Bad Wedding Lighting

Dmanning · February 23, 2008

I was recently a second photographer at a wedding and had the "joy" of being in quite the hideously lighted church, IMHO. As you can see we have a massive string of lights at the bride and groom, and in the foreground we have open windows letting in a decent amount of light.

What techinque should be used to compensate for multiple color temps in a single frame post and or pre processing?

I've been using photoshop for 10+ years but I've never come across this situation. Any tricks and tips are greatly appreciated.

-D Manning

Travis · February 23, 2008

Multiple light temp sources create a nearly impossible correction task. I would select the focal point and its dominating color temp as the basis for the image. In the case of the photo that you provided, I would concentrate on the bride/groom as my point for color balance. It will throw the pews out of balance. Depending on how bad, you can try burning in those areas which should minimize the noticeable color shift while also bringing the viewers focus to the real subject. Good luck!

DonRicklin · February 23, 2008

I'm no PScs Guru, but could not something be one with layers. Using ACR or LR, do two copies. One with WB for the Foreground and one with WB for where the B&G are. The do a sort of HDR composite with Layers and Masking.

One might just get away with something like that.

Don

pathfinder · February 23, 2008

B&W anyone?

I think you have to go with the WB for the bride and groom.

I was only half kidding about B&W though

DonRicklin · February 23, 2008

pathfinder wrote:

B&W anyone?

I think you have to go with the WB for the bride and groom.

I was only half kidding about B&W though

You don't think a bi-WB layered and masked option would work?

Don

pathfinder · February 23, 2008

Yes I think it could be done, but it will probably need to be done in a frame by frame workflow. Varying color balance, and varying mask for each frame.

For a wedding shooter with hundreds of frames, that is going to be a very large task, isn't it? I can see that would work for a few frames, but for a large number of images, it will be a very large editing task.

DonRicklin · February 23, 2008

pathfinder wrote:

Yes I think it could be done, but it will probably need to be done in a frame by frame workflow. Varying color balance, and varying mask for each frame.

For a wedding shooter with hundreds of frames, that is going to be a very large task, isn't it? I can see that would work for a few frames, but for a large number of images, it will be a very large editing task.

For sure, but might be worth it for the one or two top shots where everything else clicks and you realy want the best out of the image(s).

Also an answer that could be applied to someone elses single otherwise 'ruined' image.

Don

mmroden · February 23, 2008

First, I'd crop out the ceiling. That large white expanse of ceiling tile does nothing to add to the magic of the event.

Could you do something with the hue/saturation tool, maybe dropping the blue color's saturation a bit, so at least it's not so severe?

Nikolai · February 23, 2008

First of all, my sincere consollations.

Second, I kinda think this is a very easy case. daylight is one place, light string far away..
Simply few adjustment layers with a masks will do...
HTH

PS It's just a quick concept, one easily can go ballistic on this...

ChatKat · February 23, 2008

In Camera!
I know it's too late now - the event is past.
This is what the 70-200 2.8 is would have made the difference!
When you are in this situation, you need to shoot with the right equipment so that you don't have to do as much post processing.

Nikolai wrote:

First of all, my sincere consollations.
Second, I kinda think this is a very easy case. daylight is one place, light string far away..
Simply few adjustment layers with a masks will do...
HTH

PS It's just a quick concept, one easily can go ballistic on this...

Dmanning · February 23, 2008

Thanks for all the tips. I typically over analyze/complicate every situation. I have tried a few combinations but I haven't got the image looking the way I want. I plan on posting it when I get done.

Chatkat - I agree about the 70-200 2.8. But I just wasn't feeling it. My thought is that when I get my second camera body I will keep the 24-70 on one and the 70-200 on the other. I noticed that the main photographer was using a 50 1.4f and a 10-22 efs. I've seen his work before and felt it was better than most but I thought this was an intersting combination.

mmroden - I thought the ceiling was beautiful, does it not strike you the same? Ok, of course that's sarcasm. Yes the ceiling must go.
-DManning

SavedByZero · February 23, 2008

Your

Mine, cropped dead space, color selected the wall and adjusted, isolated the seated guests and adjusted.

That looks better to me but my monitor may be wacked.

RalphAdam · February 26, 2008

A suggestion
Dan Margulis's great book, The Canyon Conundrum--The LAB Color Space will show you how to color correct mixed-lighting images. Also, he has a video demonstration on the Kelby Training site of the NAPP site. Check it out ... the images CAN be saved!

Dmanning wrote:

I was recently a second photographer at a wedding and had the "joy" of being in quite the hideously lighted church, IMHO. As you can see we have a massive string of lights at the bride and groom, and in the foreground we have open windows letting in a decent amount of light.

What techinque should be used to compensate for multiple color temps in a single frame post and or pre processing?

I've been using photoshop for 10+ years but I've never come across this situation. Any tricks and tips are greatly appreciated.

-D Manning

Bad Wedding Lighting

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