Red flame-out

It depends on your screen Algi, all I can tell you is that all the brightness values of the reds are less than 255. Therefore, you can assume it's an example that I'm happy with.

This is an interesting thread and has prompted some very useful information. My recommendation when shooting red flowers is to take several test images and review them before you decide on your final settings.

Also it can be useful to try different angles on the shot as the back ground can make a huge difference to the required exposure setting and what you want the final image to look right. Quite often I prefer to have either a dark background (referred to by Nigel when he mentioned under-exposure), or if the background isn't dark I prefer isolation of the main subject, i.e. without lots of unwanted detail to clutter the shot and distract from the subject. This means I am thinking about not just the exposure, but very much about the angle I'm taking the shot from, to ensure there is a reasonable distance between the subject and anything behind it, i.e. enough to blur out anything else and make it a smooth background. I take the same approach whenever possible when photographing wild birds.

Getting back to the exposure question, as John pointed out early in the thread, the lighting conditions are also critical. Bright, but overcast days are the best, also rainy days can produce really good results, but bright sunshine is a difficult prospect, unless you want the 'black background' result, which is often very nice but which requires a lot more thought about composition to make it effective.

Hope the above provides some useful input.

Regards
David

You can't exceed 255, but it doesn't matter because you will be out of gamut with anything over about 225.

Look at the selection palette on any editor/drawing program. You can move the selector about quite a bit the numbers change, but the red you see in the section box stays the same i.e. 225 65 55 looks identical to 255 65 55

Example Zoner Colour Picker a big area of red looks the same even though the values are different.




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Without straying too much from the point, whether or not we can see a difference will depend upon the monitor. There are now monitors that can encompass virtually the whole Adobe colour space, which would have been impossible a few years ago. I use sRGB, which keeps the gamut fairly close to what the best IPS monitors can show.

I think we've all made a few useful comments in this thread about handling colours, hopefully that's been useful.

I didn't know this, Algi. Then perhaps the colours aren't blown out at all and if the file were to be printed they'd probably look O.K. Interesting.

Printers are rarely able to print even as much as the monitor can display especially reds. Most programs such as PS have Soft Proofing which shows on screen any colours outside of the printer colour space...... See .......

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/soft-proofing.htm

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More thanks to you all for the helpful comments and suggestions - I'll try to bear them in mind in future.....on one proviso, i.e. IF I'm able !

I make this comment as circumstances in 'The Real World' don't always allow us to shoot under ideal lighting conditions or from the perfect angle.

The Dahlia was one such example - it was in the garden at Nuffield Place (NT) and family commitments meant I had to use the ambient light AT THAT TIME, also, the position of this particular dahlia in the flower bed meant my angle of view was limited to a few degrees either way and I could not get to the far side without trampling over the flower bed !

Another aspect is that when taking shots of varied nature on visits to NT etc it is not always practical to keep changing camera settings (the family get upset enough with all my 'hanging around' !) I tend therefore to make a decision on a general setting for that particular day and only make minor adjustments to shutter speed and/or aperture.

These are not meant to be excuses, just to point out that amateur photographers sometimes have to take what comes ! That is why I like digital photography and the ability to make adjustments in PSE etc.

Meanwhile I am extremely grateful for all your help and will TRY to incorporate the suggestions whenever the situation arises (if I remember, of course !)

Thanks again
Peter