What determines the color of a photo?

Is the color or vibrancy of colors determined more by the camera body or the lens?

There are many factors involved including the camera, lens, etc.

I would say that the biggest swing factor is the glass by far.

Good glass on a cheap body will look better than cheap glass on a good body as a general rule.

Pro level glass provides superior contrast/color/sharpness.

Most modern DSLR sensors are descent with good glass in front of them.

Larger sensors (FF for example) have better dynamic range and high Iso performance though, and they are ideal if you can afford them.

The cameras ability to accurately set white balance plays a big part in the quality of the JPEG that it spits out, this is not much of a factor if you are shooting RAW though.

Hope this helps.

And here when I ask the question I was only expecting one thing that determines the color. But I should have known better. It's photography after all. lol Thanks. I'm learning something new everyday.

Sad to say -- but it's true -- for some "photographers", the biggest thing that determines the vibrancy of colors in their photos is photoshop. So regardless of your gear, learn to expose correctly in-camera.

As far as the impact that your gear has, Hoky Poke said it well. Good glass is the next most important thing after understanding light and exposure. Even the entry-level camera bodies out there today can get a correct white balance pretty easily, especially if you learn not to just leave it on automatic WB.

On another note, Canon saturates reds more -- many would say oversaturates them, though I've never had a problem with it being too extreme. Nikon tends to be similar with greens. So depending which colors you'd want to have more vibrancy, that could be a factor.

With film, if you still use it like me, the color layers determine color sensitivity When I shot auroras back in the 70`s, Kodak 400 was very red sensitive, so any red component in the display was really prominent!!!!!! Then they adjusted it down, so that kinda sucked. Now, it`s the sensors that determine color bias!!!!!!!

While there may be old or ultra-lousy, no-name lenses out there that significantly affect color in a bad way, even the cheapest modern lenses from any brand you've ever heard of, and would consider spending your hard earned money on are going to do a fine job with color.

Sensors, like color film, are BW devices so they are actually creating the color from filtered BW exposures. So the sensor or film choice has a huge influence, although most sensors and films are designed to render color in a similar way.

The lighting, the colors in the scene, exposure, and processing will affect the viewer's perception of color the most. Changes caused by variations in lenses, bodies, and film types seem subtle in comparison.

The light is a big color modifier. It has it's own color. Angle, intensity, and specular nature can all change how we perceive colors.

There are numerous optical illusions and painting tutorials available that will demonstrate how human perception of a particular color can change drastically based on other colors in the scene.

The way the photo is exposed will affect color significantly.

And then there is processing, which can be a feature of the body depending on how the photographer shoots. Obviously the color can be controlled/modified in many ways in processing for both digital and film. Add in chemical prints and you've got yet another material in the creation of the finished photo that is actually a BW process using filters to create color.

Henry Peach wrote: While there may be old or ultra-lousy, no-name lenses out there that significantly affect color in a bad way, even the cheapest modern lenses from any brand you've ever heard of, and would consider spending your hard earned money on are going to do a fine job with color.

Sensors, like color film, are BW devices so they are actually creating the color from filtered BW exposures. So the sensor or film choice has a huge influence, although most sensors and films are designed to render color in a similar way.

The lighting, the colors in the scene, exposure, and processing will affect the viewer's perception of color the most. Changes caused by variations in lenses, bodies, and film types seem subtle in comparison.

The light is a big color modifier. It has it's own color. Angle, intensity, and specular nature can all change how we perceive colors.

There are numerous optical illusions and painting tutorials available that will demonstrate how human perception of a particular color can change drastically based on other colors in the scene.

The way the photo is exposed will affect color significantly.

And then there is processing, which can be a feature of the body depending on how the photographer shoots. Obviously the color can be controlled/modified in many ways in processing for both digital and film. Add in chemical prints and you've got yet another material in the creation of the finished photo that is actually a BW process using filters to create color.

Leave it to Matt to actually understand this process! much less be able to explain it - well done.

I thought I understood color, but then I started studying it. How the human eye and mind work isn't as simple and straight forward as it may seem considering we've all be doing it (looking at color) all of our lives.

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051026082313.htm

www.lottolab.org/articles/illusionsoflight.asp

www.cs.brown.edu/courses/cs092/VA10/HTML/AlbersExplanation.html

www.pnas.org/content/97/23/12834.full

www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/color-perception.htm

hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/vision/colper.html

www.echalk.co.uk/amusements/OpticalIllus...olourPerception.html

www.naturephotographers.net/articles0809/ab0809-1.html

www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/colour_theory.shtml

www.jstor.org/pss/1419606

problemsparadoxesandalliterations.blogsp...of-color-theory.html

Google "Josef Albers" for lots of in depth articles about color in art.

Wow that's a lot of 'homework' - what are you trying to do, keep everybody up all night?! I like Albers (and Bauhaus design) but don't know his work in-depth. Now to add that to the homework assignments... Not sure I remember much from art classes beyond complementary colors!