Recreate the rich depth of colour

Hi there, first time poster so please excuse me if I do something wrong.
Trying to edit this sony raw file (new camera) and whilst I don’t want to create the same as the in camera jpg I would like to reproduce the rich depth of colour in the squirrel seen in the JPG. Everything I try just makes the Squirrel too red.

Thanks
Angela
This file is licensed [Creative Commons, By-Attribution, Share-Alike
DSC00947.ARW (20.1 MB)

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Lovely photograph!
A quick play in GIMP. Increased the saturation in those areas of medium saturation.
Probably overdone!

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DSC00947.ARW.xmp (20,5 KB)

My version…

DSC00947.ARW.xmp (20,5 KB)

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DSC00947.ARW.xmp (24.1 KB)

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DSC00947.ARW.arp (12.7 KB)

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DSC00947.ARW.xmp (11.1 KB)

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Thanks Tim
I’ve used your settings and my colours are a lot better now. I notice you switch off the colour calibration module. I thought we were to use this in Darktable for white balance? Having said that I couldn’t get a good white balance in the colour calibration module - anything I tried made the whole image too warm. Turning it off solved my problem.

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Thanks David
A tad overdone. I haven’t got to grips with GIMP yet - am using Darktable

My try using RT 5.11 dev.
I mainly used -0.5 EV exposure correction and DR compression for the burnt parts. White Balance was Temperature Correllation, as this gave the most pleasing colours for me.


DSC00947_RT-1.jpg.out.pp3 (15.8 KB)

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DSC00947.ARW.xmp (23.7 KB)

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A second attempt:


DSC00947.ARW.xmp (22,5 KB)

alternatively taking the feeding station? out of focus:


DSC00947.ARW.xmp (30,3 KB)

Yes, sometimes I feel that the “As Shot” selection gives the best white balance. I interpret it as “the white balance that the camera saw”.

My take:


DSC00947.ARW.xmp (50.0 KB)

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Technically using CC isn’t a true white balance… it’s end result is to try and represent scene neutral using a CAT instead of set white with simple multipliers…This often does look a bit extra dull or off from what wb would give but it is intended that or it’s generally necessary to use CB to restore or drive the image hues and saturation. Often the two approaches are fairly similar but other times you can see a considerable difference

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Pardon the purple splodges …

If you are aware of them why don’t you eliminate them?
If you use dt or RT I can help you, just tell me, if help is wanted.

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The main point of the edit was to show the squirrel only, not all the distracting stuff in the surroundings. So I left them in as being irrelevant to the main point of the edit. For the same reasoning, I did nothing with the harsh shadows on the animal’s back caused by the lighting.

Thank you for the kind offer.


DSC00947.ARW.xmp (11.2 KB)

HQR off for export

HQR on