
<http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos300d/page11.asp>. See the 
bottom of the page. There is no change in the yellow/red border, but 
more range from green right around to red, going well beyond the sample 
subject.

>I've normally used adobe colorspace for my
>portraiture, but these settings are so far out as to be
>completely unworkable. However, any pinkish characteristics in
>the skintones neutralize and I get closer to my "peaches and
>cream" look of Portra NC, but everything else just goes flat as
>a pancake and if I'm not careful, give people that formaldahyde
>cast.
>  
>
Have you tried changing the color temp for Adobe? In PS CS RAW 
conversion, one may simply move a slider and watch what happens "live". 
Maybe WB that's right for sRGB isn't right for Adobe RGB?

I shoot RAW and convert to Adobe. The result is usually pretty flat, 
sort of like Portra NC on a flat day. Local contrast enhancement and a 
bit of curves generally brings things up.

>Basically, what I'm seeing in the sRBG colorspace is quite close
>to what I'm trying to achieve, except that the skin is just a
>hair on the pink side.  I'm seeking my Portra 160NC look, but
>I'm getting more of a Fuji NPS look with pinker skin. When
>setting the contrast to "0" the look is more like Portra VC or
>Fuji NPC with even more red skin.
>
>So, my specific questions are:
>1. How do I reduce the pink skin tones without losing "punch"?
>  
>
Have you tried a custom WB setting? Or fine tuning the preset WB 
settings? Dpreview said of the E-1 that it's WB Kelvin settings didn't 
agree with their their measured studio lights:


        "White Balance Fine Tuning

You can also fine tune each of the preset white balance settings by a 
value of -7 (warmer; red) to +7 (cooler; blue). As you can see from the 
samples below the preset 3000 K was best tuned to '-7' for our studio 
lamps (which is a bit odd because they have a measured WB of 3000 K)." 
You can see their samples (and download larger images) here 
<http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/olympuse1/page16.asp>.

>2. What's up with the colorspace?
>  
>
As above, it's quite different. I've also wondered how that plays into 
response curves. Maybe the mappings have inherently different curves.

>3. Any other settings I should try?
>  
>
Just becasue they say CM4 is for portrait doesn't mean it's right for 
your portraits. Have you tried CM2 and 3?

Just for a lark, I might try lowering contrast and raising sharpness and 
saturation in different combos. I can't even explain my rational. In 
fact, I'd probably sit down with any RAW converter that allows live 
preview and play with the parameter sliders a lot. Whatever workd best 
can then be made a custom setting in the camera.

>I can live with the first listed setup, but I'd like just a bit
>more horsepower in the non-skin colors.  We're not talking
>anything really wrong, with any of the setups, as it's pretty
>much nuance, here. (except for the adobe colorspace).
>
>One option that I'm considering is throwing some color
>filteration on the flash and adjusting the WB to counteract
>that. This would put the skin where I want it and possibly punch
>the colors up.
>  
>
How about putting a very slight warming filter on the lens, making a 
custom WB, then removing the filter? That should fool the camera into 
sightly stronger cooling, and might take the red down just that little bit.

Moose - just spitballing here....


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