Friday, June 10, 2011

The Color Purple

How can I capture purple a lot more realistically?  In the garden I have several plants that are various shades of purple.  Lobelia?  Forget it.  It always gets so washed out.  I just can’t figure out what the problem could be.  A Nikon  D90 is being used with no flash.  The sun is setting in the examples provided below.  Settings for each photo are provided.

Black Knight Butterfly Bush is practically black.  Whenever I take a photo, the color seems to fade or brighten.  It’s just not the blackish-purple that you can see in person.DSC_2255_6611

F stop f/56
Exposure time 1/50 sec
ISO speed ISO-3200
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 55 mm
Maximum aperture 5

Although my butterfly bush photo is similar to others I’ve seen while researching the topic, that doesn’t make me feel any better.  It simply means I have company with this problem.  (Note:  Farmer MacGregor is not posing for The Nursery at Ty Ty.)

image

Lavender is really stumping me.  It completely washes out no matter what time of day the photo is taken.  Too blue.  It’s as if the images are Photo Shopped too heavily.  Too processed.  None of my photos are touched up but what you see is a bit different than what you get.DSC_2266_6619

F stop f/56
Exposure time 1/15 sec
ISO speed ISO-3200
Exposure bias 0 step
Focal length 55 mm
Maximum aperture 5

 

Not only do I want to conquer this hurdle to correctly capture the color purple in the garden, I want to conquer this hurdle before the plums and grapes ripen.  The Santa Rosa plums are more red than purple – so are the Red Flame grapes.  Purple zinnias will be planted soon.

image

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

3 comments:

Lo said...

Wow.....that last photo you posted (was it a zinnia?) sure as hell looks purple to me. Of course I am half blind so what do I know.....

but I used to be an artist so I had some sense of color....not sure what you are pining for.

Can't help with camera settings but I love your phot6os. Hope you can get what you want.

Green Zebra Market Garden said...

I have a lot of trouble photographing red and orange flowers. They always turn out like glowing orbs with no definition.

Jean Campbell said...

Does camera angle make a difference? I know it does when photographing camellias.