Overcoming Mixed Lighting

Here's a photo from a wedding I shot in Nov.; beofre the ceremony, I used my Expodisc to get custom white balance shots for the processional. Great, until the actual processional & they had the entrance doors to the church open during the whole thing. So instead of just dealing with the tungsten lighting inside the church, I was shooting the processional with the ambient light behind them. As you can see, this created a very blue back drop. How would you have handled this (assuming you'd have known that door would be open)? Oh & to throw one more monkey wrench in, assume the church doesn't allow flash....go!

You can only have one correct white balance, so you did the right thing. The light falling on the subject is the modt important. Its not as if you could find a white balance halfway between the two sources, then you have two bad colors. But you can fix it in post if you shoot raw. Just mask in the corrected wb in photoshop or use an adjustment brush in lightroom.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17367166
You can only have one correct white balance, so you did the right thing. The light falling on the subject is the modt important. Its not as if you could find a white balance halfway between the two sources, then you have two bad colors. But you can fix it in post if you shoot raw. Just mask in the corrected wb in photoshop or use an adjustment brush in lightroom.

+ 1 for the adjustment brush in Lightroom. Very useful tool for this kind of situation.

What bothers me more than the quality of the light in your sample is the distribution of light. People are too dark, view through open door is too light and thus dominates the people.

^^this^^. Next time go for the correct exposure on the people and let the background blow out. You can't always control your environment so the best plan is to make sure the people are exposed properly.

Its why we shoot in Raw Michelle. Easy fix in post. As Jim and Nqjudo mentioned, get exposure and color correct for the subjects, Brush back the background and you can brush in WB corrections with LR for BG as well. Sucks when this happens and I Hate that when it happens. Wont be the first time and guarantee you it wont be the last either.

True, it is underexposed for the subjects, but I tend to shoot a bit darker, I don't like to over expose. That's not too hard to correct in post processing tho, of course, in camera is best

Ok, guys, thanks so much! Next time I will go for getting better exposure on the subjects & not worry about that background I did use the adjustment brush in ACR which works great, I just got bored with having to do it on every one of those processional shots.

Michelle Brooks Photography wrote in post #17367818
True, it is underexposed for the subjects, but I tend to shoot a bit darker, I don't like to over expose. That's not too hard to correct in post processing tho, of course, in camera is best

Wouldnt over exposing be more to ETTR and have less noise when you pp?

I know this thread is about post, but ive never run into a church thst wouldnt allow flash for the processional. The ceremony sure, but not going in or out.,

gonzogolf wrote in post #17368198
I know this thread is about post, but ive never run into a church thst wouldnt allow flash for the processional. The ceremony sure, but not going in or out.,

Plenty over here won't let you use flash anywhere. Mainly the Catholic churches.

gonzogolf wrote in post #17368198
I know this thread is about post, but ive never run into a church thst wouldnt allow flash for the processional. The ceremony sure, but not going in or out.,

This is the answer.

The sacrament does not start until the priest opens the ceremony "in the name of the father and the son and the holy Ghost" .....This happens after the processional. So Flash is allowed to this point. The mass has officially ended go in peace is your next clue to turn the dam flash back on. Everthing else BT these 2 statements is off limits for flash photography in about 99% of catholic venues.

Do Yourself a favor and memorize this and talk to your priest before the ceremony. They will be impressed that you know this and you will have a friend up there during the ceremony

Respect the sacrament of marriage at all times- Too many photographers think its a photo op......It is not a photo op

Michelle Brooks Photography wrote in post #17367128
Here's a photo from a wedding I shot in Nov.; beofre the ceremony, I used my Expodisc to get custom white balance shots for the processional. Great, until the actual processional & they had the entrance doors to the church open during the whole thing. So instead of just dealing with the tungsten lighting inside the church, I was shooting the processional with the ambient light behind them. As you can see, this created a very blue back drop. How would you have handled this (assuming you'd have known that door would be open)? Oh & to throw one more monkey wrench in, assume the church doesn't allow flash....go!

Provided no one is wearing blue, one trick is to set your WB to correct the tungsten lights, and to de-saturate the blue and aqua tones in photoshop and lightroom. This will shift the ambient sunlight coming through the backdoors to white. Given the contrast in the scene, without the use of a flash, you really don't have a choice but to blow out the background to get a good exposure on the subject. You can, however, push the highlights in lightroom to recover some of the detail in the highlights. Dynamic range goes a long way here!

Most of my clients are Catholic, and yes catholic churches have very strict rules when it comes to the use of flash. They're also strict about where the photographers can shoot from...particularly challenging because they don't let the photographers into the center aisle, and you're forced to frame shots from awkward angles. From a business standpoint, its a good practice to find out what the rules for the photographer are early on and to communicate them to the bride and groom. That way they're aware of your limitations, and you can manage their expectations on the front end.

If you have the time, you can always re-stage some of the key shots (like bride with her parents in the processional) after the ceremony, so you can shoot them without the limitations placed on the photographers during the actual ceremony. I often have to re-stage the first kiss, because I can never get the shot from a decent angle during the actual ceremony!

I don't have anything to add beyond what's already been said. Nonetheless, here's the short version of my thoughts:

I've never shot in a church where I was not able to use flash for the processional and recessional. Make that lighting stronger if you're working in a very mixed situation.

Even if you can't use flash, always-always-always set exposure, set WB, set everything, for the subject. Let the background go if you have to.

Thanks to LR's ability to brush in a WB adjustment, there really is no need to gel your flash. Again, shoot for the subject and paint a correction in in PP.