Dear Jasmine,
I'm writing today more specifically about a post-production issue I've been facing. I've noticed that no matter how wooded a location you use for a shoot, your final photos never appear to carry that dreaded green skin cast that's so difficult to remove, even in Photoshop. I know you outsource your post production, and that may have something to do with it, but I must ask: do you have strategies for avoiding such casts when the situation mandates that you shoot under trees? And, in cases when you are coping with green casts, how do you best color correct them?
Sincerely,
Green Thumb

Dear Green Thumb,
Yes, I outsource my post-processing to Photographer's Edit and they do a great job at getting the photos to look how I request (they do with my customized Replichrome Lightroom preset I uploaded to them), so this has proven to be a great place to start, but let's back up a bit. I prefer to shoot the photo in-camera as best I can and minimize the green tones that can easily present themselves when shooting under trees or in heavily shrubbed areas. Yes, I made up the word shrubbed.

I do this in two main ways:
1. Shoot in the outer edges of shaded areas.
2. Leverage locations of natural reflectors.

Above is a photo Holly L. Robbins captured of me using these two tips. Just a few feet in front of the couple is a blazing walkway. More on that in a minute.

I prefer to the stay to the outer edges when shooting under a tree because the closer you get to the trunk, the darker and more green it becomes. I use trees for their shade, but I also look for nearby reflectors of light, what I call natural reflectors. I prefer to look for gravel, sidewalks, clay pathways, brick, etc., basically anything that bounces light onto my subjects. If I shoot at the outer edge of tree shade and have light from a natural reflector as fill, it produces a beautifully illuminated photo, as well as balances color tonality a bit.

Here's an example of a recent shoot where I applied these two tips. It was 1:30pm in Atlanta and the day was bright, hot, and harsh. For all intents and purposes, the worst time to shoot. Like, ever. So, first things first: get the couple in shade. A nearby tree arched pretty high, so the couple stood about 12-15 feet from the trunk, and sunlight seeped through the branches, but it was off-set by a nearby cement pathway (about 4-5 feet from the couple).
BEFORE
(This photo is straight out of camera… 85mm F/1.2 1/2500 160 ISO)

AFTER

Technically, there are very little changes in the above photos (as far as light compensation and exposure are concerned), but the color balance marks a huge shift. A side by side comparison reveals the lessening of the green and yellow tones and making skin look like its real tonality…or as close to it as possible. I do this primarily by modifying the Fuji 400H Lightroom preset by Replichrome and uploading that preset to Photographer's Edit for them to do their magic.

I hope these tips offer insight into how I work to get it as nice as possible in-camera, leveraging natural reflectors to balance color, and working with a great preset in Lightroom.
From Green to Dream,
j*