Dull blues

[SierraMtns]

I use PSE 3 plus Power Tools plug-ins. I am having a problem geting finished blues to be as vivid as my RAW shots. When I convert the RAW to JPEG the blues are dull compared to the RAW images. I have tried Adjust Hue/Saturation, Curves, etc., but still they often remain dull. I have also tried, after converting to JPEG, doing no post processing. This doesn´t help either. Any suggestions?

[Swampy]

What color mode are you using when you bring the HPG into PSE? They will appear duller if you are in CMYK (If PSE allows CMYK).

[Richard_Lynch]

Vivid reds, blues and greens are where print colors often end a little lack luster. This will often be attributable to simple CMYK conversion: your print inks simply do not have the range of a monitor. Some things that will improve results are using extended color range printers (those with more inks), better paper, and to some extent, color management. Other problems can be bad calibration, bad profiling...

Have you tried printing to photo-process prints using a lab? That may tell you whether it is your workflow and process, or simply the inability of inks to satisfy your images. Can you post an image so I can have a look?

[manta1900]

Post the JPEG to try correcting the colors!
A nice opportunity to test my AutoWhiteBalance filter.

[Kraellin]

sierramtns,

welcome to RP.

from what i've read here on RP, there seems to be more than one RAW format. i think some companies are using a proprietary RAW and calling it RAW. so, we'd need to know what camera you're using and what program you're using to convert with.

also, check your .jpg settings and make sure you havent got compression turned way up. you'd lose some data in that.

and richard would know much better than i what settings would be best to use if you're using pse3 to do the conversions.

you might also try some other programs to do the conversion. i know there are some out there. maybe irfanview or one of the HP programs. that, if nothing else, could narrow down where the problem is occurring.

craig

[SierraMtns]

After trying various things I think I have finally solved my "dull blue" problem. For starters I shoot in RAW. I use Adobe RGB color space. I tried using Richard´s "Basic Color Correction" tool. With this plus judicious use of Hue/Saturation Correction (if needed) and Curves I seem to get Blues that are as nice as my RAW shots. I am still a PSE 3 plus Power Tools novice. I do a lot of experimenting and still have a lot to learn.

Thanks for all the answers everyone.

[Richard_Lynch]

There may be another haunt here. I re-read this thread from the beginning...and see you shoot in RAW with Adobe RGB -- which I was suspicious of in the first post. If you have the wrong color settings (in this case, dropping the profile), then you will get flatter images. Making corrections is a bandaid if that is the problem--you could start with better color by handling the profiles correctly. What is the Color Settings choice you have? You may see some immediate improvement with a different one.

[SierraMtns]

I don´t know what you mean by "dropping the profile", or "Color Settings choice". Sorry, but I really am a novice at this. I am trying all this in Spain at the moment. I have your Power Tools book, plus 3 other books on PSE3 at my home base in the US. Unfortunately I didn´t bring them with me. I will try to search around in PSE3 to see if I can get some info on Profiles and Color Settings.

[Richard_Lynch]

Take a screen shot of your color settings and post that here. it doesn't do any good to work with advanced processing if the cornerstones of managing color are incorrect.