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Advice on Golden Hour shots
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Jul 22, 2017 18:32:04   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
repleo wrote:
Looking for advice on how to capture or enhance golden hour lighting in landscapes. I usually have my camera on auto WB which may be trying to cancel out the orange light I am trying to capture. What is the best WB setting? Just warming it up in PP is not giving me that golden glow I am after. I take a lot of shots involving salt marshes. It pretty hard to find a balance between the golden light and the green grass. I have had some success through experimentation, but would appreciate some advice.
I shoot in RAW and use ACR for PP. Any PP tips appreciated.
Looking for advice on how to capture or enhance go... (show quote)


Since you have tried RAW and adjusting the WB there won't work for you, I would try a daylight WB setting in the camera under the theory that the light will actually be warmer and that's what you will get, like when you shoot daylight film during the golden hour and get warm lighting. If you try setting the WB with a grey card, the camera is going to try for neutral lighting when what you want is warmer than neutral.

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Jul 22, 2017 19:12:26   #
Linary Loc: UK
 
JohnSwanda wrote:
That is assuming all grey cards are color neutral. Some cards made for exposure aren't necessarily neutral, especially cheap ones.


That is part of my point - it does not matter very much about the exact shade of grey, the criterion is the card should be evenly grey and the same card used each time. Cards by such companies as X-Rite will be exactly what they say they are, but many other cards, perhaps sold as Mid-Grey, can be anything from 12% - 60% grey. As long as the user understands the colour effect - it does not matter. I use three cards, one of which is about 15%, one of which is about 25% and one being about 50%. All serve a purpose and get my photos to the colour temperature I want.

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Jul 22, 2017 19:51:16   #
JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco
 
Linary wrote:
That is part of my point - it does not matter very much about the exact shade of grey, the criterion is the card should be evenly grey and the same card used each time. Cards by such companies as X-Rite will be exactly what they say they are, but many other cards, perhaps sold as Mid-Grey, can be anything from 12% - 60% grey. As long as the user understands the colour effect - it does not matter. I use three cards, one of which is about 15%, one of which is about 25% and one being about 50%. All serve a purpose and get my photos to the colour temperature I want.
That is part of my point - it does not matter very... (show quote)


The percentage doesn't have anything to do with the color neutrality. Your cards may be color neutral, but not all grey cards are. Grey can have a warmish tint or a cooler tint.

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Jul 23, 2017 01:24:47   #
repleo Loc: Boston
 
rmalarz wrote:
Here's my suggestion. Since everyone replying to this post is going to be sending you in a different direction, I'd suggest you find that scene you want to photograph, put your camera on a tripod, then take photos at each of the WB settings available to you. Then try different PP techniques, you can probably find more than you need on youtube. In the end, you'll have your decision based on your camera and your techniques. Oh, I'd also make notes so you can refer to them when you are post processing.
--Bob
Here's my suggestion. Since everyone replying to t... (show quote)


Thanks Bob. You were correct about the different directions, but I expected that. I'll try your suggestion for the different WB settings. My A7Rii has a setting for WB bracketing, so I'll try that to start.
Thanks for the Youtube links also. However they seemed to contradict each other regarding the Gray/White cards for custom WB.

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Jul 23, 2017 01:34:08   #
repleo Loc: Boston
 
IBM wrote:
Try a blue blocker filter lens .


Thanks IBM. I'm not familiar with blue blocker filters. I Googled it and all I got was loads of stuff on eye strain glasses. A search on B&H brought up variable ND filters. Can you eleborate on the filters you mentioned?
Thanks.

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Jul 23, 2017 05:55:22   #
billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont
 
repleo wrote:
Looking for advice on how to capture or enhance golden hour lighting in landscapes. I usually have my camera on auto WB which may be trying to cancel out the orange light I am trying to capture. What is the best WB setting? Just warming it up in PP is not giving me that golden glow I am after. I take a lot of shots involving salt marshes. It pretty hard to find a balance between the golden light and the green grass. I have had some success through experimentation, but would appreciate some advice.
I shoot in RAW and use ACR for PP. Any PP tips appreciated.
Looking for advice on how to capture or enhance go... (show quote)


Lee graduated ND .9 filter. Will enhance the sky.

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Jul 23, 2017 07:00:08   #
tcthome Loc: NJ
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUrNGhKS1h8&index=9&list=PLOD1rrjm5sQAIAuOetLgtaxp7K30QtMNO

Another link to a vid on landscape with Joe Brady. You will probably get the same out of this vid as the other vid posted. I purchased the CCPP but do not have enough experience (in digital photography yet) with it to comment on it.

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Jul 23, 2017 08:13:20   #
wteffey Loc: Ocala, FL USA
 
Are you sure the look you are trying to achieve is reality? It could be that the camera is recording the image more or less accurately, but not exactly the way you remember it, or wish it had looked. If achieving the "golden hour" look leaves the green grass looking pale, you could try a gradient or layer mask and treat the grass differently from the rest of the image.

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Jul 23, 2017 08:17:45   #
Bultaco Loc: Aiken, SC
 
martinfisherphoto wrote:
If you shooting in aperture or shutter priority lets say you will find that your camera will automatically adjust one or the other to give a Nice Proper Exposure normally brighter than what your already seeing. Even as the sun sets your camera will continue to compensate. This also depends on the area of the photo your meter on ect... With that said to start getting some of the richer colors you see you can simple dial in Exposure compensation. Start at -.03 , -.07. -1, ect until desired affect is given. The darker the photo becomes the richer the color. Of coarse you can go to far and loose all detail, just pay attention to the results. And as the sun gets lower you can start adding the exposure compensation back in. I would fix your ISO as well as you don't want the camera to compensate by changing the ISO, you may end up with grainy photos..
If you shooting in aperture or shutter priority le... (show quote)


The above works great.

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Jul 23, 2017 09:24:04   #
camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.
 
I have shot lots of sunrises and sunsets with my Olympus Pen EP-5. I have found that if I go to Scene Mode and I set the camera for Sunsets I get awesome shots of the colors displayed at the time. This has to be done using JPEG files which I save as TIFF. Olympus does a great job with the firmware of the camera. My Nikon bodies do not behave like that.
I would recommend that you set your WB to sunlight to obtain most of the beautiful colors. You could try setting color control to vivid but if you shoot RAW NONE of those settings will apply. In post you can make the colors more vivid if that is your taste.
When using matrix metering it tends to compensate the exposure opening the shadows in the foreground. If you want full silhouette use spot or center weighted metering.

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Jul 23, 2017 10:51:35   #
Bullfrog Bill Loc: CT
 
Auto WB and increase warm it up in PP.

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Jul 23, 2017 10:58:10   #
Lens Creep
 
well first, stop using Auto WB at golden hour. The camera neutralizes your images to "grey hour". Choose a preset such as sunny or cloudy, etc and plan to tweak slightly in your RAW editor later. I usually take a mental note of the actual tones I see with my eyes and then in ACR tweak it slightly.

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Jul 23, 2017 11:14:18   #
repleo Loc: Boston
 
wteffey wrote:
Are you sure the look you are trying to achieve is reality? It could be that the camera is recording the image more or less accurately, but not exactly the way you remember it, or wish it had looked. If achieving the "golden hour" look leaves the green grass looking pale, you could try a gradient or layer mask and treat the grass differently from the rest of the image.


Thanks wteffey. I think you hit my dilemna on the head. I am more interested in achieving my 'vision' than accurately recording the reality. Of course, accurately recording the reality is a good place to start. Sometimes, if I am lucky, reality matches my vision, but sometimes it needs a bit of 'enhancement'. Several of the recommendations above are focused on accuracy whereas I am looking for ways to enhance towards my vision. The challenge then is to keep the enhancement within the bounds of credibility or what looks natural. I am uploading three sample images taken awhile ago. The first one is probably closest to 'reality' but doesn't have any 'golden hour' lighting. The second one is closest to my 'vision' but may be pushing the limits of looking 'natural'. I think the last one is just right.
Your suggestion for gradient and layer mask is a bit beyond my current PP ability, but I will look into it and try it.

Thanks to all for your suggestions. The color checker is on my wish list. Color accuracy is something I need help with anyway.


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Jul 23, 2017 11:25:32   #
Deecee
 
Here's a good video on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4oaf9mfdrQ

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Jul 23, 2017 12:32:33   #
chasgroh Loc: Buena Park, CA
 
...if I'm shooting RAW, why am I concerned with the jpeg created by my camera, other than to chimp exposure? Or, do AWB or manual WB values imbed into the RAW file?

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