Sunny day photos from the Canon S95 in Positive color mode

Southern Fancy

I’m still experimenting with Positive color mode on my Canon PowerShot S95. Last time I experimented the skies were cloudy. So when I got some rare bright sun one recent Sunday afternoon, I took the S95 into downtown Zionsville. Above and below: a colorful Grumman van, at 50mm and 35mm, respectively.

Southern Fancy

Given that my goal is easy digital shooting, I’m happy to report that these photos needed minimal processing. Like last time, I used Lens Profile on each photo to correct barrel distortion. Man, I wish the S95 did a better job of it in the camera. But this time I got smart and created a macro that does the job in one click.

Noble Order

I also chose to tone down the highlights in a couple of these photos, as the S95 didn’t navigate strong contrast as well as I would have liked. If I had shot RAW, I could probably have rescued those highlights even more. But then I would not have gotten these great colors. At the moment, I think I made a fair trade.

Huffy

The bicycle amuses me. It’s been here so long that the chain has gone rusty.

Bench and Steps

I didn’t have a lot of time; I was on my way somewhere. So I just made some quick snaps of anything colorful.

Wine Shop

Positive color mode does saturate the reds.

Red Vans

I like this enough that I think I’m going to make it my default setting. I look forward to taking my first road trip with the S95 set this way. The colors and details are good, and the post-processing is minimal. I’ll love both the first time I come back from the road with 400 photos to sort through.


Comments

14 responses to “Sunny day photos from the Canon S95 in Positive color mode”

  1. Sam Avatar

    Great shot Jim! Always love those funky vans!! 😊

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Yes, those vans are great! They’re all getting second lives as the millennials use them for their businesses.

      1. Sam Avatar

        They all seem to be becoming ice cream or food trucks!!

  2. bodegabayf2 Avatar

    Looks like you’ve got the little Canon fine tuned. I like the color output now.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      Thanks – I appreciate the feedback. The color and clarity is going to work great for my road-trip and documentary work. I feel like this camera just got a new lease on life!

      I should next experiment with it for family shots. I don’t know how it handles skin tone.

  3. Dan James Avatar

    You’ve got to be pretty happy with these Jim, especially given the minimal post processing required. I reckon it’s made your little Canon even more indispensable.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I am. Where I have criticisms of these shots they can probably be explained by the limitations of the smallish sensor.

      1. Dan James Avatar

        What criticisms specifically, I’m curious?

        Yes we can’t have it all, and I don’t mind using a small sensor, for the benefits of the compact size. I just have to watch out for blown highlights, but sometimes, especially with b/w, I like that anyway. You just embrace the characteristics of the sensor/camera and try to find ways to bring the best out of it.

        1. Jim Grey Avatar

          Loss of detail in strong highlights and deep shadows. A little purple fringing in low light. That kind of thing. The K10D doesn’t have these problems at all.

        2. Dan James Avatar

          Jim this is really interesting because it shows how different people look for different characteristics. I love the Ricoh GRD III and Pentax Q for b/w because the way I have them set up I strive for thick inky blacks and clean whites. I specifically don’t want any detail in my shadows, I want them to be black!

          The purple fringing too becomes a non-issue with b/w, and even with colour it’s not something I ever think about. Maybe lots of my photos have this and I’ve never noticed!

  4. Bill Bussell Avatar
    Bill Bussell

    Excellent for a camera I think you wrote was a gift. I need to check if my P&S has that feature. I think one building you have photographed was a Savings & Loan branch where I would sometimes take my payment book for stamping. One time they told me they had no loans on any house in Indianapolis. I told them they did in fact hold the Mortgage on my house.

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      The building with the bicycle? It had to have been a bank at one time because there’s a depository drawer on the building’s exterior.

  5. Anish Avatar
    Anish

    For high contrast scenes, have you tried the DR correction setting? Thank you for sharing the photos. I will try this :)

    1. Jim Grey Avatar

      I have not tried the DR setting. I want to find that one setup that works for the majority of photos because changing settings through menus for one specific situation is painful enough that I won’t do it.

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