Mushy greens

[alexramsay]

I have a problem with the way my Nikon D3, bought in 2008, records green hues, most noticeably in grass and other vegetation. These areas, particularly expanses of grass, tend to turn into a sort of uniform mush of a rather implausible colour. I use CS3 (mac), doing most of my processing in ACR 4.6.0 with the Adobe Standard beta One profile. My monitor is properly profiled, as is my printer. Everything else looks fine, it's just this grass issue. It's only fairly recently that I've started to notice it - a change of subject matter, perhaps. Can anyone advise? Is there some upgrade I should install that might correct this?

Thanks,
Alex

[John MacLean]

I would suggest upgrading to CS5 or LR3 and getting X-Rite Passport. It creates "camera calibration" profiles that the newer ACR plugin uses, and can get several cameras/different brands to look very accurate and similar.

[Pete JF]

Why don't you download a copy of Iridient's Raw Developer.

It put's Adobe's renderings to shame..simple non-bloated program with excellent controls and output. I use it with my D300 and am always thrilled..easy to achieve very film like results. They have a demo

[bjanes]

I have a problem with the way my Nikon D3, bought in 2008, records green hues, most noticeably in grass and other vegetation. These areas, particularly expanses of grass, tend to turn into a sort of uniform mush of a rather implausible colour. I use CS3 (mac), doing most of my processing in ACR 4.6.0 with the Adobe Standard beta One profile. My monitor is properly profiled, as is my printer. Everything else looks fine, it's just this grass issue. It's only fairly recently that I've started to notice it - a change of subject matter, perhaps. Can anyone advise? Is there some upgrade I should install that might correct this?

Thanks,
Alex

Alex,

I don't know what camera profiles are available in your version of ACR, but with my D3 and the Camera Landscape profile in ACR 6.4.1 (running with CS5), the greens are quite vivid and have an appearance similar to what I used to get with Velvia. Perhaps you could make a custom profile with your existing software, but IMHO an upgrade to CS5 would be well worth the cost. Many improvements in PS and ACR have been made since CS3.

Regards,

Bill

[alexramsay]

Many thanks for all the advice - it sounds as if upgrading my photoshop is the way to go. It's the way in which it fails to distinguish between blades of grass that is the problem, somehow - shades of green that are very close just merge into one.

[hjulenissen]

What do you usefor viewing images?

-h

[alexramsay]

What do you usefor viewing images?

-h

Apple Cinema Display, regularly profiled with an EyeOne

[madmanchan]

Are you sure these greens are within the gamut of your display? You can use soft proof /gamut warning in PS to check this. If they aren't then many tones will merge into one, giving the impression of mushiness and lack of detail.

Eric