Color Temp. Problems

I wanted to see if anyone has had this problem or knows how to fix it. I am using a Canon 5d and AB lights in my studio. For some reason, my skin tones look ok to me, but colors of clothing or props are altered, and don't look the same. For example, with this picture below, me and my daughter playing around in the studio, my shirt looks dark pinkish-purple, but in person, the color of my shirt is light grape purple! Any ideas???

(picture straight out of camera)

Is your screen calibrated? Your shirt looks more magenta-reddish to me, and the skin has a pinkish hue.

Either way, the best thing you can do is shoot a grey card under the lights as a reference shot either for RAW eyedropper use or to set a custom white balance. Grey cards are cheap as chips at your local camera shop.

Yep, I've tried doing a custom wb, and still have the same problem, i've calibrated my monitor, and still have the problem. I've tried ps and just end up screwing everying else up with skin tones and stuff. when i look through my screen on camera it looks off too.

Hmm. Odd. Have you tried shooting RAW and then using the eyedropper on the grey card? It could be your RAW converter not reading the CWB properly (assuming you do shoot RAW).

List out your exact workflow...maybe we can spot problems.

ok, here i go, #1. I'm RAW challenged.
2. I don't have a gray card, but I do CB to a white foam core board, (gray card is on the ups truck!) (maybe this is my problem?) sometimes I just AWB if I'm being lazy.
3. Then they go to CS2 for editing.

Interesting challenge. I pulled your image into ACR and did a white balance off your eye. The color looked better. The temperature was -3 but tint was -28. Now I'm not sure how those numbers relate to actual temp in Kelvin but it looks better. I also bumped the exposure by .25.

Do you keep any other room lights on at the same time? I really botched my white balance, even using custom, just from having different light temps going on in the room. It was an easy fix in curves, so probably not.... but worth asking.

Sharlene wrote in post #5811131
ok, here i go, #1. I'm RAW challenged.
2. I don't have a gray card, but I do CB to a white foam core board, (gray card is on the ups truck!) (maybe this is my problem?) sometimes I just AWB if I'm being lazy.
3. Then they go to CS2 for editing.

Not all whites are created equal, & that's why it's best to use a grey card that was manufactured specifically for the purposes of white balance and exposure.

Titus213 wrote in post #5811620
Interesting challenge. I pulled your image into ACR and did a white balance off your eye. The color looked better. The temperature was -3 but tint was -28. Now I'm not sure how those numbers relate to actual temp in Kelvin but it looks better. I also bumped the exposure by .25.

It doesn't mean anything on the Kelvin scale, since Kelvin is absolute but the + and - of the JPEG sliders are relative.

Thanks guys! I do have these awful can lights in the ceiling scattered across the room, I can't remember if I had them off or on. I think I had them off ?? I'm getting my gray card on Wednesday, so I'll see if that helps!

My eyeball estimate says that the WB is not correct because the skin tones look too blue.
When all of the various colors do not seem to be quite right and you do have a proper WB, it means that you should profile your camera sensor in ACR. Equipment needed is a Gretagmacbeth color card and a true reference digital version of the chart. Real World Adobe Photoshop ACR has instructions for doing this, but there are probably many sources on the web that have plagiarized this information.

Sharlene wrote in post #5814959
Thanks guys! I do have these awful can lights in the ceiling scattered across the room, I can't remember if I had them off or on. I think I had them off ?? I'm getting my gray card on Wednesday, so I'll see if that helps!

I'd bet that it does help. Just use it to set a custom WB in the camera rather than as a reference for correction in ACR. Both work but custom in the camera works better I think.

this look any better?

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fenceiner01 wrote in post #5845103
this look any better?

Not at all.

Is this close to what you're looking for? Your shirt isn't what I would consider "grape" but it's definately a more burgundy colour here. The skin tones and neutrals are realistic as well. Curves in conjuction with color picker, Channel blending.
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We can also do grape purple, but that's not something I can achieve with a simple colour balance. Hue shift, and masking.
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