Need some help....

Rick99 · Mar 19, 2014

Hey Guys, I took this picture with my Genesis 200 strobes. I have a question about the baseboard in the background. In this pic it looks ivory. In real life, it's brilliant white. I used an auto white balance and tried in post processing to fix it but had no luck. Not sure it distracts from the pic but it bothers me I don't have the right white balance here. Any suggestions or advise on what I am doing wrong? Thanks!

480sparky · Mar 19, 2014

WB is a 'global' change. You need to be able to 'select' the area you want to adjust and do a local edit.

How to Select an area depends on your software.

Rick99 · Mar 19, 2014

Lightroom 3 but I would love to shoot it right the first time and not have to worry about it in processing

Tony S · Mar 19, 2014

Then you need to adjust your lighting so it's hitting the baseboards the same as other "white" area in the photo. So many times shifting white balance throughout an image is a problem with uneven lighting.

sk66 · Mar 19, 2014

Tony S said:
Then you need to adjust your lighting so it's hitting the baseboards the same as other "white" area in the photo. So many times shifting white balance throughout an image is a problem with uneven lighting.

+1
I'm thinking the issue is as much/more light falloff than it is WB. That said, the white shirt is a bit pink and it would seem there should be a graduation of white in the carpet when there isn't. Some of that will be the reflective efficiency of the surface (i.e lower in the shag carpet vs wallpaper). If I had to guess, you are probably using a shoot thru umbrella(s) which is adding to the issue/control problem.

Derrel · Mar 20, 2014

I tried a +27 tint shift toward the purple end and it looks better.

Rick99 · Mar 20, 2014

I have an umbrella as the key light(bouncing) front right. I have another umbrella (shooting through) behind to the left aimed down. Going to try the tint shift Derrel said tonight...can you post it Derrel? Yes I see the slight pink tint in the shirt as well. Not real happy with how this came out but it a good learning curve.

pixmedic · Mar 20, 2014

I don't find it distracting.
Outside of you mentioning it, I don't think anyone would have noticed it as being off. These are nice shots.

Rick99 · Mar 20, 2014

pixmedic said:
I don't find it distracting.
Outside of you mentioning it, I don't think anyone would have noticed it as being off. These are nice shots.

Thank you....it's funny cause I look at it and thought it was a nice shot but if I could get that white in the pic to be brilliant as it really easy this would pop a lot more. I guess if I added more light to the background, aka another strobe I would get it more accurate???

striving4mediocrity · Mar 20, 2014

It looks like your baby had a hard time spelling "I'M"

Designer · Mar 20, 2014

I fiddled with it some and got the best result when I set the white point on the wallpaper.

Designer · Mar 20, 2014

I think that sometimes different surfaces reflect light differently due to differences in texture. The shirt is reflecting some red light from the tutu. The baseboard is probably not going to look much different unless you can select just that area to adjust the color.

Rick99 · Mar 20, 2014

Designer said:
I fiddled with it some and got the best result when I set the white point on the wallpaper.

View attachment 68939

thanks for working it. Yeah this surprised me that it happened. Thought I had an almost accurate white balance but the board was way too dark. Then board is actually whter than the backdrop is.

Rick99 · Mar 20, 2014

striving4mediocrity said:
It looks like your baby had a hard time spelling "I'M"

LOL her Mom sure did...I have horrible handwriting so I had her do it the way she wanted it to look. Should have photo shopped it!

bianni · Mar 21, 2014

Duplicated bg twice and with levels clicked on the white bg with the white dropper tool. added lyermask and brushed out the baby. Adjusted the layer below it with levels to darken a bit. Flattened