What is wrong?

[veekay]

Hi Guys,
This is the image of my c.violacea 'Muse' and was taken on second day of opening of the flower.
I am confused with colour of the image because true colour is brilliant lavender, taken early morning which was not bright.
I have used a prime lens (aperture priority method) can some body comment on the image please?
veekay

[tucker85]

I think that's a beautiful photograph! You should be happy with it. Some colors in nature can be very tricky to photograph. Also the pictures will look different depending on what kind of computer screen you have.

[veekay]

Originally Posted by tucker85

I think that's a beautiful photograph! You should be happy with it. Some colors in nature can be very tricky to photograph. Also the pictures will look different depending on what kind of computer screen you have.

Thanks I am posting the image of day one.
regards
veekay

[Bud]

There is nothing wrong with your flower. Its just a matter of exposure to brighter light and higher temperatures are factors in the shade of color in blooms.

[tcrane]

Would be color temperature in the camera, your image processing software, the balance of your monitor, or all three. Color fidelity can be very tricky.

-Tristan

[Gage]

Blue tones are notoriously difficult to capture. I would just edit the pic on your computer to make the colors accurate.

[silken]

How is you white balance set? If it was taken outdoors in bright sunlight it should be changed to that or to flash if you used flash etc. You can set it to auto white balance but it doesn't always get it right. And as others said, pinks and purples in particular are hard to get true colour but it should be close. You may need to do a colour or hue or white balance adjustment in photo editing if the camera can't get it right on its own.

[catwalker808]

Silken is right to suggest that you check your white balance. Depending on your camera ... Nikon, for example, says: automatic, daylight, flourescent, incandescent, cloudy, etc. But these guides may not always produce the correct white balance. Use them as a guide, then shoot & compare colors with the real thing. You may have to switch to another white balance to get the right color under different light conditions.

I am assuming that you are using automatic through the lens metering. Looking at your photo, I think your problem is overexposure, Your meter is reading & giving the wrong exposure. If your camera is set at center focus (to focus in the middle), it is focusing on the flower's dark lip & telling your camera to provide more light, thus overexposing the brighter (lighter) petals, making them look washed out.

If you instead point at the lighter petals or halfway on the light petals & dark lip, your camera will get a better reading. But you want the flower centered. So you point at the desired spot to get the correct reading, then press your shutter halfway down (before it clicks) & hold it there. Then shift the camera to center the flower. You will get the right exposure & the right composition.

[Tindomul]

Last week with my Nikon D40, I just coulnt get the lavendar-purplish colours that my tillandsia cyanea had. The whole thing was either a neon blue (for the petals) or red (for the stalk).
catwalker, I tried different methods of photographing the flowers but the best blues I got also showed washed out petals, now with your advice I am ready to try again. Thanks!

[silken]

I agree with catwalker808. Some of the leaves look over-exposed. But they do look a rather true green, so over-exposure may be part of your problem. If you have an over-all dark flower you could also use the camera in manual mode and under expose slightly or use exposure compensation set to something like -3 or -7 for starters. Or expose on a medium bright area of the background and then re-compose as explained by catwalketr808