How am I washing out all of my blues?

JayzunBoget

Arachnobaron
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Jun 26, 2007
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331
I am working with the in house photographer to take some pictures of our tarantulas.
He has a set up that is meant to take pictures of products. I'm not a photographer, so I don't know what gear he is specifically using.
The platform is white. The lights are bright but on the cool end of the spectrum. They have big, white nylon things on them.
We have taken pictures of several species and had them come out fantastic.
What we can't seem to do is catch any iridescent blue.
That metallica is beautiful in her habitat. All of the iridescence that you would expect from the species.
What are we doing wrong? Do I need less light? Is the spectrum too cool? I would really love some advice, if anyone has some to give.
Following are some other failed attempts to capture blue.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
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Dec 8, 2006
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17,851
Not enough info for me, the data embedded in all digital images would be needed here.

Knowing the specific details of the gear is useful. “Nylon things” NOT helpful.

Metallica looks too dark, last pic looks washed out by flash
 

Hardus nameous

Yes, but only on Tuesdays!
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Feb 24, 2018
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274
I'd bet the nylon things are soft boxes.
Could it be a white balance issue?
Maybe also an issue with the direction the light is coming from.
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
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Aug 8, 2005
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11,047
What are the light spectrums and kelvin?
I've got a friend who does professional photography for magazines and catalogues. On many occasions I heard her rant about getting the colors correct, especially the skin of models. In her words, "Keeping the skin tones from looking like a moldy corpse is a (expletives deleted) nightmare!"
(Apparently models with decidedly different skin tones and shades in bright colored garments are a living hell for those shutter pushers.)
 
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basin79

ArachnoGod
Active Member
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Sep 14, 2013
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5,893
Editing, editing, editing.

Shoot manual. Choose the F stop you want and then adjust the shutter speed to get the light right. Flash and a diffuser will also help. Then post edit things to get them just right.

A good free editor is snapseed. That's what I used for a long time. Lightroom classic does cost but it's incredible and I don't even know how to use it properly (light gradients/graphs whatever they're called).
E12707A4-568B-41C4-AB85-FCA9F140D7EE.jpeg 07E706FC-628E-4B4F-8BB7-70837D0A0637.jpeg
DED4DB37-5CE9-4DA1-A0B9-26D205039A13.jpeg
 

The Snark

Dumpster Fire of the Gods
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I just got word from a pro phographer. Washed out colors are most commonly caused by the way digital cameras compute White Balance. This often varies from one make of camera to others and even different makes of the same name brand camera. Her words, "Nearly all digital cameras make this computation. An electronic version of IMHO. With some, you are stuck with WYSIWYG. With a few there is a way to over ride the white balance. All professional camera require the white balance to be set manually. Notice the difference between what you see in the viewfinder and the image recorded. That difference is the white balance averaging."
 
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