Bad Mixed Lighting

[HeatherH]

I have a client who has requested night images of this little fishing village, however the mixed lighting along this historic section is abysmal. Would you process a few different WB and mask those in, or try to do a universal WB and correct by other means? I could try to tone it down a bit and embrace a bit of the mixed light, but I don't want to leave it quite this garish

[Damien Symonds]

Gosh, surely the lighting is part of the appeal?

[HeatherH]

People tend to think of this place as a pocket of preserved time. The light behind me is an arc sodium yellow, and the one up ahead is a horribly green fluorescent. I am sure I am over-explaining - you know lights. The point is, you and I can see those lights for the colors they are, but tourists here see this place as a pristine wonder of history. It doesn't all have to go away, but I'd like to be able to tone down the green, and also not have the sky quite so radioactive blue The WB is at 2000k right now.

[Damien Symonds]

Ok, well go ahead and process the raw file without any clipping, then post it again for me.

[HeatherH]

[Damien Symonds]

Still quite clipped at the left end.

[HeatherH]

[Damien Symonds]

Gosh it's stubborn, isn't it?

The best I can suggest is to add a Solid Color layer of pale yellow (maybe sample the side of the barge) and set it to "Color" blend mode, then very patiently paint it on to the worst areas with a low-opacity brush.

[HeatherH]

I'll leave the details out RE: raw processing, but it's at the limits (beyond on fill light) of your recommendations.

If this were your photo, would you process it separately for the sky, which is now very flat?

[Damien Symonds]

Gosh no, not at all.  Add an overall Levels layer:

• Red channel 20/0.70/255
• Green channel 20/0.70/255
• Blue channel 10/0.70/255