Help with extreme lighting?

[linadollyy]

Hey guys! So I'm completely new to the forum and I decided to come here because I recently encountered some extreme lighting situations. I tend to shoot more concerts rather than studio/landscape photography and one job in particular had my lighting situation really messed up. The lighting was extremely red/orange and I usually use Lightroom and Photoshop to fix it, but this one was a bit out of my reach! if anyone has some suggestions for how to edit these extreme red/orange hues, it would be very helpful! Thank you!

(the first pic is when i tried to fix it and the second is the raw untouched image
note: they are not full size & theyre just screencaps of the image)

 

[Derrel]

The raw image looks better to me, more theatrical, more stage-y. I'm not sure that "correcting away" the stage lighting effects is the right way to approach these types of shots...it's a lot like correcting the white balance on a sunset shot, and getting rid of all that pesky orange light...

 

[linadollyy]

The raw image looks better to me, more theatrical, more stage-y. I'm not sure that "correcting away" the stage lighting effects is the right way to approach these types of shots...it's a lot like correcting the white balance on a sunset shot, and getting rid of all that pesky orange light...

Hm... personally, rather than correcting away the lighting effects, I'm more focused on bringing more accuracy to his actual skin color. I know that in the end, it wont be a perfect match like how it would be under natural sunlight, but I want to reflect/correct the skin tone so that it is more accurate to what it actually is (if that makes sense.) thank you for your imput

 

[linadollyy]

The raw image looks better to me, more theatrical, more stage-y. I'm not sure that "correcting away" the stage lighting effects is the right way to approach these types of shots...it's a lot like correcting the white balance on a sunset shot, and getting rid of all that pesky orange light...

This is another shot of the same guy at a different concert. Even with the stage lighting, you're able to kinda get a feel for his actual skin tone, which is what I was trying to achieve in the OP. (idk if that makes sense haha)

 

[DB_Cro]

I wouldn't worry about it much, that's the color that was there, I'd move the whitebalance a bit or just go black & white.

 

[JerryPH]

I agree with the post above, but that said, using the dropper in Lightroon, correcting this photo is no harder than a 3 click fix.

This is the slightly longer way, but my way is literally 3 mouse clicks, however this one is a bit more accurate.

 

[AKUK]

I agree with @Derrel. In "correcting" the skin tone you are taking away the ambiance of the shot. If it was a strong green light coming down on him, you wouldn't want to try and get the real skin tone back. The second shot is a much cooler white light, as opposed to the orange of the first. That's why it feels more "normal".

 

[Ysarex]

A color cast that severe in an RGB photo isn't really correctable. If you have a raw file then it can be worked with. Got a raw file?

The natural subtle variations in color that would exist in a normal photo aren't masked by that orange cast, they're obliterated. You can force a normal/average skin tone on the subject but what you'll get will look at lot like what happens when you colorize a B&W photo. That's basically what you'd have to do here. Kind of like this:

Joe

 

[DB_Cro]

Ack. Yeah. I wouldn't touch that.
Also, he has the RAW file, you're looking at the screencap from it, read his post again.

 

[Ysarex]

Ack. Yeah. I wouldn't touch that.
Also, he has the RAW file, you're looking at the screencap from it, read his post again.

I read the original post. I saw that he used the word raw and posted screen shots, but I'm not convinced that he has a raw file. He also said the 2nd photo was the raw untouched image which it isn't if it's from a raw file. I've met lots of photographers who thought their unedited camera JPEGs were raw files.

Joe

 

[TCampbell]

Eliminating the color cast can be done via "white balance" but you need something known to be color-neutral. Ideally this would be a "gray card". But sometimes if you can get a neutral "white" (be careful... not all "whites" actually white) to work.

In Lightroom's "Develop" module, you'll find the white balance tool in the right margin. There's an eye-dropper icon which you can click, then click a point in the image known to be neutral white.

His white shirt-color, for example, *might* work.

When using a gray card, it's only necessary to have the card in one photo. Once you white balance one photo, you can "synchronize" the white balance adjustment to every other shot you took in the same lighting conditions.

One final thought... sometimes I don't want "white balance" to be correct. For example, at sunset or sunrise you'll get that warm color of light and it helps set the mood. If you corrected the white balance then it wouldn't like a sunset anymore. On a gray cloudy overcast day, I'll often grab the white balance slider and deliberately "warm" the image just a tiny bit. In other words a correctly "white balanced" image is not necessarily the ideal (but it might be a good starting point.)