Light...we've all seen it

It's evening, it's right after a storm, the air smells fresh and the light, well...it's to die for.

What does it take to recreate that light in a studio...either with lighting or Photoshop?

A large space, lights and gels

Can you elaborate just a bit...what types of lights and gels?

chauncey wrote in post #17686615
Can you elaborate just a bit...what types of lights and gels?

Well pretty much any studio lighting system that you want to use. It could be flash, monoblock or speedlights (or even a combination). Even constinous lighting should be fine Tungsten/Halogen or CFLs should also do the job, even the CFLs should have a full enough spectrum to achive what you want. The colour of the gel will depend on the main colour balance of the lights you are trying to match. If you are using flash which is usually around 5500K you will need some level of orange gel while for Tungsten/Halogen/CFL it will likely be some level of blue gel. The exact amount needed will depend on the exact colour temp of the lighting and of course the colour temp you are trying to match.

I suppose you could just light the subject with the studio lighting and correct the colour temp in the RAW conversion. Unless it is really important to match the colour on set for some reason, say you had a subject that sufferes from meterisim that requires the correct colour temp for the illumination. I for example that in the late 70's Ford had a terracotta colour paint that responded very differently under Sodium street lights between the high bake paint at the factory and the low bake paint used in dealers body shops. Paint looked great under daylight, but under the monochromatic Sodium lighting the difference was significant. My dad was a paint specialist in the Ford warranty department, and this caused no end of trouble for them. So illuminant colour can be important.

Alan

My studio work is entirely table-top stuff and I use a series of 100 Watt equivalent LED lights on dimmers.
Accurate color is achievable using a x-rite passport but...that "golden hour glow" still escapes me.
Suggestions???

Are you trying to get that Golden Hour glow on a person or a table top subject? If its on a person I would be suggesting some stronger lights with a gel in the orange/golden range. Golden hour is usually a very soft light, so a large light source would be needed as well (large softbox, or umbrella maybe).

Well you could pull the colour tmp down a bit from the "correct" colour temp that you get from the colour checker in your RAW processor. As I said the correct colour/intensity of colour correction gel for the lights will depend on their own colour temp. LEDs can have a wide range of temps, but by their nature can suffer from gaps in their colour spectrum. This is more likely in cheap lights than expensive ones. If the CT of the lights is lower than the value you want to simulate, say around 4000K for golden hour, you will need some level of blue filtration. If the lights are higher you will need to filter with an orange filter.

You should be able to find the actual colour temp of your lighting by using the colour temp eyedropper on a neutral grey.

Alam

chauncey wrote in post #17686221
It's evening, it's right after a storm, the air smells fresh and the light, well...it's to die for.

What does it take to recreate that light in a studio...either with lighting or Photoshop?

A bit more description of what characteristic(s) you are trying to replicate would be good.

After a rain, less dust and pollutants and other light scatters (moisture) in the air...

• reduction of the warmth of sunset
  
• less loss of contrast when not close to sunset