How to improve "grainy and yellow" interior photographs? [duplicate]

Question

From time to time, I take interior photographs and notice that they often come out "a bit grainy", "a bit yellow", and generally not as the eye perceives them "in the flesh". I use a Pentax K-r DSLR with the image quality set to highest, RAW+JPG. I tend to leave the settings on Auto.

Here is the EXIF data:

Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Bias Value: @.7
Metering Mode: Pattern
Exposure Time: 1/40
FNumber: 9
ISO Speed Ratings: 800
Flash: Off, did not fire
Saturation: Normal
Contrast: Hard
Sharpness: Hard
White Balance: Auto white balance
Lens Model: smc PENTAX-DA L 18-55mm F3.5-5.6
Focal Length: 18

Once I copy the image from the card, I use Photoshop to adjust the white balance, brightness, contrast, saturation, and other minor changes. Apart from that its pretty much as it comes out of the camera. Here is the un-post-processed JPEG, shot at the same time as the PEF. The image will be further compressed for display here, but the general gist of what's wrong with it should be visible.

Answer 1

The yellow is probably from the mixed lighting. If you correct for the yellow, parts of the scene lit by sunlight will become blue. These scenes are difficult to correct.

One approach is to desaturate a copy of the image, adjust the opacity, and mask out areas you don't want affected. You can also use color blending with an inverted copy of the image, again with masking.

I usually leave a bit of the "unwanted" color behind because removing it all looks unnatural.

Answer 2

Some of the yellow may come down to adjusting white balance to compensate for the lights in use.

But, overall, the problem is that it's darker inside than one might think. The best solution to this is to bring light. You can get low-cost radio control flashes (I like the Godox/Flashpoint system). Two or three of these strategically placed around the room will make a world of difference. This will also help you balance the brighter light from the skylight and from the other room.

Answer 3

Adjusting the white balance should help with the yellow-ness of the picture. You can get cheap accessories to help with calibrating this in-camera (if supported) or you can shoot in RAW and then edit the white balance in post editing.

The grain effect you're talking about is more than likely being caused by the ISO. If you're in a low-light situation, ISO can be used to artificially boost the amount of light in the image. If there isn't enough data there in the first place (due to lack of light/exposure) then you're going to get that grain effect on your images. Try to fix the lighting first, use ISO as a last resort.

If you can, look for ways to improve the lighting - is there a TV that you can use to bounce some bright light into the room? Do you have a speedlight that you can diffuse onto the subject?

If you don't have these options - try a longer exposure (if you're outdoors make sure you're using an ND filter). Make sure though to have a good solid tripod because any movement will cause motion blur.

Good luck!

Answer 4

If you have the time for a small setup and multiple photos you can also isolate the different lighting sources by turning all but one off and putting cardboard in front of the window and combine the pictures in post.

Answer 5

run Nik collection, use "pure white neutralize"（maybe this name）to correct the color cast.

Or pick and inverse the color of the yellowish wall, then fill it on an new layer with the "hue" blending mode, adjust the opacity and mask.

Answer 6

Your noise issue is likely to be either due to underexposure of the image or too high of an ISO. To avoid exposure issues, put the camera into manual, take a shot, inspect the histogram and use the same exposure for all of the shots in any specific area.

To avoid noise due to ISO, just keep your ISO at the base setting such as 50 or 100.

The color problem, as has been said, is that you're photographing under mixed lighting.

In the days of film, photographers would place color gel sheets over the windows. This would change the color temp of the light coming through the windows to be equal to the interior lighting. You can buy Rosco color sheets at most camera shops like B&H or Adorma. Here's a link to BH - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=color%20sheet%20rosco&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma&Top+Nav-Search=

Another option is to use daylight balanced bulbs, but that's going to be rather time consuming.

You could make a selection in Lightroom and then change the color temperature of the selection to match.

You could choose to shoot at a different time of day where the outside light is much warmer, but that has it's own set of logistical problems with which to contend.