Adjusting for lighting color temperature

305 views3 repliesLast post: 3/28/2005
When photographing small, reflective objects, I use blue EBW bulbs with a 4800K rating in external floods. They're expensive, available only from a store on the other side of town, and have a short life. Incandescent (tungsten) bulbs have a 3000K output, and give the images a very yellowish tinge. I shoot on a white background.

I shoot with a calibration card in the background so I can set the black, white, and gray points in Curves. That adjusts the yellow out, but it makes the object look stark.

Is there a way of adjusting the image in Photoshop 7 to match the 4800K bulb results with 3000K tungstens? Preferably a series of steps that can be made into an action?

--
Tony Cooper
Orlando FL
#1
Try the 'Color Temperature and Exposure Correction' plugin ... at the Adobe Studio web site or directly from the author(s) at

http://plugin.artdesign.ru/

"Tony Cooper" wrote in message
When photographing small, reflective objects, I use blue EBW bulbs with a 4800K rating in external floods. They're expensive, available only from a store on the other side of town, and have a short life. Incandescent (tungsten) bulbs have a 3000K output, and give the images a very yellowish tinge. I shoot on a white background.

I shoot with a calibration card in the background so I can set the black, white, and gray points in Curves. That adjusts the yellow out, but it makes the object look stark.

Is there a way of adjusting the image in Photoshop 7 to match the 4800K bulb results with 3000K tungstens? Preferably a series of steps that can be made into an action?

--
Tony Cooper
Orlando FL
#2
Tony

Try http://www.mediachance.com/digicam/filtersim.htm
or http://www.opanda.com/en/pf/index.html

both of which are freeware.

Tony Cooper wrote:
When photographing small, reflective objects, I use blue EBW bulbs with a 4800K rating in external floods. They're expensive, available only from a store on the other side of town, and have a short life. Incandescent (tungsten) bulbs have a 3000K output, and give the images a very yellowish tinge. I shoot on a white background.

I shoot with a calibration card in the background so I can set the black, white, and gray points in Curves. That adjusts the yellow out, but it makes the object look stark.

Is there a way of adjusting the image in Photoshop 7 to match the 4800K bulb results with 3000K tungstens? Preferably a series of steps that can be made into an action?

#3
Tony Cooper wrote:

When photographing small, reflective objects, I use blue EBW bulbs with a 4800K rating in external floods. They're expensive, available only from a store on the other side of town, and have a short life. Incandescent (tungsten) bulbs have a 3000K output, and give the images a very yellowish tinge. I shoot on a white background.

I shoot with a calibration card in the background so I can set the black, white, and gray points in Curves. That adjusts the yellow out, but it makes the object look stark.

Is there a way of adjusting the image in Photoshop 7 to match the 4800K bulb results with 3000K tungstens? Preferably a series of steps that can be made into an action?

You do not mention what kind of camera you use, but because you are talking about Photoshop afterwards, I presume it's a digital camera. Most digital cameras have manual white balance settings for a range of lighting conditions, including tungsten. I would start there before trying to correct anything in Photoshop.

--
Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/
#4