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06/20/2003 06:48:18 PM · #1 |
Hey all! I am hoping some of you studio photographers out there can help me with an issue I am encountering. I am no slouch when it comes to Photoshop, and this is the first problem I have run into in years which I have not been able to resolve.
I have been tasked with the creation and implementation of our own in-house mobile photo studio where I work. After doing some research, I purchased some mobile lighting equipment ( //www.photoalley.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10201&catalogId=10001&langId=-1&productId=4338828 ) with 40" silver reflective umbrellas and a fold-out backdrop (//www.dennymfg.com/cgi-bin/Shopper.exe?preadd=action&key=112000400&reference=/cgi-bin/Shopper.exe%3Fsearch%3Daction%26keywords%3DTwist_Flex%26searchstart%3D0%26template%3DTemplates\SearchResult.html) to go with our Canon Powershot G3 & tripod.
Now, this was great fun setting up and getting a process in place for taking and managing over 250 employee photos. But after much tinkering, I am still dissatisfied with the results of most of the photos. They are very orange/brown/murky in color right out of the camera. I have subsequently edited the photos in Photoshop before resizing them, but even after Photoshopping most of them are still very murky, particularly the background which should be fairly bright blue/white in color.
Here are the sample images & more info: //www.columbiacu.org/photosamples/samples.htm.
Thanks for the help!!
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06/20/2003 06:50:35 PM · #2 |
Quick note, if you have any suggestions on how to improve these while taking the photos, or in post-prod with Photoshop, I would be extremely grateful. Thanks again!!
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06/20/2003 06:53:09 PM · #3 |
Does your camera allow custom white-balances? Setting that might help a bit ...
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06/20/2003 07:10:00 PM · #4 |
| OK, thats one thing I haven't tried yet. Doh! Though it's set on auto, and so far that G3 has produced dead on good color, even on Auto color balance. |
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06/20/2003 10:59:29 PM · #5 |
try using image/adjust/color balance in photoshop - it's actually easier to fix such things with that than with levels.
another suggestion - get ps elements. it has an autowhite balance fixer. works pretty well.
definitely try a custom wb. something about the lights' color composition seems to be throwing the cam off. are you combining more than one type of light source? i.e. sun + lighting, or lighting + flourescent?
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06/21/2003 02:04:41 AM · #6 |
Thanks Mag. I had also tried various combinations of Auto Color, Auto Contrast (which of all the 'Auto' tools usually works pretty well) and Auto Levels, and fading applications of those tools to various degrees, all with limited success. Didn't try color balance, so I'll give that a shot.
Yes, there is kind of a mix of lighting. Mostly a pair of 600w studio lights, with additional ambient lighting coming from a few ceiling flourescent lights, and even some natual lighting streaming in from a large office window some distance back. So it's a bit of a mixed bag. I'ddefinitely like to get the shots as accurate as possible right out of the camera so I dont have to do all this postprod.
Since we're on the topic, any other suggestions for studio portrait photography that anyone would like to share? I'm still figuring out the nuances of this style of photography, and it's interesting how much goes into taking a good portrait. When I first pitched this whole thing to my work, I told them basically "hey, it's not rocket science - get a few lights, a backdrop and a tripod - badda bing we got a studio!" Well, it may not be rocket science, but it is turing out to be a little more involved than intially anticipated... |
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06/21/2003 05:21:30 AM · #7 |
im with franziska and mag--my first thought in looking at the pics was the white balance. looks almost like it was set on cloudy or indoor to get those orangish colors (a lot of times i use the tungsten setting inside). after reading your last post, my next suggestion is to either turn off the overhead flourescents or cover the window, or both. it seems like you are getting too many different temperatures (like mag said) for the camera to deal with. im never a big fan of using flourescent lighting for portraiture anyway--it seems to detract more than enhance skin tones. halogen lighting is great, as well as incandescent. but i'd try and keep it roughly in the same temperature family so you can get an accurate white balance. i usually use either a grey card, or even a white piece of paper to WB in a studio setting--when photographing people. gordon has a great tutorial somewhere on different color cards--and their effect on your white balance. i rarely ever use the auto color in PS--makes colors murkier, i think. honestly, the better (for what its worth!) i get with my exposures, the more find the auto settings to work less--better to use curves and manually adjust contrast and levels. another idea for orangish skin is to slightly desaturate to get a more natural tone.
finally, until (or even when!) you start to get an idea of which lighting set-ups work the best for you---shoot in raw mode--then you can see the pic and adjust the WB before you convert them to tiff.
oh yeah, for really cool backgrounds, get some gel filters to place in front of your lights--they rock.
Message edited by author 2003-06-21 05:28:05.
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