Warm light spill from sun effect.

[Thomse]

Hello. I grabbed this frame from a film. I like the effect with the warm backlighting from the sun, and the yellowish color which also is prominent in the blacks.


How can i achieve this look in photoshop?

[OsmosisStudios]

Shoot into the sun as it's setting. You could probably get it in PS, but it'll be a right pain.

[Thomse]

Well I've shot a few directly into the setting sun, but they don't seem to be this warm. Should I tweak my white balance to be unnaturally warm, perhaps?

[OsmosisStudios]

Originally Posted by Thomse

Well I've shot a few directly into the setting sun, but they don't seem to be this warm. Should I tweak my white balance to be unnaturally warm, perhaps?

Well part of the issue is that your example is from a video. It's not quite apples and oranges.

Your white balance is likely the issue: it's quite warm here, but it wont get you the "glow", just the colour.

[Thomse]

So warm white balance for the color, but the glow.. Perhaps it could be achieved by using a diffuse filter in post? or what else could be done?

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Thomse

So warm white balance for the color, but the glow.. Perhaps it could be achieved by using a diffuse filter in post? or what else could be done?

As i believe Os was trying to say (nicely for once! ) is that you should/can achieve this with proper technique and knowledge.
The glow is a result of shooting from a position where the sun is able to enter (to some extent) directly into the lens. It's a type of sunflare.. well, the same principle.
I doubt very much there are people out there doing this in PS very credibly but, as usual, I could easily be wrong.

The key is understanding how this works, how to capture it, and then duplicating it under the same/similar light conditions. I'd say that'd probably be much easier than faking it in PP, there's rarely a shortcut.

"I've shot a few directly into the sun" But that's the thing, this isn't directly into the sun.. you can tell by the rim lighting that it's coming much more from the right than from directly behind her. Post your examples and we might be able to tell you why it's not the same.

[DanaLane]

I'd have to agree, this would be VERY hard to try and duplicate in post processing. This is done in camera (still or video). The "glow" is really softness induced by the bright sun bouncing around in the lens. I do this by having the sun just out of frame when shooting.

[Thomse]

Thank's for the replies. I don't mind at all doing it with proper tecnique - just thought people did it in ps.

This picture of mine must be what comes closest:



It's missing some of the glow/haze, but from what you're saying that may be because the sun is directly in front of the camera and not outside the frame?