Trouble w/ indoor photography

[Browncoat]

Specifically at my parent's house. Let me explain...

My parents built a new house a few years ago, pretty much for the reason of hosting family events. Birthdays/holidays and such. Just about all of our family "photo op" moments take place in this house.

The only problem is, my mother is also an interior decorator of sorts. The walls are all painted in an odd shade of gold that I can't even really describe. The effect is, I have produced very few usable photos of family events. Everything comes out with a funky hue that I can't even tweak in Photoshop without it appearing tweaked. This odd shade has the additional side effect of blurring just about any shot I take when my subject makes just about any movement.

Is there some way I can compensate for this?

[zappo]

This sounds kind of a white balacing issue, do you take your photos in RAW? In this case you can adjust the wb later. Otherwise you can use a custom white balance on your camera, most cameras support that.

[RichardTaylor]

Can you post an example, along with Exif data?

[Browncoat]

I do not typically shoot in RAW format, as I haven't found a need to yet. I shoot in Adobe RGB color mode. Honestly, I didn't even think of that but may be a good solution.

Here is the most recent example I have, but since it's no longer in the camera, I don't have the Exif data handy.

[i speak in math]

Originally Posted by Browncoat

Specifically at my parent's house. Let me explain...

My parents built a new house a few years ago, pretty much for the reason of hosting family events. Birthdays/holidays and such. Just about all of our family "photo op" moments take place in this house.

The only problem is, my mother is also an interior decorator of sorts. The walls are all painted in an odd shade of gold that I can't even really describe. The effect is, I have produced very few usable photos of family events. Everything comes out with a funky hue that I can't even tweak in Photoshop without it appearing tweaked. This odd shade has the additional side effect of blurring just about any shot I take when my subject makes just about any movement.

Is there some way I can compensate for this?

Looks like you are shooting under incandescent/tungsten lighting (due to the orange color in the shadows). If so, you will want your WB set to tungsten. However, due to the 2 light sources in this image, that won't work well. See the right side of her is blue? I assume that is your flash or natural lighting from a window. Compared to the orange tungsten lighting it will look blue. You can't WB two different colored light sources. Eliminate one, and you will have a much better chance.

And the walls aren't blurring your shots, you are. You need a faster shutter.

You could also try using a flash (this is the lighting forum...). Is the ceiling white? Try setting your WB to flash and bouncing. That should take care of the WB problem and the motion blur problem.

[Browncoat]

Thank you for the tips, Eric. You are correct. There is an overhead light source in addition to there being large patio doors coming in from the side of the image. For this shot, I had turned off the flash.

Yes, the ceiling is white. I did purchase the Light Scoop to hopefully aid with bouncing my camera's built-in flash. I do not have an external flash yet.

Maybe there's the ultimate problem. Most (probably 90%) of my photography is done outside where I don't have to compensate for lighting issues, except with ISO for the most part. I suppose I just need more practice indoors and it has less to do with the funky color of these walls than I thought.

[kencaleno]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Looks like you are shooting under incandescent/tungsten lighting (due to the orange color in the shadows). If so, you will want your WB set to tungsten. However, due to the 2 light sources in this image, that won't work well. See the right side of her is blue? I assume that is your flash or natural lighting from a window. Compared to the orange tungsten lighting it will look blue. You can't WB two different colored light sources. Eliminate one, and you will have a much better chance.

And the walls aren't blurring your shots, you are. You need a faster shutter.

You could also try using a flash (this is the lighting forum...). Is the ceiling white? Try setting your WB to flash and bouncing. That should take care of the WB problem and the motion blur problem.

Do not use tungsten setting for white balance-Your images will be to cool,(Blue) Why? OK, for some unknown reason,tungsten white balance is set for 3400 kelvin-but that's studio tungsten-domestic tungsten is between 2500 and 3200 Kelvin-you will usually get better images by using auto white balance.If you use flash, you need a cto (color tungsten orange) gel over flash window, to balance lighting.