Sunday 30 January 2011

DPP Exercise 13 - Managing Colour



The top image shows a strong yellow/orange cast presumably from tungsten lighting.

I first tried using the White Balance options in the raw converter choosing the 'Tungsten' setting. Although this got rid of the colour cast it created a very 'cold' image that looked unnatural. I then went for the White Balance tool and clicked on a neutral point. Again the colour cast was removed it was still a 'cold' image. Finally I tried the 'Auto' setting and this gave the best image.

The second image is the result of the changes including adjustment in contrast, reducing the image size and sharpening. For some reason the picture above has an apparent blue cast that is not present in the picture on my computer. I am not sure why this is the case because my screen has been calibrated in the last few days and provides an accurate colour range.



The top image shows a strong red/yellow cast that is a product of the ambient lighting and a red painted wall to the left of the picture (not visible) that bounced its colour into the image.

As it was a combination of two colours I searched for and found a neutral point in the image and used that with the White Balance tool. The result was satisfactory although I did increase the temperature of the image very slightly. I then transferred the image to Photoshop and carried out the changes to allow me to post the image on the Web.

Managing colour is a very necessary skill and although the tools available in the the raw converter and Photoshop will give a reasonably accurate result I have found that it takes a deal of time. Recently I have used either a White Balance Card or a colour checker to give me a target that I can use with confidence. I prefer the colour checker as this provides a camera profile that can be used to adjust all images that were taken in the same lighting conditions. 






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