--3-- Cleaning up the colours: How to take better pictures with your Sony Mavica FD-7 Digital Camera

Reds you'll quickly discover are tricky for this camera. These tomatoes I fixed with adjusting the hue (+7) and reducing the saturation (-10). I further cleaned up the reds by adding more (+7) red and yellow on all the levels (highlights, midtones, and shadows) in the colour balance dialogue box.

Configuring your settings

Flowers are great subjects for photographers. They're colourful, they hardly move and don't complain that you're taking too long. Getting the colours right is another problem though, especially with digital cameras. For the most part the Sony Mavica does an admirable job and I've hardly had to colour correct my shots. Except for red. It almost always comes out pinkish as shown with the obvious example at left

Another trick is getting the over all contrast right. I've found the best results (and often truest colours) come with pictures having medium to low contrast. Overcast days are the best. If it is a bright sunny day, and the object is small, place yourself in front of the sun to cast a shadow over the object. Then crop your photo as tight as possible and you will get all the details otherwise lost in the harsh sunlight.

I've also found dramatic changes in colour depending on the angle you shoot your subject at. If, for example, you, the sun and the object are all lined up you will get flatter colours than if you have the sun shining off from one side.

Here's a trick that always works for me: hold your arm straight our in front of you and flatten your palm as if you were going to stop traffic. Now spin around your centre and watch the light fall on the back of your hand. You will get a more dramatic photo if the sun is shining over one of your shoulders rather than in front or behind you. If all else fails, people will think you're dancing.

get the right angle

TIP #3: Clean up the levels
Photo #1: Original This is the original wedding wreath taken indoors with a skylight above	Photo #2: Levels Setting For this adjustment I only used the Image Adjust.. Levels and dragged the middle grey triangle to the left where the largest average (highest peak) was.	Photo #3: Curves Settings Image Adjust.. Curves gives you a little more control to specify which range of light and dark you want to change. In that way it is similar to using the "soft light" layering technique.	Adjust Palette: I usually always start with the Levels setting before all others to get an over all adjustment. Adjust Curves: The curves dialogue gives you a little more control on which ranges you want to change. For greater contrast, turn the curve to a gentle "S". For less contrast, try and inverted "S".
TIP #4: Watch your light source
Photo #1: Sun behind my back Here I used my body to shade the flowers for an overall evening of the colours.	Photo #2: Intermediate light Same flowers from a different direction. This time the light was a little more direct, but still diffused from passing pedestrians. The close up shot removed unnecessary surrounding scenery and light.	Photo #3: Direct light In this case the sun was shining directly on the flowers greatly enhancing the contrast and range of colours. Also, standing back a little brought in more of the surrounding ambient light not directly related to the flowers.