Correcting color- help!

[kayser]

We took a lot of pictures at my daughter's dance recital last night, and I'm now trying to work with them. The backdrop was orange, so there's a general orange-y tint to all of the pictures. I have tried a few things ( playing with levels, doing an average blur and then inverting that layer to get the opposite color...) but I'm still left with a not-so-improved photo. I'd love help from the experts. I'm not expecting a perfect picture as the end result, but something better would be nice.

Here's a sample picture. http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/15jVB674pcGzBPfGysSMt1rJB9pz_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=15jVB674pcGzBPfGysSMt1rJB9pz)

[Juergen D]

Kay,
Just giving the image a very quick edit, I came up with this. I only used the Levels and Hue/Sat Adjustment layers. The image is very dark. With the Levels layer I moved the right slider almost to the center, then sampled the boy's shirt for the white point. In Hue/Sat I reduced the red some and also the yellow and changed the hue a bit. Finally, to overcome the noise, I applied a very light Gaussian blur (0.5 pixels).

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1MbVUXGq1hjqZ7v9ZvgiUcsb9N35_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1MbVUXGq1hjqZ7v9ZvgiUcsb9N35)

Juergen

[Daviskw]

Good job Juergen

I more or less used the same procedures... but I tired to keep the background...orange:eek: ... so much low and reflected light with noise you are going to have a big problem getting quality photos I think.

Butch

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1D5HfqR0rwpXFbDe7bJrFGqmYl4Btg_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1D5HfqR0rwpXFbDe7bJrFGqmYl4Btg)

[AngelicKim]

Kay, I am no where near as talented as Butch and Juergen but gave it a shot anyway just for something to do. Don't have any clue what all I did as I just kept clicking things so see if I could do anything to it. I know I went to Enhance>Adjust Color and just kept changing between them til I got something I could see and then I adjusted the contrast. Did a noise reduction but didn't like it so opened it in Noiseware and came up with this.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1GjM3RIWU1yvjLsTFJXA1yAcxAnzCx_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1GjM3RIWU1yvjLsTFJXA1yAcxAnzCx)

[Daviskw]

Looks real good to me Kim!!!... you kept detail in the hat.... if I put mine over yours and masked the hat in.. they would both be better...:p

Butch

[AngelicKim]

Thanks Butch. If I had seen you and Juergen's post before I played with it I would have never attempted it. I still have no idea what all I did to it.:D

[Chuck S.]

Great saves, all you Elements "Goalkeepers"! To me the most remarkable thing is that the significantly underexposed photo posted by the OP still had all the important detail, and your techniques preserved and enhanced that detail.

I've often wound up with flash photos that are underexposed because the distance is just too far for the flash guide number. I've tried swearing at my camera and flash but they don't seem to respond to that stimulus....

[AngelicKim]

I had to give it another shot. Just still too much redish color for me. Took the one shown previously and adjusted the lighting, brightness and contrast a little more. Then did Enhance>Remove Color Cast, click the little boys sleeve on the whitest point. Then did a slight sharpness adjustment and reduced the lens blue to 3.

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1umyuoQgA6ANv0n1tRKqMQtsxY3L40_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1umyuoQgA6ANv0n1tRKqMQtsxY3L40)

[kayser]

Thanks, everyone, I will go and try again. I think I end up giving up too easily. I'm just never thinking the color looks right. It was a hard place to take pictures- no flash, but lots of people doing it anyway (not us), and then people holding up camcorders so the light from the lcd screens were beaming...

Thanks for showing me what can be done!

[AngelicKim]

Kay, just for fun, I quickly did the one in your gallery. I did Enhance>Adjust Color>Color Variations. Then in Midtones>Decrease Red, then Lighten (I clicked it 5or 6 times). Needs a little work on the black of the leotard yet but the rest isn't too bad.


http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1ukshsci65ET0vW2oe6iz1g00k3DL0_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1ukshsci65ET0vW2oe6iz1g00k3DL0)

[AngelicKim]

Ok, and you know me lately and the porcelain effect. Here it is

http://www.pixentral.com/hosted/1Fzu1oRK7i39ckWs6tSZP8YMUkcu8A_thumb.jpg (http://www.pixentral.com/show.php?picture=1Fzu1oRK7i39ckWs6tSZP8YMUkcu8A)

[kayser]

Oh, I forgot about that effect- it really works well with that picture! She looks like my little baby again. Thanks for experimenting with my picture- it looks great!!

[AngelicKim]

Glad you like it Kay.