histogram with flash part2-COLOR

This is a follow up post to my previous question "histogram with flash". I used your advice

in a test shoot.

 

I was trying to get the exposure just right in the camera (d100) using fill flash (sunpak

555). I feel pretty good about the results and I was hoping it would solve my post color

processing problem.

 

In ACR I changed the WB to flash (5500), shadows to 10, contrast to +30, and left

saturation at 0. Then I opened the image and using "threshold" I selected the whitest and

blackest points. Then in "curves" I used the white eyedropper on the whitest point and it

changed the image very little. I did the same with the black eyedropper and the image

looked green. I then used curves and selected green channel only to reduce the green

hue. Then I used curves again in the rgb channel to increase the exposure a little and add

contrast.

 

It's still not right to me. What do you think? What steps should I take for good color?????

 

Thanks in advance!<div></div>

One question comes to mind: Is your monitor accurately calibrated and profiled?

The problem with using flash outdoor(in the evening, or early morning), or in a large indoor environment is that you will get mixed lighting. If you white balance for your flash, and take a formal shot in a church with lots of incandescent lighting you will get a very orangy background, unless you use the proper flash gel. So in essence you're really trying to color balance two scenes. The subject which caught the flash, and the background ambient light, probably around 7000k. You can compromise and pick something in the middle, or spend hours, masking and color balancing to get both parts correct.

 

I find that I don't need to do any color correct past ACR, the more you get used to using the WB Dropper in ACR the better you will get. It just takes practice.<div></div>

this is a cut and paste from a responce i made with Todd F. a few days ago on how to set up the preferences for curves. but i wonder why you, and many other w&e regulars, post here and not the digital darkroom, or the aplicable forums, were there is a more knowledgeable demographic?

 

Curves for colour correction and adjustment;

 

1)Open an image and open curves.

 

2)The stock preferences in PS doesn't do the best they can do so I changed mine as per Scott Kelby. So...

 

3)Double click on the black eye dropper, the one on the bottom left. A second dialog box will appear with "Colour Picker" as the title. Under R,G and B enter the values respectively, R=20, G=20, B=20 and click 'okay'

 

4)Then we go to the highlight eye dropper, the far right and double click. Again the colour picker dialogue box appears and for R,G, and B we enter R=244, G=244, and B=244 and click 'okay' . 5)Now we go to the middle eye dropper, the midtones. And again double click on the middle eye dropper and for R,G,andB, we enter R=133, G=133, and B=133 and click 'okay'.

 

6)Now hit "okay" in the main curves dialogue box and another box will appear asking to saving for preferences. We want to say yes.

 

7)Now the easy part. Go back to image/adjustment/curves to reopen your curves box and click on the black eye dropper once. Find what you think is the darkest part of the photo and click. There are other methods to find the darkest and be more precise, but that's another day. So click around in the blacks. Then click on the white's eye dropper, the far right one and do the same thing for the lightest parts of the photo. You'll start to see improvements now in both exposure and colour cast removal. Then onto the middle eye dropper and click around in the photo on what you may feel is the middle value of grey.

 

8)And Bob's your uncle.

I forgot half my post in Word...

 

William, try setting the WB in ACR to 5100, tint +15, contrast +8, and then brightness around +115, then adjsut the exposure, then finally fiddle with the contrast and shadow to taste. I find this stating point, with wb and tint, on proper fill flash shots like yours, a good place to start.

Ellis- I calibrated my monitor thru preferences in Mac???

 

Stephen - Very nice correction. thanks! To be honest, I've never used the WB eyedropper

in ACR. I'll look into this but can you offer direction on how best to use it?

 

Eric - I appreciate your reply. Actually, I read it earlier and did just what you

suggested for the photo you see here. (pls see my steps above - I got a green hue when I

did the black point.) Is that what you do for all of your photos and it works everytime?

 

I'm lost as to why I can't get good color without major adjustments. It just takes too much

time to be worth it. Are my steps above what the pros do???

to us the WB eyedropper in ACR all you have to do is click ono something that should be a nuetral grey. I find that it works best on something around 5-10% grey. Like a shadow on a white wedding dress. This is way to get a good starting point, I then adjust the temp and tint sliders until it looks right. Like I said, the more you do it, the better you'll get.

 

"...is that what the pro's do?"

 

put 10 "pros" in a room together and all you're going to get is ten different ways to color correct an image.

Eric- Thanks for the extra info.

 

I'm trying it now but my brightness tool in ACR can only go to 100 and at that it's really

washed out. Am I not getting it or was that a miss print?

William not too worry, easy fix. All I did was corrected the contrast and fixed the hue/sat.

Here is the final product.<div></div>

When using the eye droppers, you can't just select the "whitest and blackest points". You have to pick points that are supposed to be white and black, because that's what the dropper will force the points to. If you really want a neutral color balance, put a grey card in the scene and use the mid tone grey dropper on it. Remember that you may not want a neutral balance. If the light was warm (early morning / late afternoon) you'll want to retain the warm cast. If there is nothing neutral in the scene, you need a properly calibrated monitor and then correct by eye.

Ellis- I calibrated my monitor thru preferences in Mac???

 

William, if you want to get serious about color management, it can't be done with software calibration. You have to use a colorimeter like GB Eye-one or Monaco OptixXR. And then remember to frequently recalibrate your monitor. You can't set it and forget it.

Bruce - That's a great idea. In the case of shooting at a wedding (non-posed shots)

outside where the light changes from shade to sunlight, do you shoot the card in all the

lighting. Do you do this regularly?

 

I don't understand calibrating my monitor unless I'm printing. My understanding is that

when I adjust an image on my screen it may not print the same at my lab unless my

monitor is calibrated to the lab. As it stands now, I can't seem to get the color right even

on my screen, before it ever gets to the lab. Can calibration software help me?

William,

 

I assume you ultimately want to display you pictures in some hard format, whether you print them yourself or send them to a lab. If all you want to do is look at them on your monitor, you're probably right that calibration doesn't matter. But I doubt that's the case so good color management always starts with a properly calibrated monitor. The rest, whatever solution you land on, flows from there.

 

Paul