What to do when photographing a mixed light source event

Recently, I was hired to photograph a two day conference at a new hotel, The William Vale, in Williamsburg, New York. I always ask the client about the lighting, in the venue, for their event. Will there be additional lighting or will the room lighting be the only light source? For this particular event, the only light source was the overhead room lighting. The over head lights would be tungsten, with varying color temperatures. What the client did not tell me was that there was a large screen with LED lights in the conference room (where this event was happening) The large screen of LED lights would be used with each session. LED lights are generally day light balanced but you never know if the bulbs will all be the same color temperature. Now, that large screen is great for the speakers and audience. However, for photography purposes, it was a challenge. I had a mixed lighting scenario to work with. Speakers at the conference asked that no flash photography happen during their presentations. So the question is: what to do when photographing a mixed lighting source?

For some of the speakers, they had a full color display slide behind them. Easy to set my color settings on my camera for the correct skin tone, which was set to AUTO color. I used AUTO on this image to test out the skin tones and overall color. I was curious as to how the skin tone would look with that colored slide on the LED screen and tungsten overhead lighting.

Once the background slide changed to an white background, the color shifted on the subject's skin tone. I move around at conferences, to capture different points of view and angles. I noticed the speaker's skin tone change from the bounce LED bulb lighting.  The LED lights are a different color temperature than the overhead tungsten lighting. So my speakers looked more blue and cool in their skin tone. I snapped a few frames at this color setting.

I then changed my color setting to Tungsten. Notice how the warmth came back into the skin and overall image. I snapped a few more frames with this color setting. My client wanted a variety of angles and lighting to have choices in their editing/marketing. There are times when you have a few seconds to capture images and make sure the color is correct. Changing color settings can save your job and also give your clients a choice. Test your color settings before your job starts and through out the job. Bulbs can go dim or get brighter. Slides used can change your lighting or bounce lighting for subjects. Projection screens or LED wall screens can have a very different light source than over head lights. Move around, see how the light hits your subject(s). We all see color differently. Our computers can be on various color spectrums. Some clients like a different color or point of view. However, covering your self with correctly colored images will also help you be hired again.