To perfect the style in achieving Natural Radiance it's essential to get our subjects and background radiating colors that support the message and story found in our pictures and to ensure that when viewed our minds register the color as "correct". While we may wish to have the definition of correct as wholly objective, the most "correct" rendering is based on our artistic direction and how color is perceived as opposed to analytically measured.
Assessing the "true" color of each element in any scene can be quite complicated. This is because the actual color that comes from each point in an image is a combination of both the subject's "intrinsic" color and the light by which it is illuminated. When we consider that each image may be the combination of not just a wide spans of subject colors, but also a spectrum of light that is distributed across the scene, we realize that we are often working with a vast composite - with no singular "correct" adjustment that will satisfy the entire image.
When we take a picture, our cameras, the scene is registered and the camera determines a nominal color temperature and tone which is saved with each picture we take. We also have two other options. We can turn off auto-white balance, and set the camera to a pre-determined color temperature, or we can also place a white balance card at a point in the scene where we would like to specifically set color temperature and have the camera read and set the specific color temperature at this spot. Alternatively, we can take a picture of the white balance card and then let our editing software determine the exact color balance at this spot when we do our editing.
Informing ourselves about the the color of the light that illuminates our subjects helps steer us in the right direction. In the end, the color balance data does not actually affect the raw images that we take, but rather moves us toward adjusting the how the image is transformed in the editing process. In the end, it is our creative intent that can always govern.
Individual Color Perception
In the days of printing color from film, we had to manually correct color, both for the film stock used, as well as for other processing conditions. We did this with the use of yellow, magenta and cyan filters of differing density, and placed them above the film in the enlarger head. Through this process, I began to develop a sensitivity to determining if there was any particular color cast to the pictures that I printed.
Digitally, adjusting color balance, both temperature (blue-yellow) and tone (green-magenta) is done by moving a slider to change a value. This is quite easy to do. The real challenge is developing a sensitivity for assessing where we need to change color balance in our images. The best example I can use is to relate this process to music and pitch. My wife is quite musical, and can instantly tell when an instrument or voice is performing off-pitch, either too sharp or too flat. Bring off-pitch is something I really can hear nearly to the same degree that she can. The same is true with color balance. Not everyone has the same sensitivity to what is good color - in fact, a significant group of individuals are actually color blind, just as many are tone deaf.
The good news is that for many of us, we can develop our sense of "color correctness". This has been true for me. Starting from processing prints from film I took this level of color persception and began digital editing. Over the last several years and 10's of thousands of images, my visual persception of color has improved significantly. From time-to-time I take occasion to go and re-edit pictures from a year or two back and am quite pleased with the improved results that I can now achieve. Here's four tips that have significantly helped me.
After initial editing, let your images sit for a day or two or more, then return afresh and see if you changes are warranted. Generally, we come back more objective and are able to make meaning adjustments.
As needed, break your images into sub portions which require individual edits. Contributes can be how subject in the shade will need to be corrected for there specific lighting. It's also not uncommon for some subjects to be deeper in the shade than others. Color balance is often effected by light passing through trees with green leaves or reflecting off grass, giving a notable green tint, which his heightened for those with light complexion and cast across blonde hair. Thankfully, as of Adobe Lightroom 12.3, selecting and editing specific elements in our photos has become dramatically easier, due to new artificial intelligence (AI) based editing tools.
Show and share your work to others - those in the pictures, family and friends. Ask them what they see. Do the colors come across correctly as they see it?
Post your images beyond what you view in your editing software. You can post them to a website and/or print them to share and display. When we move our images outside of editing we view them in a new and often more critical light. This often invites new discovery in our editing capabilities.
There are many artistic factors to consider with regards to how we might wish to alter our the colors that we ultimately bring out in our pictures. Those who have strong artistic background can teach us about color pairing with complimentary or adjacent color schemes. This can be as simple as when we color match our clothing for a family picture. Those involved in landscape photography often look for matching across the landscape and into the clouds and sky.
One important consideration. Just as we often use a limited depth of field to reduce complexity in our images and bring focus to the subject, reducing color complexity can have a similar effect. The ultimate expression of a reduced color pallet - and the most simple form of "color paring" is B&W. An excellent landscape presentation on this can be found here: https://fstoppers.com/landscapes/how-managing-color-can-improve-your-landscape-photos-627323.
