White balance question??? not sure???

[jenny_benson]

<p>I'm trying to figure out why the faces in my pictures are too bright. I try to change the saturation and temperature....and I don't get very good results. Is this something that I can change on the image while it's still on my camera before I upload it? When I decrease the exposure it makes everything in the background look way too dark. THank for your time! jen<br>

<a href="http://infaith.smugmug.com/Photography/hensle/HENSLEYFAM16/701304669_wULRM-L.jpg">http://infaith.smugmug.com/Photography/hensle/HENSLEYFAM16/701304669_wULRM-L.jpg</a></p>

[alan_olander1664878205]

<p>Dark shaded background, dark attire, light skin......contrast range is too much to get it all correct. If you shoot RAW, you have the best chance of capturing it all.</p>

[phule]

<p>The problem has nothing to do with white balance or saturation. This is an exposure issue.</p>

<p>The problem is that your camera saw the dark clothes and dark background and exposed for it. Which means your highlights are being overexposed.</p>

<p>As Alan points out, shooting RAW could help. <br>

You could recover information from the highlights assuming they're not completely blown out. (The in-camera processing of the JPG file likely lost a lot of the information in the highlights.) Alternatively (but still shooting RAW) you can properly expose for the faces (reducing your exposure) and then bring up the detail in the shadows. This will introduce noise into those shadow areas.</p>

 

[howard_m]

<p>this isn't a WB issue. It's way over-saturated, too contrasty and under-exposed although I think most of the issues stem from your choice of post-processing settings.</p>

<p>if you have some Photoshop skills, you could do some dodge/burn and/or layer blending w/ modes & masks.</p>

[JAPster]

<p>Before you take the pictures, check the lighting on the scene, and mentally evaluate what type it is. IE, is it 'sunny', or 'shady', or 'cloudy', or 'flash', or 'flourescent', or 'bulb', etc, etc. Then try to set the camera WB to match it. You can also use something like an Expodisk to create a custom white balance greytone image and use it to set a custom white balance that will match that particular scene in that particular lighting. This helps you get best possible color hues when you capture the image.</p>

<p>In addition, your camera meter might be having a problem with the faces because of the strong contrast between the light faces and the dark shirts, blue jeans, and background. Scenes with high-contrast can fool the meter causing it to come up with incorrect setting. Next time, you may want to try braketing the shot, taking a couple of shots at 1 & 2 stops below the "correct" meter reading and 1 & 2 stops above the "correct" reading. This is one type of exposure compensation for high-contrasty subjects.</p>

<p>On my web browser screen, all the skin of all the people is the same basic hue. That does not look natural to me. Perhaps its the result of some of your post-processing done already.</p>

<p>Also, it would help if you can tell us what type camera, lens, and settings you were using when you took the picture. That might help explain something.</p>

<p>Also, if you could upload a copy of the original picture file as it came off the camera, that would help as a baseline starting point. (the process of uploading it to smugmug may have altered it.)</p>

[mfophotos]

<p>It would have been better if you had them not all wearing such dark colors against a dark bacground. The contrast between the two is a lot, and as noted above, its not a WB issue, its an exposure issue.</p>

[vick_vickery]

<p>In a scene like this, take your exposure reading off of the skin only and note the exposure the camera picks, then back up to the taking position and take the picture with the same settings.</p>

[dhhensler]

<p>Agree with previous posters, seems this is more an exposure issue than it is white balance. The lesson reading many Pnet forums has taught me is always expose to the right, you can recover the shadows later, but don't blow the highlights. At least I hope I got that right! Cheers!</p>

[jenny_benson]

<p>Thank yall so so much!</p>

[kristi_lynes]

<p>If you have subjects in dark clothing with a dark background and light faces - would it help at all to bring up the ISO?</p>