Challenge: Correct whitebalance

[tommykjensen]

I wanted to do some tests of my 16-35 f/2.8L lens and I took a few test shots under following conditions.

- white cardboard as background
- available light in my living room (halogen)
- used my 550 ex flash
- tripod
- MLU
- timer

I did not do anything with reagards to whitebalance and this is why I put up this challenge. I don't know how to correct it properly. The white cardboard is not white on the photos :-(

So the challenge should You accept it ;-) is to get the most out of one of the 2 linked raw files or both if You are up to it.

For this specific challenge I give permission to edit and repost the resulting image.

Please describe as accurately as possible what You did. Do it preferably with PS CS2 so I can try it for my self.


Ok here are the files:

File 1 (http://photo.klein-jensen.dk/public/challenge/IMG_7485.zip)
File 2 (http://photo.klein-jensen.dk/public/challenge/IMG_7489.zip)

[Mike T.M.]

I used the white balance tool in cs2 raw then tweeked it a little, then opened it and adjusted the levels a tad and that's about it. Really don't know what you're looking for. There really is no "White" color in the shot to work off of. It's really the light you were working with that's casting the color, mixed with the flash makes some work in photoshop, can can be done. You have to bump the exposure up and the brightness, but try to not blow it out.
The second one was a little easier didn't have the browns and reds.

[Jello]

Ok here;s our try.

1. We cropped the image out of the picture.
2. Sharpened and adjusted the shadows/highlights.
3. Adjusted slightly some of the colors to bring the littleguy out more.
4. Added a little bit of brighter blue for the eyes, and smart shapened them.
5. Then we went and found a forrest background and placed him in it.
6. Last thing was to add a frame.

Not exactly sure of everything you wanted done.

Hope you approve.

Jello/Dave

58329

[Jello]

Okay here's the watch.
I did the same steps as the little guy above except I increased the saturation in the blue.
Jello/Dave

58344

[rutt]

http://rutt.smugmug.com/photos/58638775-L.jpg

OK, I'll step up to the bat.

Crop
In ACR, use the eyedropper to balance somewhere on the background.
Convert to LAB mode
New curves layer. Flatten A and B channels so that all the background is neutral (A=0,B=0)
Duplicate B channel, invert, steepen curve to make a mask. See: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=22331
Apply mask to curves layer to limit the flattening to the background.
Fine tune with blending options, blend-if sliders and a touch of black painting on the mask. See: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=21648
Move the light end of the L channel curve inward to make the background go completely white.
New curves adjustment layer, use Dan Margulis' Man from Mars technique to add color and contrast to the image. See: http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=21859
Flatten, select L channel
USM conventional sharpinging 1.0/280/4
USM High Radius Low Amount sharpening 43/37/4 See: http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=185241&postcount=2
Done!


I learned almost all of this from Dan Margulis' book [u]Photoshop LAB...[u]. If you are interested in this book, I led an online reading group on this book and there are extensive online notes here: http://dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=18203