Under a Tent
Aug 4, 2017 15:29:29 #
cidbearit
Loc: Canton, MI, USA
I was recently shooting an event at a gun club I belong to. It was an outdoor event set up under a large tent, on a partly cloudy day. My issue is, the tent wound up acting as a huge diffuser, with the yellow stripes of the tent casting a visible tint to the photos. The frequent shift from cloudy to full sunlight and back also posed a challenge, but that's for another discussion. The tent also significantly reduced the ambient light, which is indicated by the blown out section of the image that wasn't under the tent. I selected this particular photo because it shows the shooting environment pretty clearly.
I can play with this in PP, but am wondering what I might have done prior to shooting that may have helped address this issue. My thought is to have set a custom White Balance (something I've not done before) instead of using AWB. Is that my solution? Other thoughts?
Nikon D7100
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 IF EX DG HSM
Focal Length 30.0
Manual
ISO 800
Aperture f/4.5
Exposure 1/200
Auto White Balance
I can play with this in PP, but am wondering what I might have done prior to shooting that may have helped address this issue. My thought is to have set a custom White Balance (something I've not done before) instead of using AWB. Is that my solution? Other thoughts?
Nikon D7100
Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 IF EX DG HSM
Focal Length 30.0
Manual
ISO 800
Aperture f/4.5
Exposure 1/200
Auto White Balance
Aug 4, 2017 15:36:24 #
ricardo7
Loc: Washington, DC - Santiago, Chile
Shoot in RAW so you can adjust color balance in PP.
Underexpose for the highlights and check your histogram.
Underexpose for the highlights and check your histogram.
Aug 4, 2017 15:38:49 #
cidbearit
Loc: Canton, MI, USA
ricardo7 wrote:
Shoot in RAW so you can adjust color balance in PP.
Underexpose for the highlights and check your histogram.
Underexpose for the highlights and check your histogram.
Thank you for the advice...I do shoot RAW and JPEG, so playing with things in PP is an option.
Aug 4, 2017 18:04:18 #
You can adjust the white balance in post, which is fairly easy with RAW files or you can switch the WB to degrees Kelvin and tweak it to perfection. It's easy with Live View turned on.
The trick is to remember to switch it back to AWB or risk messing up later shots - in a different temperature (something even post processing can't fix).
The trick is to remember to switch it back to AWB or risk messing up later shots - in a different temperature (something even post processing can't fix).
Aug 5, 2017 04:23:33 #
ricardo7 wrote:
Shoot in RAW so you can adjust color balance in PP.
Underexpose for the highlights and check your histogram.
Underexpose for the highlights and check your histogram.
To that I would add that you'd want to keep the ISO low because a lot of noise will emerge when you brighten an underexposed image in PP. Since you want to deliberately underexpose, the best way would be to lower the ISO, and if necessary you could have used a slower shutter speed at that focal length (especially if you'd been using a monopod).
Aug 5, 2017 06:09:23 #
cidbearit wrote:
I was recently shooting an event at a gun club I b... (show quote)
It requires mad post processing skills to create the effect of a single light color where you have two distinctly different light sources. There is one tool that you can obtain that will do that - an Xrite ColorChecker Passport. It merges two different color profiles into one. One thing to keep in mind, when you adjust white balance or use a custom white balance, you are just adjusting the range of color from blue to yellow, and not affecting the tint from green to magenta. The color checker does that.
In this video at 20:28 the concept of a "dual illuminant" color profile is discussed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDtebpvATzc
Otherwise, it is next to impossible to come up with neutrality outside the tent AND under the canopy.
The advice about shooting raw, keeping ISO low, shooting to preserve the highlights and underexposing the darker areas and adjusting during raw conversion - is solid. One thing I would add, is that jpegs taken under these circumstances are worthless, so why even bother to take them? You can't possibly adjust a jpeg enough and still come out with a decent image.
Aug 5, 2017 07:33:01 #
cidbearit wrote:
I was recently shooting an event at a gun club I b... (show quote)
It's easier to adjust WB in post than trying to set a custom WB during the shoot.
Aug 5, 2017 07:49:53 #
jerryc41 wrote:
It's easier to adjust WB in post than trying to set a custom WB during the shoot......
.....provided you're shooting raw.
Aug 5, 2017 08:08:50 #
This is something your camera can not do for you. You have to expose and shoot for the people in the tent. Using flash could help. It is not easy. No different than down at the beach. There is no perfect answer.
Aug 5, 2017 08:44:11 #
Aug 5, 2017 09:56:54 #
Shoot in RAW, do the first Post acdjustmenrs in ARC (like color balance) and any other RAW adjustments you feel necessary, move to P/S and select blown out areas and layer adjust them for a more natural (darker) exposure look. You might get the blown areas close to normal if not too much info is lost in these blown out parts of the photo.
Aug 5, 2017 10:19:07 #
The greatest tool for such situations is the x-rite Colorchecker passport. It is very simple to use and gives great results. Shooting in RAW will make it even easier. Check the web for the Colorchecker and for a short tutorial. Good luck and keep pushing the shutter button.
WJH
WJH
Aug 5, 2017 12:12:41 #
cidbearit wrote:
I was recently shooting an event at a gun club I b... (show quote)
Mask the inside. Create a dark layer to mute the exterior (use some blur and reduce the opaqueness so the effect is muted ) Now you can independently work on the interior WB and other adjustments.
Aug 5, 2017 12:43:03 #
cidbearit wrote:
I was recently shooting an event at a gun club I b... (show quote)
Setting a custom white balance is always a good idea in challenging situations, at least it allows you to not have any color casts!
Aug 5, 2017 14:54:38 #
cidbearit wrote:
I was recently shooting an event at a gun club I b... (show quote)
I'm going a different direction from the others. How about flash or fill flash to give you normal color on foreground objects (people)? You would need to test whether the yellow color in the background was not too disconcerting.
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