my skys are not blue

[imported_julie]

I wonder if any one can help me. I have a nikon D70s and I am finding that my skys are often too cyan. Never noticed it before but now I am using curvemeister, and getting fussy with colours, it very obvious. Is there something I am doing that is causing this and does any one have any ideas for correcting this while I am taking the photo rather than in curvemeister. Mostly I can fix it but it can be very fiddly and sometimes I just cannot make it right no matter what I try.

Julie

[ggroess]

any filters in the way??
What about white balance changes on the camera?? Check the daylight white balance and see if you have bumped it a bit...the Auto white balance feature should make this a snap.

Greg

[mikemeister_admin]

Maybe that's because skies are NOT blue. They really ARE more cyan. Photographers and artists have been forcing skies to be blue for a long time, but mostly they are cyan. OK, I don't know how cyan your skies are though.

Greg's points are very good. Beyond that are you using any fixed, known colors in your picture to later pin accurately with Curvemeister? I've overworked this issue for years now. I use the SpyderCube to get my colors accurate. I hold it in my scene. Then I pin the highs, lows, and neutrals from it in CM. If you are doing the things that Greg says plus something like SpyderCube, you should get spot-on accurate colors.

Clyde

[imported_ganna]

To add my 2c worth. Do you calibrate your computer screen?

[imported_julie]

Thankyou everyone

I really want to say how good it is to be able to ask anything and no-one says 'hey stupid why don't you know that'.

So in answer

Greg

I often have a UV filter on
I usually have white balance o auto unless I am inside and know the lighting. The setting on the camera in auto is 0.

Clyde
we are really talking cyan here. 1830-1845 on the hue clock. Its not pretty. I know that this may sound stupid but what do you do with your Spyder cube in the finished photo? Do you place it where it wont be noticed or crop it out later?

Ganna
The answer is no. Cant figure out how to. But I am buying a new screen soon and it comes with a service that will set everything up for me and show me how to maintain it.

looking forwad to any more tips
thanks Julie

[ggroess]

Some quick and dirty answers....

Spyder cube:  You shoot one shot with the cube and shoot again without.  Use the cube image to set the SHN values and then save the curve as an ACV file.  You can then apply the ACV to the second image.  You can also just use the "Ctrl-F" keystroke in Photoshop to re-apply the last filter action.

Screen calibration:  Too many tools to discuss here in a short response...fast answer...find an image with a known Gray, a gray square or color checker image and then use CM to set a neutral on that image.  If after a known neutral is set to neutral and the color looks off visually then you probably have a calibration issue.  A new screen will come with it's own calibration issues.  How does the image print??

Julie:  Please post an image so we can see the color you are having trouble with.

Greg

[imported_julie]

Greg
thanks for the time. I miss not being in a curvemeister class and plan to do one in the second half of the year to hone the skills I have now. I have to do another unit of a post grad certificate this semester so no time until July.

Here is a photo that shows my problem. Its not one that I would even bother editing but it does show what I mean.

julie

[ggroess]

I can see why this is bothering you...
Are you processing the image in Camera Raw before getting to PS or are you shooting JPEG's? 
If you make a setting change in Camera Raw it tends to stick around as the default.  verify your Camera Raw Settings. 

Do you have the latest converter for the Nikon NEF files?

Do you have the latest version of ACR?

In Shot 2 you see the gelnco sky pin so that you can see a reference color for the sky.  In shot 3 you can see my settings to get your sky back to the range of the Glenco sky pin.  I did a bit more to bring the yellows back to the bricks and I upped the saturation slider a bit after the color was better....

Greg

[imported_julie]

Greg

sorry to be taking so much of your time. I can see you are running another class. I just shoot in JPEG. I have been promising myself that I will try camera raw but i feel like i am already on a fairly steep learning curve with CM and my new CS3.

I don't know what a converter for Nikon NEF files is and therefore probably don't have it.I also don't know what ACR is and so I probably don't have that either.

See what I mean about the steep learning curve!Since you bothered to correct this I have also made an attempt. I think there is too much yellow in the bricks but maybe I can get away with it. It was good to see your curves. I think I have become a little less adventurous without assignments to push me.

Julie

[ggroess]

If you are shooting in JPEG the NEF and ACR questions are pretty much a moot point.

NEF is the file extension for Nikon RAW files.  Nikon has a Codec to translate the NEF files to somethig windows can read.  ACR is Adobe Camera Raw.  It is a converter program that converts the RAW files for use in PS or other editing software.

How much JPEG compression are you using? 

Have you made any adjustments to the Nikon settings for color "warmth"?  Does the D70 have multiple program modes? 
For instance my D200 has multiple shooting modes that I can configure for specific situations and then I just have to choose the mode I want.  If you have moved off of the regular shooting mode onto one of these profiles you might be getting some color adjustment. 

Your numbers are not that far off but they are far enough that you could look at making some changes to get your basic images back to something a bit more normal. 

Greg