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Musicians in a coffee shop

Bob Rogers

New member
My wife plays fiddle in a band. I took some photos of them for their facebook page. This one came out best, I think. The lighting was rough. There were blue spots and green spots, in addition to fluorescent lights and who knows what. It was a last minute gig, so my flash batteries were all dead. The flash seemed to charge, but wouldn't fire. The spares I took were the same... Don't you hate it when that happens ;-)

So I decided that a good approach to the light was to partly de-saturate the image. I tried B&W but the color noise makes funny patterns.

My wife likes the photo though, and it's on their page. I think it does a good job of capturing the feel of a show, or at least one portion of a show.

wub-DSC_0436_zps0d5de0db.jpg

Walt Urban Band
Bob Rogers, 2013
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
I would work the file a bit more if you know how to. I have taken your image and done quite a bit of dodging and burning and local adjustments to try and even out exposures and colours a little - and sharpened - - - at least it will give you a bit of an idea of where you could go with it. Of course I am working on the small processed websized image, so there are limitations. But this may be how I would present the image to still try and create a natural feel:


wub-DSC_0436_zps0d5de0db.jpg

 

Asher Kelman

OPF Owner/Editor-in-Chief
Robert,

You did very well under the circumstances. this is where a high dynamic range, wide open lens and good noise reduction work to our advantage, but likely as not, that's not in our camera at the time!

In clubs and parties, there's a little trick. After the snap, take a local grey card picture in each position and then correct each person separately. So no matter how crazy the lighting, one can always get to some normalcy.

Asher
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Robert,

You did very well under the circumstances. this is where a high dynamic range, wide open lens and good noise reduction work to our advantage, but likely as not, that's not in our camera at the time!

In clubs and parties, there's a little trick. After the snap, take a local grey card picture in each position and then correct each person separately. So no matter how crazy the lighting, one can always get to some normalcy.

Asher

As well - if you really want to make some images that pop - even when you don't have ideal conditions in say a smaller venue - - - I always try and shoot tighter, instead of overviews. Especially would that be useful when there is such uneven lighting like you experienced. Focus on individual artists and if possible move yourself around a little bit so that you can get variations of light falling on one person or maybe a couple of people - that highlights or even backlights them better.

This is a link to a really poor location for shooting (room only about 12 feet wide with drop ceiling and a few low powered pot lights in the ceiling as well as a string of blue christmas lights around the perimeter) where I did what I have suggested above and managed to get some images that were of high enough quality and interest : http://robertwatcher.com/journal/index.php?jp=5&title=small-venue-makeshift. I come across similar situations at many of my wedding coverages - where I have to provide interesting images of the bands or musicians - - - even when light is low and uneven and it is a challenge to find interesting angles from the sides or behind. That was the case with this wedding image of mine, where I just got in as close as I could (people were right behind me dancing in this small room) and used shallow depth of field to create interest: http://robertwatcher.com/wedding-photography/ceremony-wedding-reception/images/singer.jpg
 

Bob Rogers

New member
Thanks Robert!

I understand burning and dodging from B&W film, but color confuses me. What did you use to correct the blue/purple cast on the face? I tried using both "color correction" and "hue/saturation" but couldn't get anything nice like you did. I use Photoshop CS4. So I have the tools, if I can figure out how to use them.

I like your idea of the closeups. I'll do that next time.
 

Chris Calohan

Well-known member
I went in a slightly different direction from Robert Watcher's edit thugh mostly for the sake of vanity, to avoid increasing the ever present noise level on their skintones.

I removed as much of the colorcast as possible using the HSB with the Master set to Magentas on one layer and Greens on another subsequent layer. Using the eyedroppers and selecting 4 or 5 areas of varying shades of the color I wanted to tone down, I then used the saturation and lightness sliders to adjust accordingly.

I did do some selective toning but used a selected gradient fill, "painting" out much of the gradient on their skin tones. A little darkening here, lightening there and this is what I came up with. Original on the left, my edit on the right.

8512457755_f267bb41fd_o.jpg
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Thanks Robert!

I understand burning and dodging from B&W film, but color confuses me. What did you use to correct the blue/purple cast on the face? I tried using both "color correction" and "hue/saturation" but couldn't get anything nice like you did. I use Photoshop CS4. So I have the tools, if I can figure out how to use them.

I like your idea of the closeups. I'll do that next time.

Hi Bob - - - I didn't apply "global" colour changes. I created a duplicate layer where I used the "Curves" tool to adjust colour by selecting the individual colours in the dropdown box that starts with "RGB" - and then worked the curve for each colour until I had the desired hue. Then I applied "mask" to that copied layer and brushed out all but the areas where I wanted the adjusted colours to show. This could also be done by erasing away the copied layer except for those areas. Masking is just a little more flexible for me - so I use it. Quite often I find that the "Curves" tool is more useful when adjusting colours and tints that are off.
 

Robert Watcher

Well-known member
Curves -- cool! I wouldn't have thought of that. I'll give it a try and post back.

The huge advantage of Curves is that you can alter Blue, Green or Red values on any part of the curve - - - so you can pinpoint the colour effect on areas of shadow, highlight or mid grays and anywhere in between.
 
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