Help (suggestions) needed for photos (really ugly lighting)

[Nouks]

Hey all!

I really need some help with this. I photographed the pretty well-known Dutch band 'Voicst' last February. Concert was great, didn't have too much difficulties taking the photos. But as soon as I downloaded them to my computer I realised the lighting wasn't as good as it seemed to be at the moment I took the photos... It was actually pretty UGLY.

Although my photos were, well, 'okay' I guess, the lighting on the photos really disappointed me. After making a quick selection of 10 'most easy' photos for a online magazine (that selection can be found here (http://www.nouks.nl/20080209_Voicst) if you are interested), I decided to forget about the photos for quite some time and trying it again in a few weeks... which is right now.

Some examples of what the lighting looked like:

http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/content/bin/images/large/2728_asshot.jpg

http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/content/bin/images/large/2634_asshot.jpg

http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/content/bin/images/large/2760_asshot.jpg

About 60% is the ugly orange/yellowish. Further I've got some ugly red (not too red: WB 2500-3200K will fix it). Biggest problem with those is that the photos are all really flat (is this the right English term?). A few of the photos have a really high contrast on the singer: really ugly white and blacklight on white shirt, with (for example) red on background.

I decided to convert the whole final selection to black & white because of the bad lighting. Two (Q&D) examples can be found in the gallery I made especially for you Performing Arts Heroes (http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN).

One B&W photo:

http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/content/bin/images/large/2697_blackwhite.jpg

René advised me to do something else (something with LAB mode, copypasting one channel, blending mode... Not going to be too detailed over here) and tried it himself with one of the photos from the first gallery (the one I made for the online magazine). Example of what René tried:

http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/content/bin/images/large/2730_rene.jpg



Conclusion: I really don't know what to do with this photos! What would you do? B&W, "René-solution" (;-)), something else? Any advice, examples, edits really welcome!



I uploaded a few .CR2 files for you to play with:

.CR2 number 1: photo #7/8 from gallery (http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/_D5X2697.CR2)
.CR2 number 2: photo #15/16 from gallery (http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/_D5X2739.CR2)
.CR2 number 3: photo #18/19 from gallery (http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN/_D5X2747.CR2)

More .CR2 files on special request. And if you like you could choose photos from the gallery (http://www.nouks.nl/Voicst_POTN) too. ;-)


*PLEASE NOTE: the photos in the gallery are all "as shot", with a few ones "WB'ed" or "B&W conversion" extra. The photos aren't cropped and might not be most optimal framed. Of course you're allowed to crop if you think that would be necessary. In the file name (above photos in gallery) can be found which version it is.*

*I posted this in Performing Arts and not the RAW forum because of the specific difficulties with lighting.*

*The photos in the gallery are just to show you the problem. Photos are selected on lighting, not especially on photo quality. These photos might not be in the final selection, but are absolutely not part of the worst photos/lighting (all are at least part of first selection).*

[René Damkot]

I'll give them a try if I have a bit of spare time...
Curious what others make of them ;)

[Nouks]

Just tried something with the new "photoshop express" (online "photoshop" service by Adobe, live since yesterday: www.photoshop.com/express):

http://api.photoshop.com/home_4b5c4247df174f3a952a3c5d32bd2f97/adobe-px-assets/cb71c9b119eb465a95b5194f6cbe62b3

[Nouks]

Hmmmm, too difficult for you guys? ;)

[René Damkot]

Downloading the 3 CR2's now...
I'll play with them later ;)

[livewire-photography.com]

TBH i actually like the first image as it is yeah the lighting isnt the most pleasing but it looks alright i think
it looks like a collage. pretty cool capture.

cheers.

[Nouks]

TBH i actually like the first image as it is yeah the lighting isnt the most pleasing but it looks alright i think
it looks like a collage. pretty cool capture.

cheers.

I agree that photo is "okay", and this one might be "not too ugly", but the main problem is to make all these images (okay, most probably other photos, but same lighting) "fit" (has to be a series). I can't leave the first one as it is and convert other photos to B&W or increase the contrast a lot, for example. Well, I know it's possible, but in my opinion it's at least a bit not done. So I need to find a way to get these photos at least somewhat similar... :oops:

[Daddy]

yes, flat is the correct term. lol. shutter speed could be slower. hope it helps.

[Nouks]

Daddy: can't change the shutter speed. Besides that, slower shutter speed won't increase the lighting. On top of that, I already have got some motion in the photos (even at ISO3200), so don't think so ;)

But then again, thanks for sharing your thoughts :)

[René Damkot]

Thread revival ;)

Through LR2:

http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/_D5X2697.jpg

http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/_D5X2739.jpg

http://www.moonglade.net/~rene/_D5X2747.jpg

[Nouks]

It's 7 months later and now I'm finally editing these photos. I still think these are the most impossible photos I've ever taken, but well, it needs to be edited anyway. I still don't like to edit these.

ATM, I edited somewhere around 15-20 photos, most of them B&W, a few color. The few color ones are great the way they are and I don't like the idea of converting those to black and white aswell. The black and white ones in the small selection that I already edited definitely work better in B&W.

The first two René posted would be color, I guess, third one would definitely be converted to B&W...

[johnstoy]

Nice composition and framing in these... make for an interesting set.

[DwightMcCann]

Wow, what a difference ... and I still haven't installed my LR2 ... maybe tonight! Did you do anything in particular to them Rene?

[Nouks]

Anyone else than René who wants to give them a try? ;)