Blending and Color Correcting Assignment

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Chris Willow works her sewing needles around the cap she is making in the Columbia Public Library in Columbia, Mo. on March 18, 2015. Willow is part of a group that she calls "Yeow" which means yarn every other week. The group meets every other Wednesday to work on sewing projects. "It slows down this time of year, but it picks up again when the weather gets cold," Willow said.

This was my very first experience with blending the color temperatures of light outside of the studio. I have worked with gels before to create a color cast in studio lighting situations, but I have never done it in a less controllable environment. I struggled with getting the lighting correct because each of the places I went had multiple light color temperatures.

            For my first take, I went to El Rancho on Broadway. The lighting above the eating area was tungsten bulbs and the lights above the place that the orders are taken and the food is assembled were florescent tubes. The lights above the grill were also tungsten bulbs. I was able to avoid having the tungsten light in my scene so I was able to balance to just the florescent bulbs.

            In my second take, I wanted to shoot in the greenhouses on campus. They have a very distinct color to their grow lights and they are all the same. I went to talk to the people about photographing the greenhouses and found out they are all restricted and off-limits to anyone outside of the program. They are doing research for Monsanto and they are keeping a tight lid on access. I ended up at the Columbia Public Library. This also proved to be difficult because they too have multiple types of lighting. I was able find a place that was mostly one form of lighting and balanced to that.

            This was the most difficult assignment thus far. It was extremely difficult to get my exposure right. In some I had the flash too strong so I would stop it down. Then the photo was too dark. Then I would lower the shutter speed to increase the exposure and to also allow more of the room light to hit the sensor. It was a very troublesome chain of events. I understand the concept completely. It is just the application that I had trouble with. If I had to do it again, I would look for a place that only had one type of lighting in it. It was also difficult to find people that would let me photograph them in the library. But I managed to find two ladies that let me.