correcting indoor flash?

I
Posted By
ieee488
May 3, 2005
Views
367
Replies
9
Status
Closed
I have some flash photos taken indoors in a theatre of the cast curtain call at the end of a play. These photos have a yellowish tone, and I don’t know how to go about correcting that. I did a search for past posts but wasn’t sure what to search on.

Thanks in advance.
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correct flash

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CW
Colin_Walls
May 3, 2005
Flash would not normally cause a colour caste. I would guess it is the residual tungsten lighting.

Do you have PSE 3?
KL
Kenneth_Liffmann
May 3, 2005
ieee488,
There are several ways to go about this, but if you have Elements #3, here is what I would suggest initially:

1. Open image, duplicate background layer, and shut off visibility of background layer by clicking on its eye icon in the layers palette
2. With the background copy layer active (should be blue in the layers palette), go to Filter>Adjustments>Photo Filter. On the menu one can select a number of filters and their density with the slider. Be sure that "preserve luminosity" is checked.

Let us know how you make out.

Ken
WE
Wendy_E_Williams
May 3, 2005
Another way of correcting a colour cast is to open up the levels dialogue box and take a look at the top … it will say RGB but if you click on that box you can change it to the individual colours.

Adjust the levels by bringing in the sliders until they are below the edge of the "hump" of the histogram.
Do that for each of the colours and usually it will bring the colours back to a more normal look.

Wendy
CW
Colin_Walls
May 3, 2005
Ken

Why did you suggest this way to apply a photo filter? I asked if the OP had PSE 3 so that I could recommend a Photo Filter adjustment layer …
KL
Kenneth_Liffmann
May 3, 2005
Colin,
I think that we are both on the same wave length. Your post must have displayed while I was composing mine – short time sequence. I think that an adjustment layer in this situation is even more elegant. These "photo filters" are really neat. Thanks for calling my attention to this enhancement.
Ken
HH
Henrik_Hermansen
May 3, 2005
I use Enhance > Adjust Color > Remove Color Cast… then click on a spot on the picture that is supposed to be white, gray or black and voila! Or have I missed something since you guys suggest multi step procedures?
Henrik
JM
Joseph Meehan
May 3, 2005
wrote:
I have some flash photos taken indoors in a theatre of the cast curtain call at the end of a play. These photos have a yellowish tone, and I don’t know how to go about correcting that. I did a search for past posts but wasn’t sure what to search on.

Thanks in advance.

Note for future reference. Flash far away from the subject like you have in your example with most consumer cameras and flashes will not work. In most cases it is best not to use flash. In that case you likely would have not had the yellow color to start with. The camera would have checked the light that was there and adjusted for it.

Another problem with this kind of photograph is exposure. Since usually only a small part of the photo is brightly illuminated, many cameras will over expose. Check your camera manual to see if your camera has a way of avoiding that problem.

—
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit
KL
Kenneth_Liffmann
May 3, 2005
Henrik,
I wrote: "There are several ways to go about this, but if you have Elements #3, here is what I would suggest initially"

I don’t think that you have missed anything here at all, but rather you have called attention to another technique. I do like adjustment layers because of their versatility. Sometimes one technique works better that another in a given situation. Wendy recommended levels and fine tuning each color.

That, to me, is the beauty of the editing component of this program. I have on file a compendium of methods which were posted on this board in a context such as this, and refer to same periodically.

Ken
CW
Colin_Walls
May 3, 2005
Henrik

Adding an adjustment layer is a simgle step. It has the advantage that you can fiddle with it afterwards.

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