Color correction software

I want to say I heard about software for color conversions somewhere but I don't remember. I use LR, PS and Onone. I have some photos of events and I feel the color is off b/c of mixed lighting sources (understandably). However I don't feel the "auto color" in any of those programs does a good job. What else is there for me? TIA

abbypanda wrote in post #16931288
I want to say I heard about software for color conversions somewhere but I don't remember. I use LR, PS and Onone. I have some photos of events and I feel the color is off b/c of mixed lighting sources (understandably). However I don't feel the "auto color" in any of those programs does a good job. What else is there for me? TIA

Hmm, the "simple" approach would be to find something in a scene that should theoretically have a neutral tone (either a flat white or a flat grey), use your LR White Balance and click it on your "target", and LR will then "correct" it and the rest of the scene with the White Balance that will properly render your "target".

The problem is that with some indoor venues, the lighting gives an "effect" and so by doing a White Balance "correction" the result may not be so pleasing and may not look so "real", so color "correction" really is a matter of taste.

In the future, you can bring your own neutral "target" and use that in your Raw converter, but again, it will be subjective...

As a reference, you could check out the "Night Club Photos" thread, there are two parts, with Part 1 having some good discussion for "beginners", but note that much of the photography is done using flash. It's a juggling act to balance different light sources! So go through those threads and maybe you will see examples of "doing it right"!

Part 1:
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=415099

Part 2:
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=895331

The key to getting the colors right is understanding white balance.

Here's a good tutorial on WB:
http://www.cambridgein​colour.com/tutorials/w​hite-balance.htm

Thanks tony. I didnt know you could do that but that was good to know. The fathers tie and handkerchief were grey so I tried those. @Bratkinson, I'd like to think I have a pretty good understanding of WB, however in this situation I was mixing 4+ sources. I know the colors will never be "exact". I just want to do as best I can.
Using the tool you have recommended Tony this is what I came up with. is this acceptable. using this tool I found even the top and bottom of her dress were different colors… esp when I started to look closely. We had 3 different light sources at the church, windows on either side (full sun) and flash. i did gel my flash at the rehearsal but there were still so many different light sources the day of I was just like "forget it".
Id appreciate your thoughts on my coloring here.

Their faces look underexposed . . .

abbypanda wrote in post #16933630
Thanks tony. I didnt know you could do that but that was good to know. The fathers tie and handkerchief were grey so I tried those. @Bratkinson, I'd like to think I have a pretty good understanding of WB, however in this situation I was mixing 4+ sources. I know the colors will never be "exact". I just want to do as best I can.
Using the tool you have recommended Tony this is what I came up with. is this acceptable. using this tool I found even the top and bottom of her dress were different colors… esp when I started to look closely. We had 3 different light sources at the church, windows on either side (full sun) and flash. i did gel my flash at the rehearsal but there were still so many different light sources the day of I was just like "forget it".
Id appreciate your thoughts on my coloring here.

It looks pretty good to me, but know that I'm not a "color critical" person.

If you want more opinions, it could help if you posted a "Before" as well as the "After", maybe a bit larger. The problem is that you were there, and we weren't, we don't know what the ambient light really looked like, as well as what the people really looked like. But the Before and After could help. I suggest larger because even though the clothes look good to me I can't see much to hazard a judgement on the skin tones...?

abbypanda wrote in post #16931288
I want to say I heard about software for color conversions somewhere but I don't remember. I use LR, PS and Onone. I have some photos of events and I feel the color is off b/c of mixed lighting sources (understandably). However I don't feel the "auto color" in any of those programs does a good job. What else is there for me? TIA

The big problem with mixed lighting is that the color of the light will be different in every part of the image. You can do a white balance in one part, but that only corrects that one small area. If you have a huge amount of time and patience, you could create numerous layers and separately white balance each of them. A more reasonable approach is to try to strike some sort of compromise.

I might add that even with a single light source or single type of lighting from multiple sources that the colors in the environment alter how each part of the image is being illuminated, so lighting never is really neutral. This is why in motion pictures the light source is metered to get the right color temperature. It is much easier for digital photographers to just use the reflected light from a "reference white" target and adjust the image afterwards.

Even with a single source, something like the white dress won't be exactly neutral at every point. I agree with Tony, that the image you posted looks quite good as far as color is concerned.

In the later versions of Lightroom the Local Adjustment Brush has a Temperature setting, so you can paint in different adjustment for different parts of an image.

Rimmer wrote in post #16934514
In the later versions of Lightroom the Local Adjustment Brush has a Temperature setting, so you can paint in different adjustment for different parts of an image.

Although this is useful, and I have used it myself several times in difficult mixed lighting, having the full set of HSL controls avilable on the local brush would be so much better. Actually my ideal would be, use the brush to select the area of application then use the targeted adjustment tool to make the necessary hue saturation or luminance adjustment.

Alan