Product Photoshopping - Flat & inconsistent colours

[Retrophonica]

Hi everyone

This is my first post - and I'm feeling brave as I need help and feedback (deep breath)

Okay, attached is a test photo that I mocked up for a product shot for a project I'm working on with my wife
I've got two problems that I'm looking for advice on

Firstly - This set up is lit with fluorescent light softboxes - One either side and lit above with another softbox - In my opinion it lacks punch and vibrance.
It was shot in RAW and I adjusted white balance and exposure etc via Lightroom but this was really the best I could get it

I did meter with a grey card - and used a Nikon 7100 (I was getting a blue cast in other attempts)

Secondly - looking at the image across different devices highlighted a mass of different colours and tints. On my laptop it was crisp and white and on my iPad it looked more blue and typing this now at work on an old MAC it looks beige

Ultimately this will go on a website but how can I be sure that the colours are universally correct?

Would really appreciate any help, feedback, comments

Thanks
Andy

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi, Retro - Welcome to PSG.

You're running into two major problems.

The first problem is that you obviously don't have access to any monitor whose colors you can trust. Your laptop is giving different colors from your iPad, which are different from your older Mac system. On my system, your image has an obvious greenish-yellow cast. You are rattling around trying any monitor that you can get your hands on. Don't feel bad -- everyone goes through this phase.

A simple way to unambiguously tell if there is a color cast is to use the eyedropper tool in PS on parts of your image that are supposed to be white or neutral gray. Depending on where exactly in the image I sample, I see hues ranging from around 55 degrees up to about 70 degrees (ie, yellow-green), and surprisingly strong saturation for a product like this. This measurement technique is completely independent of any shortcomings of your display system.

Anyone attempting to do product photography you absolutely *must* have a monitor that you can trust. This means a monitor that can be profiled (measured), and then calibrated (corrected) to industry specs every few weeks, or as often as needed.

Other than high end monitors that come with their own calibration system (which is what I am using), this is done using an external, third party hardware calibration system. You can get a feel for what is available by looking at this page:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/buy/Color-Management-Hardware/ci/12000/N/3806301650 .

BTW, purchasing and using one of these systems does not guarantee you that a specific monitor can be brought into good calibration. It only guarantees that its calibration will be improved by the process. For example, in the past, very, very few laptop screens could ever be brought into good calibration.


The second problem you encountered is lighting. There are two aspects to this: color fidelity and diffusion. As soon as I saw the yellow-green cast over your image, even before I read the text of your message, I thought to myself that this guy looks like he is trying to use fluorescent lights. Yes, some fluorescent lights are supposed to have high color rendering indices, but all fluorescent bulbs use mercury, and that element has a huge, narrow emission line in the green region of the spectrum. It can be partially covered up by the coatings on the inside of the tube, but some of it always gets out. My suggestion is that if you indend to be serious in your product photography, just bite the bullet and get yourself some strobes -- you'll save yourself a lot of frustration, and if you stick with this endevour, you'll do it eventually.

The second problem with your lighting is that the light in this image is way too diffuse. This is what caused your image to have such low contrast. It looks like you photographed the objects in a light tent. For almost any studio photography, you need a combination of diffuse lighting and directional lighting. My guess is if you simply moved all your softboxes back by a factor of two in distance, the flatness problem would be greatly reduced. Also, if you grid your softboxes, this will help, as well. Another suggestion is that you work up to using so many softboxes. Start with just one as your key light, and then add the others (one, at a time, at lower output levels) to fix specific shadow or other problems.

In terms of a possible post processing improvement to the image you posted, yes, some improvement can be made, but it's vastly better to get it right in-camera rather than trying to fix a sub-par image. Here's the best I could do in a few minutes. I didn't know if there were any colors in the image, so I simply turned it into a gray-scale image.

If you have more questions, don't hesitate to ask -- that's what we are here for.

Cheers,

Tom M

 

[Retrophonica]

Hi Tom

Massive thanks for your detailed reply
It was great feedback and advice:

I started by moving the lights - Yes you were bang on, they were as close as possible - I moved them away and instantly saw an improvement.

It also made me bite the bullet and subscribe to Photoshop CC 2015, and made full use of the white balance dropper which made a massive difference.

As for the different tones across devices - I don't want to sound like it's beaten me ... but right now it's beaten me. There is just so much difference between them that I just need to be happy with the final version and go from there - I'm in no position to regulate the monitor on my oldish laptop - just not worth it

One thing though - You made the image black and white which I agree makes it look how I expected it to look, however some of the shots have a colour aspect to them that means I won't be able to make them B&W - The letters in my original pic have a blue on them that would be essential to show in the photo.

Anyway - over the last week following your advice, I've been taking more photos and they are slowly getting better - when I get one I'm really pleased with I'll upload so you can see if you feel there's an improvement

Thanks again for your help - really appreciate it

Andy

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Andy - I'm glad my comments were of some use to you. Yup, I would be delighted to see any new pix that you make. Please do post them.

With respect to your using your older laptop without being calibrated to make color and tonality decisions, let me make a suggestion: You mentioned that you also have access to an iPad. If the iPad is less than 3 or 4 years old, it probably has more accurate color than any of your other devices. iPads are known for being accurate right out of the box, and have quite good quality control. I am so confident in mine that I use an iPad to show my pix to clients, and I am *very* critical about color and my reputation.

So, my suggestion is to continue to do your editing on your laptop, but always double check yourself by viewing your work on your iPad, and make whatever changes you need to make images look good there, even if this means that it looks worse on your laptop and other devices.

To be blunt, since you said that your laptop effectively told you that the picture you posted had no color cast, you've got a major problem. The picture you posted actually had a very noticeable yellow-green cast.

Cheers,

Tom M

 

[Retrophonica]

Hello Tom, hello everyone

Let me start with an apology - I've not logged in for ages and ages. Life, work and a baby has zapped me for all my time.

I really appreciated your advice Tom and since your reply I feel I have developed greatly and learnt a great deal by experimenting and tinkering - Lots of occasional swearing when things don't look as I want but I'm sure I'm not alone with that one

I absolutely love Photoshop 2015.5 and I'm so glad I took the plunge from Elements - I feel it's developed me

I promise to get more involved with the forum - Historically I have never had much joy with forums but this one has proved so helpful without patronising (which is rare)

I'll also get some more photos uploaded so you can see what I'm up to

Thanks Everyone (tail between legs)

Cheers
Andy

 

[Tom Mann]

Hi Andy - Great to hear from you again. Thanks for dropping by.

There is absolutely no need to feel like you should be embarrassed by a question such as you had. Color management and product lighting are among the most difficult topics facing a photographer. This is why big name NYC product photographers can command such large fees. Their customers are confident that these guys will always produce the best possible image of their product and give it to them in industry-standard forms that will look good for the largest number of viewers using wildly different hardware and software. Their "error rates" are astonishingly low. Someone just starting out in product photography can't possibly expect to match this.

Anyway, we would love to see what you have been working on. Don't hesitate to ask more questions. We love answering them.

All the best,

Tom M

 

[Retrophonica]

Thanks a million Tom - I've just added 3 photo albums and will get some images in there today

Thanks again

Andy