Matching color temp between two photos

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Level 2

274 points

Matching color temp between two photos

I'm a bit of an Aperture beginner, so forgive me if this is a stupid question...

I have two photos taken in rapid succession of a kite surfer in the water. In one image the bottom of the board (which is bright green) is visible, in the next it is not.

I clicked the button to automatically set the RGB levels as a starting point. However, the sky and water end up being two completely different colors - I'm assuming because of the bright green board color.

I've tried some trial and error adjusting the individual RGB level histograms, but it is incredibly tedious - especially since the adjustments panel scrolls back to the top every time you switch the selected photo.

Would be nice if there was a color grading tool or something that allows you to color match two photos, but I'm not seeing any obvious way to accomplish this...

Is there an easier way?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.3), Aperture 3

Posted on Apr 30, 2010 2:04 PM

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Answer 1

Apr 30, 2010 3:39 PM in response to Paul Wieland

Hi

You could try making several versions of each picture, ( option + G ) and change the RGB settings on each picture then compare them all side by side to see which you prefer....

You can make as many versions and edit/compare them as you like....

Gerry.......

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Answer 2

Apr 30, 2010 7:44 PM in response to Paul Wieland

This should be trivial. If the two shots were in the same light, just lift and stamp the white balance from one photo to another. Pick the color where you like the white balance to lift from, and stamp to the other.

You shouldn't be using auto on curves or eyedroppers if you want to match white balance.

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Answer 3

Apr 30, 2010 8:57 PM in response to Paul Wieland

There are tools to colour match Images, but i would not go there just yet.

There are plenty of things in Aperture that are intuitive, get to know these first. It is very much walk before you run. For every intuitive bit there are 1,000 others that are very frustrating. It's much more powerful than some folk think at first, and it can, and does chuck it's dummy out of the pram if what you are doing upsets it.

What is happening when you select another image is: All the adjustment tools come up in the window that have been used on the image, plus the default ones.

A little tip, start your adjustment procedure on the saturation, take out all the colour, get a perfect monochrome image, before staring on colour. To get the best out of colour shoot raw if it's available to you.

Allan

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Answer 4

May 1, 2010 1:01 AM in response to Paul Wieland

Pick a representative image and set its white balance until it looks right or as right as you can get it. If there anything which should be white or neutral grey you can use the white balance eye dropper tool to give you a starting point here. Now use the lift and stamp tools to lift the white balance from this image and stamp it on the others.

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