Warning: The paint inside a dig tent can mess up artifact color in photos

Last season in Arizona I noticed my photos of pottery sherds looked WAY different when I processed them later. The reds and oranges were totally washed out. It took me three days to realize the cheap blue tarp we used for shade was reflecting a blue tint onto everything. I switched to a neutral gray tarp and the colors matched what I saw in person. Has anyone else dealt with weird color shifts from field gear?

3 comments

3 Comments

aaron88011d ago

Call me crazy but I feel like this gets blown out of proportion sometimes. I've been using a random blue tarp for years and my photos look fine as long as I tweak the white balance in post. It takes like 10 seconds to fix in Lightroom. Not saying it's impossible to get color shifts but most people's eyes aren't calibrated enough to notice the difference anyway.

linda_reed11d ago

Honestly, aaron880 saying "most people's eyes aren't calibrated enough to notice" is kind of missing the point. I read a study last year about how even small color shifts mess with archaeometric analysis, like trying to match paint pigments or identify different clay sources. It's not just about what looks okay to a human eye, it's about keeping the data consistent for comparison later. Tweaking white balance in post can fix some things, sure, but if you're documenting subtle color differences across hundreds of artifacts, that 10 second fix introduces your own bias into every shot. Plus, digital sensors pick up reflections way more than our eyes do, especially with cheap tarps. Ngl, I'd rather use a gray tarp and not have to second-guess my processing later.

evan54312d ago

The blue tarp thing is REAL - totally ruined my best shots of a whole site last summer.