Achieving Color Fidelity
Tarleton University Theater
Randall Scott
Here is a nice photograph of an auditorium. Looks pretty good. There is a problem here - the ceiling is white, not yellow.This image was taken using just the existing light in the room. I know an awful lot of photographers that believe in shooting with just existing light. Often that does not work.
Light reflects the color of the object. This makes total sense. That is why an apple looks red - it reflects the red light absorbing the other colors. But what does this have to do with architectural photography? If that red light from the apple illuminates another object, that object will appear red. Think of it as placing a colored gel over a light source.
In this situation, the light comes down from the ceiling, illuminates the chairs (which are brownish) and that light bounces up and illuminates the white ceiling turning it brown in the photograph.
To get accurate color, the ceiling has to be lit independently of the rest of the room. That is why I always carry a really big flash unit.The finished result with the correct color ceiling:
