matching tones

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sjordan93436
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Postby sjordan93436 » Thu Nov 03, 2011 7:34 pm

I have a series of modest photos all taken with same exposure and lighting.  When I fix and enhance in PS, I go through several steps.  If I were doing this in LightRoom, I could copy and paste my settings.  In PS, it is not so easy.

This is an exercise for my education rather than fix these photos.

Alternative 1:  Open all images.  Fix one, remember the steps, Revert.  Then go fix 1 then 2 then 3 then 4 using the same steps and load and save curves. 

Is there another alternative.  They would be viewed as a series.

Different problem:  Multiple photos of the same subject in different lighting and settings.  Prime example weddings (I am NOT a wedding photographer).  You could color correct the bride (and her dress?) with perhaps a white balance card.  The do some pins.  Then fix the other photos close.  And final pass to nudge the color to match.  I think that is too much work.  Do people do that?

ggroess
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Postby ggroess » Mon Nov 07, 2011 4:32 pm

Not speaking for anyone else here Steve...

I tackle you two issues in the following way...

Issue 1:  since the lighting and exposure are similar I would correct 1 image to my satisfaction.  Making notes on the PS steps and settings as I went.  In a general sense PS will "remember" the last settings applied through a filter like Sharpening or Noise.  CM will save the curves you apply to the image so you can re-load them from the load button.  I generally use 2 to 3 curves for images.  1 or 2 for color and 1 for color boost.  Many times I have an RGB curve for correctness then a LAB for color boost and a CMYK for a final color tweak if I find any specific issues.  CM labels then (image number_color space.acv) so you can apply them on a second image in the correct order.  It gets pretty mechanical after the first image or two but the color and saturation should look consistent

Issue 2: because it is a wedding I generally correct each image separately.  The expectation is that the dress would be correct and the skin tones would look the same. consistent color in the flowers also helps.  Many people will accept a slight warm shift to the skin if the flowers and dress look good.      One of the trick I use in weddings is a little nudge to the K channel in CMYK color to make any blacks look good in the clothing.  Sometimes black suits look blue under flash.  If the images are candid and quick I spend less time on them than the formal posed images.  The snappy quick image will generally delight the viewer.  Make sure you have full tonal range and well saturated colors .

hope this helps...
Greg 

sjordan93436
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Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 4:23 am
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Postby sjordan93436 » Tue Nov 08, 2011 6:31 pm

Thanks Greg.  Good tips. 

I have added blacks via CMYK at the end, but not enough.  I get "lazy" sometimes.  or forgetful.  Good tip.


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