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Adjust colour/brightness of multiple photos

M

mrbash

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 10, 2008
251
1
Hi,

I have a number of photographs taken at different places and different lighting.

I was wondering if there is a way to automatically adjust the brightness and colour profile of the photographs so that they are the same?

I realize I can do this manually by looking at each picture and the colour graph of each photo, but I wonder if there is a feature that can automatically bring a bunch of photos to "close enough" range?

I am Lightroom 3.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
 
F

flynz4

macrumors 68040
Aug 9, 2009
3,242
126
Portland, OR
mrbash said:
Hi,

I have a number of photographs taken at different places and different lighting.

I was wondering if there is a way to automatically adjust the brightness and colour profile of the photographs so that they are the same?

I realize I can do this manually by looking at each picture and the colour graph of each photo, but I wonder if there is a feature that can automatically bring a bunch of photos to "close enough" range?

I am Lightroom 3.

Thanks in advance for any assistance.
Click to expand...

With Aperture 3, you can trivially lift corrections from one image, and then stamp them across any set of pictures. I would expect that LR3 offers similar functions.

/Jim
 
Designer Dale

Designer Dale

macrumors 68040
Mar 25, 2009
3,950
100
Folding space
flynz4 said:
With Aperture 3, you can trivially lift corrections from one image, and then stamp them across any set of pictures. I would expect that LR3 offers similar functions.

/Jim
Click to expand...

This works with photos that have similar exposures and lighting like shots for a mountain range panorama. If the lighting and exposures are different, they need to be adjusted separately. There are Auto settings for Levels that might work OK, but I would need to know more about the photos first.

Dale
 
M

mrbash

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 10, 2008
251
1
Designer Dale said:
This works with photos that have similar exposures and lighting like shots for a mountain range panorama. If the lighting and exposures are different, they need to be adjusted separately. There are Auto settings for Levels that might work OK, but I would need to know more about the photos first.

Dale
Click to expand...

That is exactly my issue. If I copy the settings form one picture to another, it does not work because the base properties are different.

I am unsure what information you need about the photos but here is what I have:

I have a number of photographs of a baby. Each under different lighting conditions (hence different brightness and colours). All of them are indoor and about the same distance. All of them have been taken with the same lens. I want to print the photographs so that the baby has the same tone and brightness in all of the prints.
 
mtbdudex

mtbdudex

macrumors 68030
Aug 28, 2007
2,669
4,113
SE Michigan
Can you do this:
do your best PP on one, use the 3 eyedroppers (white/black/grey) to apply that to the others..

I've never done this, but this would be my starting point.....

I'd also like to see other solutions.

I can say when I've taken panorama of a snow scene with 10 images I had better luck with manual PP the exposure setting visually so they look very-very close rather than letting the CS5 try and blend them.
Other exposures it seems to do a good job, but snow it struggled with and I could see the blends in the sky.
 
Last edited:
K

kevinfulton.ca

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2011
284
1
Why not just create your own presets and apply them to all the photos that are similar? Here's my work flow:

1. Create a new Project
2. Create a "keepers" folder and move all of the best into that folder (optional)
3. For each setup I start and after I make my adjustments I save them as a preset and apply them to the rest of the photos from the setup.

This will save you a few hours at least. Maybe work on your own presets (indoor, landscape etc.) and just apply them as needed. Then you can just do small tweaks of your favorites. Does that work?

----------

Just realized that you said Lightroom 3. Unfortunately I'm in Aperture 3. lol! I'm almost positive that Lightroom should have a preset feature or they may even call it "actions" if they stick to the Photoshop lingo. Hope this helps!
 
M

mrbash

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 10, 2008
251
1
kevinfulton.ca said:
Why not just create your own presets and apply them to all the photos that are similar? Here's my work flow:

1. Create a new Project
2. Create a "keepers" folder and move all of the best into that folder (optional)
3. For each setup I start and after I make my adjustments I save them as a preset and apply them to the rest of the photos from the setup.

This will save you a few hours at least. Maybe work on your own presets (indoor, landscape etc.) and just apply them as needed. Then you can just do small tweaks of your favorites. Does that work?

----------

Just realized that you said Lightroom 3. Unfortunately I'm in Aperture 3. lol! I'm almost positive that Lightroom should have a preset feature or they may even call it "actions" if they stick to the Photoshop lingo. Hope this helps!
Click to expand...

Again, presets only work if the initial values for the picture are the same. In this case they are not.
 
Designer Dale

Designer Dale

macrumors 68040
Mar 25, 2009
3,950
100
Folding space
mrbash said:
That is exactly my issue. If I copy the settings form one picture to another, it does not work because the base properties are different.

I am unsure what information you need about the photos but here is what I have:

I have a number of photographs of a baby. Each under different lighting conditions (hence different brightness and colours). All of them are indoor and about the same distance. All of them have been taken with the same lens. I want to print the photographs so that the baby has the same tone and brightness in all of the prints.
Click to expand...

OK. Photos of people. That's pretty much what I was wondering, it's a different approach from landscapes or whatever. You want to match skin color and eyes as best as possible, so you might try this:

Take one of the images and adjust it to what pleases you. Command-click one of the other images to put them both in the same window (this is Aperture). Adjust the other to visually match and do the same with any others.

Dale
 
K

kevinfulton.ca

macrumors 6502
Aug 29, 2011
284
1
I think I'm just having a tough time understanding what you're after. Are you looking for an "auto-adjust"? Or an auto-adjust followed by a certain adjustment style? By that I mean something that will standardize the exposures, and such, for all the photos and THEN apply a look. Is that right? Sorry, I'm in between coffees and doing my best to help. ;)

----------
OK. Photos of people. That's pretty much what I was wondering, it's a different approach from landscapes or whatever. You want to match skin color and eyes as best as possible, so you might try this:

Take one of the images and adjust it to what pleases you. Command-click one of the other images to put them both in the same window (this is Aperture). Adjust the other to visually match and do the same with any others.

Dale
Click to expand...

This is what I meant with my previous post. Sorry if it got confusing :)
 
TheDrift-

TheDrift-

macrumors 6502a
Mar 8, 2010
879
1,400
I think I understand what your after...

cant see any short cuts from adjusting each one individually though (well not unless you convert them all to B and W, or use a certain style eg cross process them all or tint them all).

I'd start with:

  • Whitebalance (temp) and tint controls

If that didnt work maybe have to get a little more hard core:

  • Selective colour (if you have PS)
  • Hue Sat
  • Curves
 
M

mrbash

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Aug 10, 2008
251
1
TheDrift- said:
I think I understand what your after...

cant see any short cuts from adjusting each one individually though (well not unless you convert them all to B and W, or use a certain style eg cross process them all or tint them all).

I'd start with:

  • Whitebalance (temp) and tint controls

If that didnt work maybe have to get a little more hard core:

  • Selective colour (if you have PS)
  • Hue Sat
  • Curves
Click to expand...

I think that is what I am going to have to do. Most of these pictures were in a Hospital and I didn't have the presence of mind to bring my Grey Card. If I had done that, I think things would be much simpler for me.
 
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