Steel Drums (C&C)

divamum

As part of my continuing sequence of Shooting in Lighting from your Nightmares (!!!) I took pictures last night when my daughter's school went to a steel drums festival. The event itself was wonderful - the kids REALLY enjoy making music in this way. My daughter's school was, fwiw, the only elementary school there and they held their own extremely well against the others, most of which were high schools, one of which was spectacular!

In any case, pictures. A few of them are ok, but in general I'm feeling very frustrated, particularly with processing. The problem shooting these was no different than in any gym event, I suspect (ugly space, ugly lighting, ugly angles), but I keep feeling I should at least be able to do something more interesting and aesthetic with them afterwards. Alternatively, maybe I'm just delusional

These were shot with the 85 1.8 (I'm getting my moneysworth out of that thing already!) or the Tamron 17-50 (which is, believe it or not, generally sharper than the prime, sharp though the prime is. Guess I got lucky on a supersharp copy....). Unfortunately, the poor light meant shooting wiiiidddeee open, so focus and dof were critical; some I nailed, some I didn't. They've all had wb, exposure adjustments, curves, a bit of sharpening and NR in Lightroom; a few I've run through presets, but most I just eyeballed (greatly improved and sped up now I've figured out you can SAVE a preset from adjustments to one picture in a series and then apply the same to other photos with one click - wooohooo!)

In any case, any suggestions for better handling these kinds of conditions? I figure if I'm gonna shoot, I may as well take EVERY opp to learn from it. Thanks!

1.


2.


3. Watching from the bleachers...


4. The 60s look of this kid cracked me up so I just HAD to use bw (which also solves the wb problems - yippee!)



5. This kid is a TOTAL character - I think I have more shots of him than anybody (whoops... meant to clone out that music stand and missed it.... duly noted)


6.




7. And if I may indulge in a Mommy Moment... no, it's not the greatest picture but she's been home with tonsilitis all week - last night was her first time out of the house except to go to the doctor's, but she was a trooper and did a great job!

afev0602

This is a really fun series. What a unique opportunity your daughter is getting to participate in. On my monitor however they have a green tinge to them, especially 1 and 2. My monitor is not calibrated however.

5 is really nice, the color looks spot on to me on that one and I really like the composition.

jeffreaux2

DM....you have some serious WB issues here. They are indeed all greenish.

#4 is a great example of how I handle that when I give up on figuring it out...and might be a great option for all of these.

Sodium, or mercury vapor, or whatever they typically light gyms with is awful really...and is truely difficult lighting...both in quantity and color. My advice is....( I did this with the gym where my kids go)

If this is where your daughter goes to school you need to find a great looking WB for this building and save it as a preset in Lightroom. That is...if this...place...is one where you will frequently shoot....it will be worth your while to find the right temp and hue for the building. Move that hue slider toward magenta a bit and play with the temperature. The right white is in there somewhere!

You got some nice captures. At a given aperture your 17-50 will have more DOF than the 85mm. Get that 85mm out in some light and squeeze it down to F4 or so for a head and shoulders shot and see what happens.

I bet its sharp!

divamum

afev0602 wrote:

This is a really fun series. What a unique opportunity your daughter is getting to participate in. On my monitor however they have a green tinge to them, especially 1 and 2. My monitor is not calibrated however.

5 is really nice, the color looks spot on to me on that one and I really like the composition.

Thanks! On my calibrated monitor they look ok - a touch green perhaps, but because that was the colour it actually was I didn't try to adjust it further... more on this in response to Jeff's post below.

However, when two people tell me the same thing I can be pretty sure it's a problem so... I'll be trying to figure it out! Thanks for the comment

divamum

jeffreaux2 wrote:

DM....you have some serious WB issues here. They are indeed all greenish.

I'm now calibrated (huey), so this is confusing. I suppose there was a slight green cast IRL (gym lighting) which I didn't try to correct simply because that's what it really looked like - by which I mean I shot in auto WB then did a white balance using the LR dropper on a target white object of clothing (since I didn't have a white card or anything - may be it's time to get one of those WB lens caps). But it's not a gross colour-cast and on this calibrated monitor looks fine. Weird (and frustrating!)

HOWEVER... this is exactly the kind of processing issue that's frustrating me at the moment - in theory, I have the basic skills and equipment that this shouldn't be that far off or a "problem" and yet ... here we have it a problem Is there ever a numerical range for an accurate white balance so it can be cross-checked against that?

#4 is a great example of how I handle that when I give up on figuring it out...and might be a great option for all of these.

Oh yes... I do love my bw! Solves a myriad of woes - not just WB, but, as in this one (and in my Black Hole theater shoot the other night), it boosts the contrast and helps (IMO) solve distracting backgrounds and other issues as well. It's definitely our friend sometimes And although I don't mind tweaking those conversions myself in LR, I have some really nice presets that do a great job with one click and I can't deny that I use them!

You got some nice captures. At a given aperture your 17-50 will have more DOF than the 85mm. Get that 85mm out in some light and squeeze it down to F4 or so for a head and shoulders shot and see what happens. I bet its sharp!

It's sharp.... just not as razor sharp as that Tammy! The 85 seems prone to purple fringing as well - first lens I've ever had that did that, so learning how to tweak it in post. No big deal for the most part, I was just surprised to see it in a prime. I will say that it focuses beyond fast - very impressed with its ability to latch on, and for the most part accurately. Very glad I got talked into it. Of course, now I lust after a 135L

Thanks for the feedback, Jeff - always appreciated. This gym was actually a one-off location, but I'm sure there will be similar venues over the next 6 years, so I'll bear this thread in mind when it comes to trying to find that "right white"

jeffreaux2

The 85 F1.8 is VERY prone to purple fringing at its widest apertures and in instances where high contrasting tones meet.....like the white of a groom's collar against his black jacket. Its a great lens though.

I agree it is a fast focuser, but I believe the 17-55 F2.8 Canon is faster.

I also....tried....on various occasions to use the dropper on a white something in gymnasium photos but to no success. Your best bet is to grab a known subject....and adjust for his/her skin tones. Let everything else go where it goes. The skin....on your people has some green in it.....that is what I was pointing out.

Art Scott

A really nice mildly green series.......too bad you couldn't get an over the shoulder shot or 2 of the hands working the mallets......I have really like watching a good percussionist perform on the steel drums and the Taiko Drummers also...

Nicely done for what you had to work with.....it will get easier down the road................

divamum

Art Scott wrote:

A really nice mildly green series.......too bad you couldn't get an over the shoulder shot or 2 of the hands working the mallets......I have really like watching a good percussionist perform on the steel drums and the Taiko Drummers also...

Nicely done for what you had to work with.....it will get easier down the road................

Ok, so now that we've established that it looks green everywhere except on my calibrated monitor.... what do I do I to trust colours now??!!!????!!

Aargh. Maybe I should just go back to the point'n'shoot.... :bash (just kidding. Mostly.... :giggle)

divamum

Ok, here's a readjusted #1 is this any better? I took the wb off the white sleeve in the background, letting it go a little pinker than I originally did.



For comparison, here it is as posted above

jeffreaux2

I think that the retry is much better. Maybe a bit....small bit...cool yet, but the hues are much more pleasing.

It sucks that the eye dropper isn't a "fix-all" doesn't it ? I use it now and then.....rarely really...to get an idea of where it wants the WB to be....but mostly, I trust my eyes...and just eyeball it.

I can promise you this....

If you had been toting a shoe mounted flash....and firing it to bounce off the ceiling ( I do this in my girl's gym with a 580 ) and knock off just a little of that green ambient light in the overall exposure, then the white balance will be less of a foe.

divamum

I'd say the rework looks better than the reality - I guess the greenish tint didn't bother me because that's actually what it looked like!

Thanks all for pointing it out - one of the many reasons this forum is so very wonderful

jeffreaux2 wrote:

I can promise you this....

If you had been toting a shoe mounted flash....and firing it to bounce off the ceiling ( I do this in my girl's gym with a 580 ) and knock off just a little of that green ambient light in the overall exposure, then the white balance will be less of a foe.

Now, HOW do you get flash to bounce off one of those ceilings - isn't it too high to be useful? This was a really biiigggg space. Enlighten me (oops, pun not intended) - with 6 more years of school to go, I may as well be prepared for what's to come!!

jeffreaux2

divamum wrote:

I'd say the rework looks better than the reality - I guess the greenish tint didn't bother me because that's actually what it looked like!

Thanks all for pointing it out - one of the many reasons this forum is so very wonderful



Now, HOW do you get flash to bounce off one of those ceilings - isn't it too high to be useful? This was a really biiigggg space. Enlighten me (oops, pun not intended) - with 6 more years of school to go, I may as well be prepared for what's to come!!

You would think its too high....but it isn't. Its about 35 feet to the peak in ours. If the lights in there were off it wouldnt work, but with the lights on....its usually just enough to help knock out some of the ambient...and green.

Hackbone

Does light room have a temperature slider that you can adjust and eyeball it to where it seems more normal?

divamum

Hackbone wrote:

Does light room have a temperature slider that you can adjust and eyeball it to where it seems more normal?

Yes, but this is actually the frustration: despite my monitor being calibrated, it DID look normal to me.... or at least normal within the range of what I remember as the reality. Once y'all had pointed it out I can see a bit of a green cast, but not enough to have disturbed me before it was mentioned. If anything, it looks slightly too yellow at this end, and the rework is to the pink/magenta side.

Confused.

divamum

jeffreaux2 wrote:

You would think its too high....but it isn't. Its about 35 feet to the peak in ours. If the lights in there were off it wouldnt work, but with the lights on....its usually just enough to help knock out some of the ambient...and green.

Gotcha - I'll remember that! Thanks for the tip