Posts Tagged ‘white balance’

Concert Lighting White Balance | Tech Tuesday

Theatrical lighting for stage performances adds to the spectacle of musical performances. In the times I have covered musical groups as they performed, I have enjoyed using the additional lights around the stage as cool props that can add to the images. The lights at SingStrong were especially timed with the performance which enhanced the mood of the performances. They can be challenge to get good focus as the darkened arena against the strong point light sources is not ideal for auto focus systems in cameras. There are a lot of missed shots in the collection!

SingStrong-2014-©TimeLine-Media
SingStrong-2014-©TimeLine-Media


The other challenge comes in post processing the images after the concert. The lighting can be very strong in color casts. Whether that comes from gels over lights, or LEDs that can be any color, they will cast strong color. Of course, this color will be over their faces and skin tones which is always a challenge to balance afterwards. For this shoot, I had the white balance set to auto. Because I was shooting raw files, I planned to adjust the settings later in post.

Original-balance-out-of-camera-©TimeLine-Media
Original-balance-out-of-camera-©TimeLine-Media


The lighting in the photo was a strong blue backlight that you can see on the left of the frame. From the front house lights, there was a red light on the front of the performers which is a common combination in stage lighting. To balance the color in Lightroom, I went into the Develop module, selected the White Balance tool, and then placed a point on the gray head of the microphone. I always look for gray colors for balancing as a starting point, and it worked well in this case toning down the pink skin tones.

Color-corrected-©TimeLine-Media
Color-corrected-©TimeLine-Media


I have much better luck going for gray tones in the frame. Sometimes there is not enough data in white or black areas to get an accurate white balance setting. The software may tell you, however, it will not change anything in your photo depending on the image. Of course, it is always important to have a calibrated monitor to ensure consistency in printing images. If the color cast is too strong, removing all color from the photo is also an option, and one I go to frequently!

Monochrome-conversion-©TimeLine-Media
Monochrome-conversion-©TimeLine-Media

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208

White Balance for Skin Tones – Tech Thursday

©TimeLIne Media - people photo with a warmed white balance

Cool. Warm. These descriptive words for temperature is used widely in photography. From looking at other amateur photographers wanting to improve their photos, this is one of the first places I look at this time. Back in the film days, the color temperature of your images would have been built into the film and processing that was used in development of the negatives of slides. Today, however, the temperature of your photos can be set right in the camera, and changed as needed. In your camera settings, you look to the White Balance settings to set the color temp.

Post Processing

There are presets that manufacturers use to separate different light temperature. From cooler to warmer, the presets are usually Incandescent, Tungsten, Daylight, Flash, Cloudy, Shade, but the settings on yours may differ. In some cameras, there is also a “K” setting which stands for Kelvin temperature. With this setting you can finely tune the temperature by selecting the Kelvin setting of the light you are shooting. The scale will go from something in the 2500K range on the cool side, to 10000K on the warm side. Take some example photos, and you can see the changes as the temperature goes up in the frame. Skin tones are where you can see the changes the most:

White Balance Example

©TimeLIne Media - White balance for skin tones
©TimeLine Media – White balance for skin tones

The photo on the left is set to “Auto” in the White Balance setting. For me, the skin tones are too “cool” for my taste. Moreover for anyone that has ever been to a ballroom dance event knows that tanner is better for skin tones! The same is true when editing any portraits or group shots. Skin tones always look better warmer. This is an almost universal rule that I have learned in my photography. People look healthier, and more natural even if the skin tone does not exactly match the tone in real life.

The automatic settings in cameras or software may not give skin tones their best look. Comparatively, observe the variety of photos you come across on social media, or in your own collection, and see how they can magically be improved with adjusting one setting! Let me know how this works for you! Especially let me know if you have any other questions on how to set this on your own cameras or software. Although it is a quick fix in post, it can make a large difference!

©TimeLIne Media - people photo with a warmed white balance
©TimeLine Media – people photo with a warmed white balance

TimeLine Media – www.timelinedc.com
703-864-8208