Is there a "better" way to do this?

[Greg M]

With Photoshop there are so many ways to accomplish the same thing,

but sometimes I get stuck in a few functions or simply do not know all

the possibilities.

 

I have about 20 images like the attached picture from a wedding from

this weekend. In most cases I was dealing with one light source-

either my flash or the tungsten based lighting of the cathedral, but

in around 20 flash pictures where I set my abient light exposure to

reveal the background detail I wound up with a situation like this. My

way to deal with this is to process the RAW file twice with one using

the Tunsten WB setting, then layer the two on top of each other and,

using a Layer Mask, paint out the areas in the image where the

yellowish tungsten lighting came through, but I am having some

problems around the edges of the couple and cannot get the corrected

image to look "right".

 

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how to correct an image like this

that I just don't know about in Photoshop?

 

Thanks.<div></div>

[sheldonnalos]

I think you're on the right track as to how to fix it. You may not even need to process the RAW file twice to accomplish it.

 

My 5 minute take on it is to take the image into Photoshop, create a duplicate layer, and then use the magic wand to select the couple. If you shift-click with the magic wand, you can make cumulative selections (i.e. you can leave the wand set to a low tolerance figure and keep clicking on areas until you have the entire couple selected). Once you have the couple's rough outline selected then you just create a layer mask - it will automatically input the selection as a mask. Then you can just paint in any white/black areas with the paintbrush. It will take a little work at 200% to get a perfect outline, but it's not too much trouble.

 

Then I just use the color balance tools to cool down the background (add cyan/blue) and slightly warm the forground (add yellow/red). You don't need to make it entirely perfect, just less distracting.

 

In the future, one thing you can do is to put an orange gel on your flash to warm the output of your light to match the tungsten background. Then when you white balance the RAW file, you are able to cool both the foreground and background simultaneously. I think Stofen even sells a yellow/orangish Omnibounce diffuser for this purpose.

 

Hope this helps!

 

Sheldon<div></div>

[frank_dzambic]

Another quick and easy way you can try is to create a new layer, fill it with a colour of your choice (maybe sample a colour from the background of your photo), then adjust the opacity of that new layer. Basically, it overlays a "colour cast" over everything in the layer beneath it (your picture), and helps everything blend together. Not sure how convincing that will be on your picture though as I'm not at home to try it.

[ivan_dzo]

Create the two colour corrected images and overlay them. Put on a layer mask and use the gradient tool to feather it just above their heads. Keep changing the length of gradient til it looks right. I find this works well with landscapes with foreground in sun and background under clouds and therefor blue light. Normally looks natural, much more so than cutting out the couple.

[lex_jenkins]

For future reference, use an appropriate filter on the flash to help minimize the need for color correction during post processing. There are filters readily available to balance flash against tungsten and fluorescents.

[stephen_lutz]

I suppose selecting the couple (feather it at about 20 pixels), then invert the selection and then apply a curve adjustment and set the white eyedropper on the tablecloth would do it. It would be a good approximation, anyway. Once you get it the way you want it, I believe you can do a color correction to the whole batch, using the color corrected one as a guide.

[meisaki]

Go to Image-Adjustments-Variations-Saturation, set dial to fine and click on less saturation a couple of times.

[sc21]

Nice shot. I can see why you want to get these just right.

 

I'm new to CS, but one thing you might want to rry is select the couple, with a feathered edge, and then Invert Selection and use either the Replace Color or Hue/Saturation Adjustment Layer - Yellow to select a section of the yellow wall with an eyedropper and then tone that particular color down.

[john_houghton]

I would create the two layers as you suggest and then create a layer mask from one channel of the images. Select the most suitable channel for converting to the required silhouette. Increase the contrast of the mask and use painting tools to create a good b&w image, then blur the mask very slightly to avoid a hard edge. This should work quite well.

 

John