To what extent can colour temperature be corrected when printing?

[jdapayne]

I shot some night time scenes recently, of cars and roads etc. I

didn't bother thinking about colour temperature, as I was under

the impression that a lab can easily correct for differences, and I

am sure that this is true for small differences from daylight.

 

My prints have come out, however, very orangey, and look quite

horrible. Now is this completely the lab's fault, or is

compensation still needed in the case of very big variations from

daylight temp?

[les_de_moss1]

Johnathan- This has little to do with your lab and much to do with incompatable film and lighting. This situation is no different than if you had placed an orange filter on your lens, shot some daylight photo's, developed your film, and got orange prints back... you get what you give in this instance.

 

That said, some degree of correction can be made in the printing of these negatives. As a practical matter though, the result will never be anywhere close to that of properly exposed film. The tones will be monochromatic and lack color distinction.

 

Hope this helps!

[jdapayne]

So then I should use a cooling filter with indoor photos without

flash, as well as other situations with more yellowy lights?

[les_de_moss1]

Yes, you can filter or shoot tungsten film (which is balanced for tungston light sources)

[richard_cochran]

The lab can very easily adjust one color, even for color balance

that's way, way, way out of bounds. Problem is, the

other colors tend to come along for the ride. If the lighting

is only a little off, adjusting something that was originally

white or light grey to look nice and neutral in the print

will usually make everything look fairly natural. However,

if the lighting was way off, the different layers of the film

will undergo highlight compression at different rates, so adjusting

for a neutral mid-grey will leave the bright whites a funny color,

while adjusting for a neutral bright white will leave darker mid greys

colored wrong.

<p>

For nighttime shooting, I'll guess you were shooting under

sodium vapor lamps or some other type of lamp that has a discontinuous

spectrum. Film reacts to these lights very differently than our eyes

do, and the results are nearly always unnatural looking. Filtration

can lessen the problem a little, but it won't eliminate it.

<p>

You can point to an orangy area of one of your bad prints, and ask

the lab to make that orange part look neutral grey. They should

be able to do it, but other parts of the photo may come out

looking strange.

[imaginator]

Night scenes are tricky because of what Richard mentioned: the odd color spectrum of some artificial lights (sodium, mercury are really bad and can't be corrected... there are missing parts of the spectrum that can't be "created" from something that's not there to begin with) Also, you need to do two things: 1. look at your negatives! (learn to recognize good exposures) 2. Expect to have the prints adjusted for density and color (within reason) The dark areas of many night shots cuase the automated machines to make the prints too light so an increase (+) of density if needed. Tungsten lights (like common incandescent bulbs) aren't so bad, and can be corrected with filter or by lab, but better to just use tungsten balanced film instead (remember that filters reduce the light so longer exposure is needed... I don't use filters at night except occassional polarized (for moonlit scenes, like you would use one in sunlight) Different films give different color reactions (especially witn loooooong exposures) and also something like a sodium lamp can look anywhere from red to orange to bright yellow, depending on the exposure. If I have time later, I'll post some examples.

[gary_a._hill]

You haven't indicated what kind of lab you used. If your color temperature is mismatched, you can expect bad results from your average photo lab, but a custom color printer can fix it, at a price. I have done this for particular photos which were worth it, but for good results from routine printing, you should control for color temperature.

[michael_looney]

Likewise, I shot some outdoor portraits this weekend with Porta 160NC in late afternoon and the clouds rolled in just in time to muddy up the color. Did not have a warming filter handy. Can a custom color lab correct the color temperature for cloudy sky with acceptable results? I suppose I could scan the negs and adjust color in photoshop. Any feedback?