C J Campbell wrote:
On 2008-04-17 15:23:37 -0700, (Floyd L. Davidson) said:
C J Campbell wrote:
I am well aware that there are plenty of software
filters out there and
I use them. I think Nikon's filter plug-ins for Capture NX are even
better than these guys. However, software cannot always replicate the
effect of real filters, especially when using spot gels or mixed
lighting.
You are correct in reference to using filters in front
of light sources, but not as far as filters in front of
the lense. Filtering lights to find the right match is
very much just as effective with digital as with film.
So you are saying that shooting a scene with green gels on the strobes
and a #30 magenta on the lens will give the same effect as shooting
with green gels on the strobes and a #30 magenta in Photoshop? Even if
the subject is sitting under a sodium vapor streetlight in front of a
subway car with the doors wide open and fluorescent light streaming out
of them, with a post-sunset twilit background over the city?
No. I'm saying that a #30 magenta filter is not
perfect, and that doing the exact same thing with
Photoshop will be closer to perfect.
Which is to say that it would not be exactly the same.
However, it isn't hard to make it *vastly* better using
Photoshop.
That is because the WB for any given number of pixels
can be adjusted totally separate from all other pixels.
You can't do that with a filter in front of the lense.
If it gets the area illuminated by the sodium vapor
light, it also gets the area lit by sunlight, by an
overhead incandescent light or by a fluorescent light.
But with Photoshop each of those (and three more if
necessary) can be individually adjusted. And that can
include individually adjusting areas that have light from
two or more sources.
--
Floyd L. Davidson http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)