Uneven lighting

About two weeks ago I went to the Cavalcade of Customs (car show) in Cincinnati. The cars didn't turn out too great (minus a few) due to the nature of an indoor car show. However there was a BMX show to go along with it which gave me a chance to try out my 70-200mm f/2.8L in low-light action. I am overall please with the results, except for the uneven color balance in the pictures due to the flickering of the lights. Does anyone know of some post-processing techniques to help fix this?





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Canon 50D w/ EF 70-200mm f/2.8L @ 98mm 1/320s f/2.8 ISO 1600

There is no easy way that I know of. You'd have to make a layer mask and do it by hand

It's times like these I'm actually glad I'm colorblind...because things like that just don't annoy me (but only because I can't see what's wrong with the image!). :-D

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Originally Posted by alex.krebiehl

except for the uneven color balance in the pictures due to the flickering of the lights. Does anyone know of some post-processing techniques to help fix this?

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None that I know of. If it was some kind of defect or problem, then it might be fixable, but the camera did everything perfect: it captured the scene just as it appeared in real life. (Or at least, what it would look like if our eyes could see a single 1/320 frame.)

Nuking the ambient light with strobes would also fix the problem (:

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Originally Posted by crosbyharbison

Nuking the ambient light with strobes would also fix the problem (:
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I just tried that and it didn't help. I grabbed a bunch of high-powered strobes, set them up all around, and fired them continuously as I post-processed the photos. Didn't work for me. [;)]

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Originally Posted by alex.krebiehl

Does anyone know of some post-processing techniques to help fix this?

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Originally Posted by Daniel Browning

(Or at least, what it would look like if our eyes could see a single 1/320 frame.)

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for the brief moment that your computer screen looks bright white the problem is solved...

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Originally Posted by alex.krebiehl

I am overall please with the results, except for the uneven color balance in the pictures due to the flickering of the lights. Does anyone know of some post-processing techniques to help fix this?

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You are talking about the uneven color you are capturing that is caused by the 60 cycle power supply to the HID lighting. If you have your camera on rapid fire you will notice the uneven color moving in your pictures. One shot it is on top, the next in the midle and the next on the bottom. Some lights are worse than others.I find it very anoying but I do not know how to avoid it or fix it. I have found that doing a custom white balance helps to reduce it but does not eliminate it.


Mark

Daniel, After you quick experiment you didn't go blind did you? [;)]