Color Changing Dress? Client worried about flash and dress color.

Hi All,

I am wondering if anyone has run into a situation like this <email from client>:
Do you have experience with dresses that look like they're a totally different color under artificial lighting? For instance, she's looking at this blue fabric that almost looks purple under subdued natural light but completely pops as a blue when you hit it with a consumer grade flash. I haven't had an opportunity to take a picture of it with my camera in different lighting and capture the RAWs. Is it possible to keep the white balance somewhat consistent when you post-process? She's just worried that the photographs won't look the same as what she's going to see under ambient lighting.

My gut feeling is that this shouldn't be a problem if I get the white balance correct in post. I don't usually use a grey card, but I could do that as well to make sure it's good. Would gelling the flash also help? It's also possible that it is a reflectivity issue, in that case I could stick to my usual bounce flash and it might not be a problem.

I'm a little worried about this; I would really appreciate your suggestions on how I could best prepare for it. The clients are acquaintances, so I probably could have access to the dress to do some tests if that is needed.

Thanks so much!

Custom white balance. And offer to make any adjustments on any images where they are not satisfied with the color balance.

custom wb and test it out way before the wedding.

Hi robots4joey,
I think you can fix them in lightroom or adobe bride camera raw.
go to the adobe camera raw and open the images.
click HSL/GRAYSCALE tab.
click hue sub tab.
try fixing colors manually by changing the sliders
OR
pick the targeted adjustment tool and click on the dress.
also you can increase/decrease the saturation the same way.
I believe you can change the dress any color you like.
Regards,

Faik.

1. Where required, gel flash to match with ambient
2. Adjust WB in PP
3. If all else fails, turn it B&W

Even with a custom white balance some fabrics/colors can be tough to reproduce. Many fabrics will pick up colors from grass, lights, walls...
I would not guarantee a perfect match. Explain all of the variables and what can be done to combat them if the time is provided.

No CWB won't fix it. Some fabrics are reflective and change color when flash is used. Your options are to use no flash or to accept that some fabrics change color when flash is used. You can try bounce flash which may work better.

I would go to a local dress shop and show them this email, then ask if you can photograph one similar with different lighting situations (flash, ambient, maybe even outside?). Then show these results to the bride and show her the results.

The problem with just changing with WB is while you may get the color of the dress right, skin tones may be all over the place. I edit for skin tones and let other things fall where they may. That being said, I do things when I shoot to make sure things fall where they should.

get a piece of that fabric, and play with it...

I think I'd better do some testing with her dress before the wedding. That shouldn't be too difficult, as they are already acquaintances. Thanks for the advice!

-Joe

If all else fails just go to town on these girls dresses in LR and PP.

I think CWB or PP would be difficult if and when light source is mixed. I would try to get just one type of light source and turning off the others, as well as making sure the dress has even lighting on it and no blown highlights, then i think it would be fine.

Testing the dress is the best way to go..

Goodluck