Color Matching

exemplaria · Dec 11, 2012

We did a project where we took weekly photos of our daughter. We put her in a white onesie each week and took a picture against a different fabric background. I learned a lot about photography and lighting through this process, so unfortunately some of what I know now wasn't available to me at the beginning. I also had to work this project around my life, which means doing pictures in a variety of locations with different lighting, conditions, etc. We're actually extremely happy with how it came out - it's not 100% complete yet, but if you're interested I'll post the 52 picture composite image when it's done.

My question here is about the first and last week's photo. We did these on the same fabric sample to give perspective. However, due to lighting conditions, photographer knowledge and camera settings, in hindsight they came out looking much different. How can I get these backgrounds closer to the same color? I don't really care about the "actual" color, so I'm fine if 1 matches 52 or if 52 is made to match 1. I tried some PS adjustments but didn't get far. I'm not concerned with the skin tone matching - it actually shouldn't match as a newborn doesn't have same skin tone as a one year old, especially ours who is awesome and had a killer tan at the end of the summer.

Week 1 by exemplaria, on Flickr

Week 52 by exemplaria, on Flickr

dhris · Dec 12, 2012

I think with a project like this, there is a fair amount of latitude about this kind of detail--Ie., I think it will be cool regardless.

If this was my project and I wanted fairly similar color balance I'd choose a light source (pure flash or pure outdoor ambient via window), shoot in RAW, and place a white balance card in the scene, and shoot a few shots at least one of which has that card in the scene). I'd then eyedrop that white balance card while processing the RAW.

Fixing white balance of a .jpg after the fact for a photo shot with different lighting would be a chore.