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I read that those street lights cause such extreme red during night shots. I've done a lot of clicks with different combinations and yet I get that red on my photos. I read that when it's done, it's done. I could only edit such effect through Post Processing. Somehow I did manage to do so but only to some of my shots. And with my limited knowledge of Post Processing, it's really frustrating not being able to get the right color. Although, somehow the extreme red or extreme blue works on some images. But not all of them. Is there way to fix this? I really much prefer not to edit them much.


IMG_0440 by phoenix_jackson2002, on Flickr

What can I do to improve this image along with avoiding that red thing?

Canon EOS 60D
f/11
30 sec
ISO 400
WB -1.7
18mm
No Flash

Please help.[/img]

The problem is that you're dealing with mixed light sources. All lights have a different "temperature" and the reds/oranges you're dealing with are likely coming from sodium-vapour lighting in street lamps... it's cheap and it's effective, but it's uuuugly. It's also really annoying because it emits narrow-spectrum light so even if you correct the white balance on the shot, your tones are still screwed up when in the "correct" colour.

My solution to shooting under sodium-vapour lighting? Black and white conversion...

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I see. So there really is no easy fix for this.

But if I may add for more inquiry...

If I focus on correcting that shrine's color against that red thing through white balance, I'd use pre-programmed Tungsten, correct? But then if the red is still too intense, how do I manually (I can only assume 'manual' is the only means) fix it to get the right color?

Besides black and white, I was thinking of shooting at different shades and superimpose each of them, just to get the right color... which I really hate because I feel like such a process defeats the purpose of manually setting the camera. Or am I wrong?

Yes, the other option is to manually set your white balance for the differing lights and blend in photoshop.

Either manually on site, or from RAW with the single shot.

what i would do, is edit 2 photos. 1 with the colour temperature corrected for one light source, and the second photo correcter for the other.

put both photos in photoshop layered on top of each other, and using a 'layer mask' mask out appropriate bits. (i.e. if you have corrected for the red street lights, mask out the moon and all other light sources so that the photo where you have corrected for them shows through).

that may have made less sens than i was intending, but have a play around with layers in photoshop and im sure you will get it.

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Hi Phoenix Jackson,

Yep - we've all been there and will be again

Other options to consider:
1) Make adjustment in only the red channel. In photoshop you can work on the R, G or B channel separately.
2) I forget the name of the software (got it at home in a photo-magazine) where you can to targeted color shifts...think of it as an easy-to-use interface to what I have suggested above.
3) While red light is SUPPOSED to show up as red in a picture...lol...I find that a custom white balance adjustment - i.e. a WB reference shot - yields a better result.

Good luck!

Cheers

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Nikon stuff and other stuff, but not nearly as much stuff as I really want!

Thank you very much for the suggestions. I guess there really is no remedy but to use editing tools.

I'll try all your suggestions and see what works best for me.

also when you shoot try not to blow out your highlights this will give you more control over your image in post.

Also try shooting on the incandescent white balance setting as this will reduce the red/yellow but will result in more saturated blues.

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