The issue I have with these sorts of shots is that the image photographed is not what we see when we were there. The outside world is too blue, and the inside is too yellow. The brain takes in those lights and adjusts what we perceive so the table cloth is white not a buttery yellow while the sunset is still proper sunset colors.
The only way to make a photograph look like what you remember is to edit the two disparate color groups, to edit the image as wildly as the brain edits the information it got from the eyes.
Here's a much more neutral rendering from your warmer example. Steps in image notes. No masking needed.From this point, of course, you could do another hue/sat layer on a mask of the window and bring some oomph back there.
Here's a much more neutral rendering from your warmer example. Steps in image notes. No masking needed.
Much nicer! Tough one to WB correctly since the image has cold light on one side and warm light on the other. If that table cloth is indeed white, it's going to be hard to avoid blue or yellow tones, respectively.
I have to disagree - respectfully. Your example looks way off to my eye. The blue is unnatural and makes the tablecloth look plastic or reflective. The blue shadows under the plates, etc. look contrived. Color balance is a subjective thing, and my preference would be the first example (though a bit too warm to my eye)
Originally posted by Bear_Music:
Here's a much more neutral rendering from your warmer example. Steps in image notes. No masking needed.From this point, of course, you could do another hue/sat layer on a mask of the window and bring some oomph back there.
Both of the originals are extremes due to the lighting conditions. One for the interior, one for the exterior, with the blue tinge being exacerbated by the time of day. As a result, any compromise after the fact is just that, a compromise. Robert did a good job at dealing with such a disparity, but it's always going to be a compromise. You could've probably gotten a better result if you used a bare flash into the ceiling to drown out the interior lights, the flash having a cooler wb than the tungsten lighting on scene.
Point being... after the fact... only so much you can do.
I have to disagree - respectfully. Your example looks way off to my eye. The blue is unnatural and makes the tablecloth look plastic or reflective. The blue shadows under the plates, etc. look contrived. Color balance is a subjective thing, and my preference would be the first example (though a bit too warm to my eye)
Yah, it was just a quickie. Those blue shadows can be fixed easily with some color masking. The main thing I was showing is that the table can be rendered pretty much neutral without having the window view go amok. I didn't work on the shadows at all.
