Tips for post processing party images with heavy smoke machine

[peter_cohen]

<p>HI:</p><p>We photographed a bat mitzvah party tonight and there was an absurd amount of smoke from three smoke machines -- all night long. In addition, there was full-on club-type lighting, with digital spots, lasers, floods -- a real nightmare. The ambient was very, very dim, just to round out a perfect environment ;-)</p><p>In Lightroom, by zeroing out the highlights, bumping the contrast and playing with the exposure and shadow sliders, I am able to get decent images and created a preset to make fixing them go faster. They initially looked as if they were shot inside a cloud (see below). All the lighting was focused on the stage, so images of the guests partying were very dark.</p><p>Just wondering if anybody out there has a trick up their sleeve for processing these kinds of images other than what I outlined above. I've attached an image that represents my starting point. The adjustments noted above have not yet been applied to this image.</p><p>TIA for any suggestions. Have a relaxing holiday weekend.</p>

[peter_cohen]

Here's the image referenced above.<div></div>

[rodeo_joe1]

<p>The smoke is basically reducing contrast, a bit like getting light flare in the lens. You can see that none of the shadow areas are black, just light grey (and a bit blue too). Use the curves tool to create a layer with better contrast, by lowering the shadow part of the curve. You can then adjust the opacity locally to even out the effect - if you think it necessary - using the eraser or gradation tools.</p>

<p>I've taken the liberty of having a play, and the result is below. This was a mixture of 3 layers; original, a radial gradient mask and a curve adjustment layer. Curves were adjusted to deepen shadows and lessen blue in shadows. Radial mask was centred on head of guy being raise aloft. Blend mode was soft light.</p>

<p>This was just quick'n'dirty. With more time and a bigger file it could be a lot better. I didn't even try to completely eradicate the smoke effect, because personally I think that would just look weird.</p>

<p>BTW, getting the flash off the camera (way off), or bouncing it, would help in future. The direct flash is reflecting straight back off the smoke, which is why the centre of the image is more affected than the edges.<br>

Edit. EXIF says Auto WB, which probably explains the blue cast. Surely it would've been better to use Flash WB?</p><div></div>

[Spearhead]

<p>Move the black point. This was quick and dirty, but basically very fast in PS, could use some cleanup. I moved the black point overall, which wasn't that necessary, and then around the main subject.</p>

<p>Next time, watch for when the fog is disappearing, get closer, and wait for the separation of the closest subject and the fog. Also, ask the people running the fog machines to aim them lower for some of the photos and to just use one for a couple photos.</p><div></div>

[peter_cohen]

<p>Thanks for the suggestions ... I'll try them all in addition to the Lightroom adjustments. To respond to a couple of the points, we shot in RAW, so I'm not concerned about the WB issue. As for off-camera, the shot posted was taken with my camera mounted at the top of a fully-extended monopod to get above the crowd, moving pretty much constantly. Not sure how I can use OCF in that environment. I have used room lights in the past, but find that in a ever-changing party environment, I can't afford to always be conscious of where the lights are so as not to shoot into them. I realize that I could bounce the room lights, but my clients generally want images that reflect the atmosphere that they paid to create. It's a technique that I will continue to experiment with.</p>

<p>Jeff: these were smoke machines not fog, so they were running all night and not pulsing at all. The room is so big that there was never a break when the smoke would dissipate. Also, given the nature of the party, we had to get whats we could get when we could get it. We did get beautiful images of the room before the party started, despite the fact that the room was washed with pink accent lights.</p>

<p>Thanks again for the suggestions.</p>