Help with fixing lighting in picture

[Fireball]

Took this today of a new church opening with it's members indoors (the front of the church isn't finished to take outdoors, too bad!) and the sanctuary is all warm yellow tones. I had big windows on either side, tungsten high ceiling lighting, two of my continuous lights on either side and my flash. Needless to say, trying to get the white balance right was impossible. At least I don't know enough to do it!

Anyways, can someone explain how to get the highlights/yellow out of this photo, mainly the people's faces? I have Photoshop Elements 6? And the other question is, why aren't the people in sharp focus? I focused in the middle of the group with a 17-40mm lens. Don't understand that.

Anyway, I'd appreciate any feedback. They're actually wanting to blow this up to a 16x20 for their foyer!

[JohnT]

It's a little hard to tell anything about this image at this size. Can you post it bigger? Maybe 900px wide?

[CaptainTom]

what was your shutter speed and aperture ?

camera shake ?
My 17-40L is sharpest at f8.
Tripod used ?

[bondarnes]

Sorry, but EVERYTHING CANNOT BE FIXED IN PHOTOSHOP!! Plus you didn't give permission for your images to be edited. I don't mean to be cruel, but this is another case of a well meaning ill-prepared amateur attempting to do a professionals job. Why would you attempt such an undertaking? If you shot this in RAW there might still be a little hope.

[janetg]

Charrie - the first step in asking for help - is to change your 'can others edit my pictures' to yes. step 2, is posting a larger image. the one you have is so small there is not way to answer any of your questions. please be assured the folks on this forum are not into stealing photographs, so feel free to post larger.

as don asked - did you at least shoot raw?

[Fireball]

Well thanks for kicking a gal when she's already down, Don. Appreciate that "constructive" criticism. I'm already to the point where I'm ready to throw in the towel as far as going pro. And to think that just this week I was talked into getting a pro smugmug account so people could buy my prints! Guess I've got confirmation to go cancel that now.

I was a member of this church for many years and am close friends with alot of these people. They know that I'm not a PRO yet and this was supposed to be outside (where I have alot more experience) but this week piles and piles of dirt were unloaded around the church, thus the pastor moved it indoors without even so much as a forewarning and we live 40 min. away so it wasn't like I could prepare, you know?

No, I didn't shoot in raw because I would know even less about that. They're having their grand opening in a few weeks so I'm going to give the pastor an 8x10 of what I have and try for another shoot in front of the church outdoors.

[danm]

i have had luck at times desaturating just the yellows to combat this problem. but these were dark late night bar atmosphere type of things so i didn't have yellow or gold tones in the rest of the picture. maybe you could cut the people into their own layer and then desaturate? i dunno that may all be ridiculous, but probably worth a try

[bondarnes]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Well thanks for kicking a gal when she's already down, Don.......... They're having their grand opening in a few weeks so I'm going to give the pastor an 8x10 of what I have and try for another shoot in front of the church outdoors.

I apologize for being so brutally honest, but honestly a pro would come prepared for indoors or out. And lest you think that outdoors with a group like this is easier let me tell you that it can be even worse. Give me indoors where I can be in charge of the light.

Do you know which way you will face them and where the sun will be? You might end up with everyone squinting into the sun or worse they are facing South and the sun is brightly lighting half of every face and putting the other half into complete shadow.

Tell me the date of the next shoot and maybe I will drive up and help.

[Fireball]

Thanks but no thanks!

[Daniel Bates]

If you can post a higher resolution picture, I'd like to try my hand at fixing it. I haven't had a good PS workout in a few months.

[ndsimm]

Charrie,
I'm sorry you were offended by Don's honesty, but he is absolutely correct. I appreciate you trying to help your former Church family and you should be commended for your effort, but for a shot as important as this (I've done the same thing for my former Church), you really should have gotten some assistance
I know you may not want to hear it, but, to turn down Don's offer for assistance is another mistake. The man knows what he is doing and honestly only wants to see you get better so I hope you reconsider...

[Fireball]

Appreciate the offers, but I'll muddle my way through and find a solution. If I was local, I'd definitely take someone up on the offer. Just live and learn, right?

[robert t]

If you were using a Canon ETTL flash, it was just trying to fill in where ambient light fell short, so you had blue from the flash and the outside light bouncing around on the brown wood walls and mixing with the red from the indoor light. You may not have had the equipment to do this, turn off the indoor light and re-light the room with a few more flash units, shoot in raw, use a white card and white balance the camera first. I don't use Elements so I can't help there, but Lightroom will let you sample a white object and it will then try and shift the colors. It can fix so problems but not all the time.

The blur may be from the image being shot at 1/15 according to the exif info some of the people could have moved ever so slightly.

It was a small image but it tweaked it some, not sure if you can see a change. It was too small to zoom in to.

PS don't give up so easy, keep that camera and keep it clicking.

[AndrewCCM]

I would most definitely think that the sharpness issue is the shutter speed. 1/15 for a portrait of numerous people is fairly impossible IMHO.

Shooting something like this requires careful placement of off camera flashes typically. When in really bad mixed lighting, you can either gel your flashes to match or if several different sources/color temps, you can use your flash as your key/main light and overpower the ambient light. However, managing shadows becomes more problematic.

BTW: Don't let criticism get you down. This and any other art form requires fairly thick skin if you post your work. Everyone starts somewhere and the fact that you are asking questions is a good thing. You'll only get better.

[texkam]

Charrie,
May I suggest you look at all this from the positive side. First, you did a very nice thing taking on this challenge. You're fine, your church understands you are not a professional. They will be delighted with the results. You're being critical because you care about your new craft. Hey at least you can see the problems with the photo. You'd be amazed at the people who can't tell bad from good. I have found this forum to be quite helpful. Yes, these professionals can be bluntly honest but I find that to be a good thing. I don't think any harm was meant (group hug). No one starts out an expert. You are going through the same thing we all went through, a learning curve and guess what, that never ends. Photography is challenging, just listen to some of the wedding posts OMG. If you are passionate you will learn and improve. Someday you will be able to share the lessons you learn along the way to help others improve. I wish you all the best and I think your fellow shooters do as well.

Now, for a possible solution. First, feel free to be honest with them. Show them a small print and explain the challenge the tricky lighting presented. They'll be able to appreciate the skill involved. Second, print it up as a black and white or even a nice sepia tone print. This could look very elegant. I think they'll love it. Third, if someone offers their wisdom and experience, go for it. Let us know how it works out. Good luck and keep shootin'.