What's Up with This?? Need some help.

Bilsen

I've had a great time playing around indoors this winter but I have noticed something I can't explain.

In this image of Reeves notice the distinct color shift between her upper body (which is correct) and her legs (which have a magenta cast). My questions are (1) Why? and (2) how do I correct it other than in PP?

Lighting setup here was:
Main light: Interfit XD strobe through my 60" Softlighter. 45° camera right and 45° up, metered at f9.0
Fill light: Interfit XD strobe bounced with a 48" softlighter, placed just camera left of the lens axis at her belly level and metered at f5.6
There was a hairlight to camera left and behind her but I don't think it has much to do with this issue.



I'd like to hear from you lighting experts on this please.

Dreadnote

Can't say for sure , but I'd say it is a combination of the "inverse square law" and blood flow. Her legs are not receiving as much light as her upper body due to the light position. To even out the light, back the light up a bit. Also prancing around half naked tends to make girls get a bit chilly. When the body is cold, blood flow starts to restrict itself to the torso. Judging from the "blotchy ness" of the leg skin color, I'd say she was cold. Keep her in a warmup suit until everything is ready to go, or turn the heat up. Nerves can also affect that sort of thing.

Bilsen

Thanks Dread. It may be she was cold BUT I've seen this in other shoots where the temp was 75° in the studio. I think I may have to either move the fill in closer to the model OR increase the power on the fill light and lose the 3:1 ratio. I'll try that this weekend.



and yet when I'm doing "show lighting" with a single main and just a hair light it doesn't seem to be there.

anonymouscuban

I think it's physiological and not a color cast issue.

zoomer

I believe if you choose the underexposed areas and bring it up then the color will even out with the properly exposed areas. Have you tried that.
And you are probably getting some shift from the mainly ambient light below and the mainly flash light above.

Bryce Wilson

zoomer wrote: »

I believe if you choose the underexposed areas and bring it up then the color will even out with the properly exposed areas. Have you tried that.
And you are probably getting some shift from the mainly ambient light below and the mainly flash light above.

+1

To avoid this get a larger light source so the temperature remains constant throughout the entire scene.

Or, you could stack two umbrellas.

Bilsen

Thanks guys. Worth a try.

BTW, there is NO ambient light. This is all strobes all the time. the light below was the 48" softlighter metered at 5.6 below the main at 9.0. It's totally me screwing up the lighting.

Alex, the temp in the studio was 75° so I have a tough time thinking she was cold.

I think this weekend I'll either move the fill light closer or bring up the power and lose the 3:1 ratio. :cry

Gotham

Underexposing is surely a likely culprit and probably at least part of the problem. Have you tested your modifiers though? It could be that you're getting a color cast from them. Try shooting a gray card with the different modifiers on each head all at the same power and also at different powers. Surely there will be some color shift at different power, but there might also be a problem with your modifiers. Also, are your walls white? Perhaps you're getting some strange color cast from the walls or ceiling which the fill is picking up since it's bouncing more than the main light.

Bilsen

Interesting thoughts Gotham. The modifiers are both softlighters and I don't always see this problem. Possibly the different power levels or distance from the subject.