Sun Moon Lake RGB effort

[mikemeister_admin]

I decided I really needed to work on all the images, even if I'm WAY behind.  I learned a lot on this image, even though I wasn't successful.  Greg mentioned that it wasn't easy in RGB, so I wanted to see why.  I saw why.  I think I'd take this image to Lightroom and work on it as a B&W, and see what happened, but don't have time to spend on that at this point.  One can see that there is a color cast, and as I look at the screenshot again, I probably could have worked on the green a bit more.  I got one place without a cast at 91, 91, 91, but every time I played with the green, the red would go kaplooey.  So my question:  if one has more than one color cast depending on the portion selected for hue clocks, how do you choose which color to fix--in other words, is red harder to fix, blue? or green?  Is that a dumb question?  I know your answer is: Take it to LAB, but I'd like a general answer to what to pick on if you are bouncing back and forth between casts and you can't equalize them?  I know--take it to LAB.  So then the question becomes:  how do you know which images to work on in LAB and which to work on in RGB?

Addendum:  I realized that I hadn't set a neutral point while working on this in RGB, so I went back and did so.  I couldn't find any neutral that didn't result in similar color casts.

Thanks for putting up with me!

[ggroess]

Rhonda,
I deleted a posting of yours by mistake...can you re-post the LAB version...ARGGH...My mistake.

Greg

[ggroess]

I decided I really needed to work on all the images, even if I'm WAY behind.  I learned a lot on this image, even though I wasn't successful.

I Would dispute that It's looks pretty good overall...

Greg mentioned that it wasn't easy in RGB, so I wanted to see why.  I saw why.  I think I'd take this image to Lightroom and work on it as a B&W, and see what happened, but don't have time to spend on that at this point.  One can see that there is a color cast, and as I look at the screen shot again, I probably could have worked on the green a bit more.

While there is room to work on the green a bit more the other aspects of the image are quite well handled.  You brought out the temple on the hill, you added depth to the trees on the right...And the fishing net in the boat is red...

I got one place without a cast at 91, 91, 91, but every time I played with the green, the red would go kaplooey.  So my question:  if one has more than one color cast depending on the portion selected for hue clocks, how do you choose which color to fix--in other words, is red harder to fix, blue? or green?  Is that a dumb question?

Not a dumb question at all.  When It comes to color casts in an Image I look for two things....

1) Brightness.  If the color casts have the same relative brightness then I most likely have to use a mask to block part of the image from getting the adjustment since I will have issues with setting the same brightness range in RGB to be two different neutrals.

2) Overall image color...Maybe cast makes since...Green in this im age does not so it is a problem but a nice warm color yellow or red might not be a bad thing...

Is one easier to fix than another??  I would say that it matters little as to the actual color...You could do the same thing with your monitor set to B&W if you watch the numbers in the hue clocks...The process would be the same.

  I know your answer is: Take it to LAB, but I'd like a general answer to what to pick on if you are bouncing back and forth between casts and you can't equalize them?  I know--take it to LAB.  So then the question becomes:  how do you know which images to work on in LAB and which to work on in RGB?

LAB is great for ramping up the saturation and adding overall "color" to an image.  It can be a tough color space to handle color corrections in.  Simple; single color casts; can be slapped down by a neutral in LAB but 2 colors??  Lab can only take 1 neutral....then you have to really work hard to get it done.

For this particular image a single neutral well placed in LAB will get most of the color right...because the lighting in this image and the general flatness overall the multiple neutrals in RGB can make this a tough correction.

Addendum:  I realized that I hadn't set a neutral point while working on this in RGB, so I went back and did so.  I couldn't find any neutral that didn't result in similar color casts.

Thanks for putting up with me!

You are not a problem at all Rhonda...Keep on bringing the questions...
Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Thanks for the time you took in commenting on each of my questions.  I still have trouble choosing a good neutral point.  I shopped it around quite a bit and got HUGE color differences.  Finally settled on a mid sky area.  I guess this is where taste comes in.  Since week 2's topic was in color by the numbers, I wanted to really work on managing the numbers, but found it very time consuming.  I guess if the color cast is quite minimal, then one should accept it and just modify the image to taste at that point.

So, low contrast images work better in LAB, in general? or should I say low tonal range?
I really get what you said about trying to play around with multiple neutrals in RGB--that was my whole problem!  Thanks!

[ggroess]

Well Lab only allows 1 neutral.  If the overall image has a very flat contrast curve you are going to have a problem with RGB in setting a S/H/Midtone hue clock.  They will all be in the same range.

At that point you should at least try LAB and see if you can get rid of one color cast. You can always go back to RGB later if needed after you get some of the problem fixed...

Basically Rhonda there are no hard and fast "rules" regarding this... there are general areas we can talk about but each image has it's own range.  Most of the time RGB for color correction and LAB for color boost is a good rule of thumb.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Got it!  That helps a lot.  Color by the numbers cries out "Rules! Rules" to me, so I was grasping for something to lock into.  Locking in is not a good plan for flexibility!