This is what I captured and therefore began with. I had my model standing indoors under a tungsten lightbulb and behind her was a window where there was daylight shining. They were my two light sources so now I just needed to make the image suitable for both:
I began by opening up the Raw file in Photoshop but firstly it takes you into Camera Raw before Photoshop. Here I then went through the settings on the side bar and took all the Adobe Presets away such as the camera Profile and the Sharpening as I don't want or need this. I then made the image into a Smart Object as well:
I began by focusing on white balancing my model under the tungsten light. I unfortunately do not own a Grey Card so was unable to use a grey card for the white balance however because there was some grey on her t-shirt in this image I used the white balance sampler on this grey area. This gave me a rough white balance:
This white balance was better however I felt like it was a bit too blue on her so I then began customising it by moving the sliders slightly from where they were to make it a little less blue and therefore a truer representation. I also while doing this began adjusting the exposure slightly too as she had a bit too many shadows going on making her loose details:
I was much happier with he white balance on her now however I still felt the exposure and lighting wasn't quite how I wanted it. I began playing with the exposure sliders more and also the contrast as well to get it rite. I used the indicators on the Histogram and the Histogram itself to help me do this:
I did one final adjustment of the shadows as I was still not happy with this and again while doing so I took the Indicators and the Histogram into account:
Now that I was happy with my image I then opened it up as an object into Photoshop. I then in Photoshop right clicked this layer/object and selected 'New Smart Object Via Copy' which meant I now had tow objects of this one image layered on top of one another:
I then doubled clicked on the object copy so that I was able to now go into this with Camera Raw and adjust the white balance for the background now. I began by trying out the white balance sampler on the background but due to having no decent grey areas this was harder and didn't work as effectively:
I then tried using the presets for the background to see if the appropriate ones of these worked any better. Unfortunately they did not so I again took the approach to use the White Balance Sampler/pipette again on the background but then from the basic white balance it gave me just customise it slightly myself with the sliders again:
It now looked a lot brighter which was what I was kind of hoping for. I then went and saved this as a snapshot incase I needed to refer back to these settings at any point:
This then meant I could compare my two white balances to one another and check I was happy with it all. Once I was I opened this object back up in Photoshop so now I had the two smart objects layered but white balanced differently for two different areas/light sources:
I then added a mask to my top layer so that I could begin bending the two images together. I used the magnetic lasso at first to create a basic mask around my model like so:
I felt like the edges were too rough and sharp here though so in order to improve this I used a softer brush to refine the edges as best as I could:
I then realised after working on this image for a while that I had somehow caused a layering issue for myself where by one of my objects had converted back to a normal file instead of the smart object making it not work as well. I needed to resolve this by reimporting in my smart object with the setting I wanted and then moving the mask to apply to the new smart object and deleting out the normal layer:
Now that my layer issue has been fixed I went back in a carried on refining the mask further. I did this using the refine mask window/tool which used a red filter so I could much more easily see what I had done:
I then completed a last few adjustments to the background layer back in Camera Raw because now I've seen the two white balances side by side I realised it looked less natural so I wanted to fix this:
I am now fully happy with this image, Here is a final screen shot of it in photoshop all completed:
Now that I am happy with this first image using this workflow I then moved on to edit my other 4.
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Here is the next image I edited:
Again with this image I had one model stand under a tungsten light inside the window and then I had another model sit outside in the daylight. I set my camera setting accordingly and then open up the Raw file in Camera Raw. Once in Camera Raw I then made the file into smart object like so:
Now that it was a smart object I then wanted to remove all of Adobes presets again as I do not want or need these on my image:
Then I began playing with the white balance in particular focusing on my model in the foreground under the tungsten light. If I put the White balance to as shot I found ti was far too orange on her skin:
I then used the Tungsten White Balance Preset as this what the type of light she was under. I had no grey on her to pipet with the sampler this time but I found the Tungsten Pre-set did a good job:
I then decided to customise the White Balance slightly form here as I found the temperature on her was now a little too blue. I pulled it back towards the yellow again slightly to achieve a more realistic skin tone:
From here I then started to adjust the highlights and exposure to make sure it was bright enough to see all the detail in her face:
Now that I was happy with the white balance and exposure of my foreground model I opened up the object in Photoshop and again created a New Smart Object via copy so that I had two objects of this same image layered on top of one another:
I then clicked on the duplicated smart object which let me go back into Camera Raw. Here I then began White Balancing the background area and model in the background. Because she was wearing a grey jumper I used the pipet to sample an area of the grey to white balance using this:
This was now a better white balance for the background however I felt like it still wasn't quite rite so I then began slightly adjusting it using the temperature slider. I also played with the exposure setting too to try and get it to look as natural as possible:
When I then compared this to the foreground which I had previously white balanced I felt like it was maybe too washed out and I still didn't feel it was correct so I went back and adjusted the setting using the basic sliders again:
Now I was happy with it I then opened this object back up in Photoshop. I then added a mask to the top layer so I could begin blending them together. I decided to use the a slightly soft paintbrush to again begin masking the foreground out as this worked most effectively last time:
I then knew I needed to refine the edges of this mask so I went into the mask area and again using the red indicator to help began refining the edges of this mask:
Once I was happy with the mask I saved this photoshop file. Here is a screen hot of my finished masked image:
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Here is the next image which I then began working with using this work flow:
This image was taken just after it got dark and I was originally wanting two light sources. One begin the last bit of day light left and the other being the fluorescent lights shining down on the building/model. However these lights were not very bright at all and therefore were not being very effective at casting light where I wanted it. Instead I tried using a flash to light the foreground as a flash has a similar temperature to the flu resent lights here anyway. This worked a lot more effectively and created an edgy street photography image which I liked. I then opened this image up in Camera Raw and began by making it a Smart Object like so:
Once it was a smart object I then de-adobed it as well taking away all the adobe presets as I did not want or need these:
I then began white balancing and began by focusing on the foreground area where the flash had hit the building and my model etc. As I had no get areas available to me I wasn't able to use the sampling method. Instead I began by looking through the White Balance presets. Flash worked really well as obviously this was what I had used when taking the photo:
I then returned my exposure back to normal as it had already changed some of these options for me however I felt it was too dark:
This then led me to put the exposure up very slightly. I had the red and blue indicators on to detect too bright highlights and too dark shadows so I was using this to help me along with the histogram. However the lights on the buildings themselves were indicated in red to say they were too bright but this was unavoidable as they were the light source and however dark I dropped it the indicator still wouldn't disappear. I felt the detail of the actual image was more important so I adjusted the exposure according to this. I also put the contrast up slightly as I wanted the graffiti to stand out on the building:
Now I was happy with how the foreground of this image looked I opened it up as an object in Photoshop. I then created a new smart object via copy so that I had two smart objects layered on top of one another:
I then opened up the duplicate object in Camera Raw so that I was able to start white balancing the background:
Again I had no grey to sample so I began by working with the presets seeing which one worked most effectively. I settled on cloudy as this also was how it was when I took the photo and it also wasn't as dark as it appeared to be in the photo:
I then began customising the white balance working from this cloudy preset as I felt it was slightly too blue. I made it as realistic as I could:
I then began to lift the exposure because I could see by the histogram that a lot of clipping was occurring in the dark background areas:
Now that I was happy with how the background looked I opened it back up in photoshop. I then added a mask to this top object so I can begin to blend them together. I began simply with a soft brush to begin masking the foreground floor area so it blends into the background. I also played with the idea of lassoing out the building:
I then realised the best way to mask the building was to use the mask section of photoshop where I would be able to refine my lasso and brush areas much more like so:
I then refined this again in this masking area with a soft brush tool till I was happy with how it blended. On some of the harsh edges of the building I used a brush to soften these up and blend them more:
Here is a screen shot of my finished image masked:
This image was harder to mask and white balance as it was a lot more complex and darker but I felt like I was able to do a good job on it it just too me a bit longer to get there.
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Here is the next image which I began editing using this workflow:
This image was again of the building in the part however I did not have a model in this image neither did I use a flash. It is very underexposed and dark but that is why I wanted to edit it in this way because not only can I white balance for the fluorescent building lights and for the dusk/daylight but I can adjust the exposure in both these areas too. I began by opening this Raw file up into Camera Raw and making it into a Smart Object again:
Then I began looking at the white balance of the background sky and landscape as this initially easiest to see. Again their was no where to sample so I instead went through the presets. However the best preset that seemed to work was As Shot because I had my camera set accordingly for this. I did adjust it slightly from As Shot because I felt it was a little too blue:
I then used the histogram and clipping indicators to adjust the exposure setting of the background till it looked as realistic as possible to me:
When I was happy I then opened the object up and in Photoshop and again created a Smart Object Via copy:
Now that I have two objects layered I clicked on the duplicate to go back into Camera Raw with this file so I could begin white balancing the foreground and the building. I began firstly though by bringing the exposure up so I could see it much better. Again I used the histogram and indicators to help with this:
I again then started liking through the presets for the best white balance and as expected Fluorescent worked the best due to the fluorescent lights on the building:
When I was happy I then opened this object back up in Photoshop and added a mask to the top layer/object so that I could begin blending them together:
I the went into the mask and select mode and began by using the polygon lasso to cut out the building as this seemed like the best way to begin:
I then felt like the edges were far too sharp here and it didn't blend very well. I decided to take a soft brush and begin blending the edges together with this and then further refining it:
I then softened the whole mask slightly to just make the image fit together a bit better:
Here is a screen shot of this finished image masked and balanced as best as I can:
This was again a bit harder image to balance and mask because of how complex and dark it was however I am happy that I have managed it. I also am happy I was able to fix my exposure so easily due to it being a Raw file.
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Here is my final image which I used with this workflow:
I took a slightly different approach with this image and went and shot outside in sunshine as I wanted to try it on a slightly different less dark image. I decided to use the sunlight as a good way to create one white balance compared to my model being in the shade which would need a different white balance. I began by open the Raw file of this image up in Camera Raw and making it into a Smart Object:
Then as with all the image I de-adobed it by taking away all the adobe presets it had added for me as I didn't want or need them:
I began by focusing on the white balance for my model in the shade. I decided to actually leave it As Shot because I had already set my camera to a Shade White balance. Instead I just changed the exposure slightly to make her a little bit brighter as we are loosing some of details. Clipping did occur in the background as I brought the exposure up but I would be coming back to this next so that was okay for this object:
Now that I was happy with this foreground section I opened the object up in photoshop and created smart object via copy so now I have two layered on top of one another. I then opened up the duplicate smart object back in Camera Raw so that I can begin editing this one to make the white balance and exposure correct for the background sunshine areas. I began by starting with the biggest problem which was the exposure. I brought this down and used the histogram and clipping indicators to help me get this rite:
I then began using the white balance presets and set it to Daylight as this was obviously what it was and therefore worked the best. However I felt like the tone was still slightly off so I did customise it slightly to make it as realistic as I could:
Now that I was happy with the background I opened it back in photoshop and added a mask to the top layer so that I could begin blending:
As the shape of her was quite awkward I decided the best approach would be to begin using a brush tool and going close up to make sure I have masked out her as best as I can like this:
I then moved into the refining mask mode where I was able to use the refining tool to improve the edges of my mask especially on really detailed areas like her face and hair:
Here is a screen shot of the finished mask and edit of this image:
I was happy with this image as I felt you could see much more detail in it now and the colours were much truer.
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I felt this task has really helped me explore the amazing possibilities of Raw files and what you can do with them which I never knew. I also feel like it has helped me improve my judgment on white balance and has made me more confident when it comes to using masks as I have never felt confident in this before. I feel my image are a good exploration of this technique.
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