MANAGING COLOUR

EXERCISE

Managing colour.

Take two or three images that require colour correction

USE SOFTWARE OF CHOICE

RAINY DAY LONDON

Rainy/overcast day

f13 1/40SEC

white balance preset to dark skies

RAW IMAGE

I was shooting images in Trafalgar square, just after a rain storm.

I wanted the capture the reflections, caused by the heavy rain

flooding the paving slabs.

I spotted this tourist taking pictures of the National Portrait gallery.

I really like the final composition of this image, but feel the 

colour tones need to be improved. 

original raw image no alteration

The overcast skies meant that the colour tones would have a blue

hue, due to the camera seeing the light as cool. The kelvin reading

is 5450, which is just below the daylight setting of 5500k

If I had shot the image with WB set to cloudy the camera

would want to add warmth to the image so the filter would

add red to the image

raw converter white balance altered to cloudy.

I think that the warmer image doesn't look right as the colour tones

of the stone walls look incorrect, and are too red. The kelvin reading

is 6500k

I therefore wish to process the image from the original white balance

setting.

final processed image

 PROCESSING NOTES.

I firstly adjusted the levels as the image was too dark

I did this in two ways. I adjusted the curve into the 

light zone of the curve to give a general lightness

I then added light via a change in the white levels of the

image.

I then wanted to improve the colour tone of the image

I used the colour balance tool in photoshop and 

added some additional blue into the image. I think 

the tone of the raw image has a slight yellow/green 

hue.  I only added a small level of blue.

I wanted to make this hue more intense so via saturation

alteration in photoshop I increased the saturation of the

blue tones only.

Finally I added some contrast to the image to 

improve the definition of tone.

I think the colour tones of the final image looks correct.

I processed the raw image via photoshop, using its suggested tonal,

contrast and colour settings.

The variations are as follows

Photoshop has added more blue than I did. I think the final hue

looks too blue, and the grey tones of the shiny slabs are too

blue. 

The second variations is that the image has less contrast and

some additional clarity, which means that the image is more 

dramatic and darker than my processed image.

I prefer my final image as I think the tones and hues are 

more 

BRIDE AND GROOM CANDID IMAGE

daylight lighting
shaded with natural light.

f4.5 1/100s
white balance setting auto
RAW IMAGE

I assisted a wedding photographer at a local wedding and took
this candid shot of the bride and groom.

The photograph was taken in a shaded barn, and natural light was
falling on to the subjects from a open doors behind me.



original raw image

I set white balance to Auto for this wedding as we were shooting
in a variation of lighting conditions.  The image kelvin reading in the
raw conversion in Photoshop is 4650k which is very "blue" or cool
so the whites have been captured in the image as blue rather than
the white tone of the brides dress. Also the skin tones are
 grey and washed out which are incorrect.

preset white balance setting shade raw conversion

I altered the white balance in photoshop by changing it to Shade
setting. This has a preset kelvin reading of 7500k.
The image is much warmer and the white tone has improved from
the original image. I am unhappy with the skin tones as I feel they
are too yellow/red and I therefore would like to custom the WB
setting in Raw conversion which has a lower kelvin reading than
the shaded preset value.

custom white balance

I choose the kelvin setting of 7000k which is slightly cooler
and bluer than the preset photoshop value.

The white tones on the dress and veil are slightly greyer than
the warmer image. I think that via photoshop processing
I can improve the colour tones and have less issue with
the final skin tone colours than the warmer image, where
the skin tones are too yellow and when they are made lighter
I think will look too artificial.

final image

I am happy with the final image as I believe the final skin tones
and veil are correct for colour and the overall tone of the image
is right. I think that the correct setting for white balance at the time
of taking this image should have been at daylight setting, which would
have made the original Raw image warmer than that of the image shot
at auto. Daylight kelvin reading is 5500k.

the above image is the lighter version of the photograph converted to
white balance setting of shade in photoshop. The skin tones
are warmer but the veil and dress have a pink hue which I
think looks incorrect..

Jersey seascape

daylight, bright sun
polazing filter
iso 200
f 4.5
1/640s
wb auto

My third image was taken with the use to a polarizer filter and
I set the white balance to the available light.


The image has a green Hue, I think an affect of the filter which
was set too much to green and I should have moved it to
the

The image below is raw and I have not corrected in photoshop
when converting it from raw.

processing notes

I was happy with the contrast and light levels on this image

but needed to adjust the colour tones. I adjusted this in

photoshop by adding blue . I then reduced the cyan levels

and added some magenta tones.

final image

As you can see the final image is a true representation

of the colour tones more associated with a seascape.

The colour is more intensive as I did take this image

using a polarizing filter.

Conclusion

This exercise has demonstrated that colour can be managed

via reprocessing image in photoshop. I think it is still important

the image colour tones are captured correct at source. This 

can be achieved by making sure that white balance is adjusted

to the available lighting conditions.  As demonstrated in the 

wedding image. It is often difficult to adjust white balance

when you are shooting in varied lighting conditions on 

one day. It is therefore easier to adjust white balance and

tone in photoshop.

I