WB problem?

[edavies]

Hello. I am hoping that someone can offer me some advice. I took s series of photographs (portraits) of some pre-school children recently. It was my first attempt and being fairly new at digital phography I experimented a bit. I don't have any fancy lighting and initally used the flash on the camera and eventually realised that there was too much shadow and then decided to use the flourecent lights above with no flash. I set the WB to flourecent light and this seemed to be OK. When I had the photos printed they seemed to all have a very yellowish tint to them especially on the skin. I am not sure how to attach photos to this thread but will post the Flickr link where the two photos of my grandaughters are. As far as I can see, they don't look too bad on the PC but when printed, they definetly have a yellow tint. I had the same pictures printed at another photo processing place with the same results. Other pictures taken at other times seem to print OK so I suspect that I have made an incorrect setting. Can anyone suggest what I have done wrong? Should I perhaps set the WB to custom using a white piece of paper or card? I know that the composition is not too good as is the choice of background but my biggest concern is the possible WB problems. The Exif data for both photos is as follows:

Camera: Canon EOS 1000D
Exposure: 0.05 sec (1/20)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 44 mm
ISO Speed: 800
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off, Did not fire
Exposure Mode: Auto
White Balance: Manual
White Balance: Fluorescent
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Exposure Program: Program AE
Lens Type: Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6






Please could someone offer me some advice as to what I can do in the future to overcome this problem?

Thanks, Evan Davies

[edavies]

Sorry - the links to Flikr don't seem to have worked out so I will try again. They are as follows:

Rachael - Grandaughter on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

and

Isabella - Grandaughter on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

That should now work.

Thanks

Evan

[wulf]

Using custom white balance would be a good move and is easy to do if you are in a situation with fixed lighting. Another approach would be to shoot in RAW mode and defer decisions about white balance until you are back home.

One thing to watch for is the effect of mixed light sources. If you are in a room with no windows and only one type of light source, it should be fairly straightfoward. However if, for example, you have a combination of fluorescent light and flash or incandescent light and daylight you can end up with weird effects because of the varying mixes of light "temperature".

Wulf

[edavies]

Originally Posted by wulf

Using custom white balance would be a good move and is easy to do if you are in a situation with fixed lighting. Another approach would be to shoot in RAW mode and defer decisions about white balance until you are back home.

One thing to watch for is the effect of mixed light sources. If you are in a room with no windows and only one type of light source, it should be fairly straightfoward. However if, for example, you have a combination of fluorescent light and flash or incandescent light and daylight you can end up with weird effects because of the varying mixes of light "temperature".

Wulf

Thanks for your input - it is much appreciated. RAW mode is something I haven't even tried yet. From what I understamd, once the photo has been taken, one can apply WB and various other settings to the picture to obtain the right effect. This is, of course, quite exciting and therefore I really need to look at it as an alternative. The above photos were taken in a room with very few windows and they were quite far away from hwere I stood. The only light source for all intents and purposes was the fluorecent light above the subject. I will do some more experimenting, specially with RAW mode. Thanks again for your help.

Regards, Evan

[wulf]

It doesn't have to be much light to affect things. Also, further complicating lighting, is reflected light - there could be a clash between a direct light source and the light reflected from a coloured floor or wall. Don't give up though - as you start to understand how your camera captures light, you will begin to be able to exploit all those little nuances for artistic effect.

Wulf

[fotog500d]

[QUOTE=edavies;561321]they don't look too bad on the PC but when printed, they definetly have a yellow tint.

Could this be an issue of monitor or LCD calibration and printer profiling?

I have read postings from professionals who state that a PC display needs to be properly calibrated for more accurate rendering of photos.

It may be that your photos actually had a yellow cast but did not appear so on your PC because of an uncalibrated display.

[kencaleno]

You should have used flash, with Flash white balance, what I did in photoshop, was:

Image>Adjustments>Levels:
Click on white with right-hand eye dropper (On motif on jumper)

Image>Adjustments>Selective Color:
Select yellows-Drag yellow slider to left

Regards, Ken

[Litchfield Hills]

Also keep in mind that the white balance settings are a best guess at what the lighting will be like. Incandesant light is pretty consistent, but flourescent can be all over the place. If you set a custom WB, it may help overcome some of this. Not sure how your Canon would do this, but for my Nikon D40, I can find some area that is white (like the background in your pics) and measure that and the camera will then apply a WB to read the light so that your measured area appears white. My son's play hockey, and I do this every time I photograph them playing, using the ice itself as the sample to measure.

You have cute grandkids.

[kencaleno]

Custom White balance settings:

For Nikon:

Select a neutral coloured object to set your white balance
It’s best to avoid using a white target. The camera prefers grey.( Print yourself a grey card: In photoshop- File> New
Click on background square in toolbox
select: red 127; green 127; blue 127 from color chart- Print)


In white balance menu select "Custom"> "Preset"
select "measure"
Press shutter release halfway to return to shooting mode
press wb button until a blinking "Pre" appears in control panel and viewfinder
frame reference (grey card) so it fills the frame
and press shutter release all the way down (Camera won't take picture)
If camera was able to register a value for white balance "Good" will flash in control panel and GD will flash in viewfinder
If lighting is too dark or bright "no g d" will flash in viewfinder and control panel


If you use white in direct sunlight you'll always get a "No Gd" response from the camera because the Matrix meter is rendering it white instead of grey. Thus the trick is to select the centre-weighted meter when using a white reference in bright light and you'll get "Good" from a camera. Remember to set back to Matrix metering as soon as you're done.


For Canon:

THE PROCESS INVOLVES TAKING AN IMAGE OF A WHITE BACKGROUND AND THEN GO TO CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE MENU. YOU CAN CHOOSE THE IMAGE YOU HAVE TAKEN AND THEN PRESS THE SET BUTTON WHICH WILL IMPORT THE WHITE BALANCE DATA FROM THE IMAGE. AGAIN, A NEUTRAL GREY RATHER THAN WHITE IMAGE GIVES MORE ACCURATE RESULTS.
Hope this helps-Ken

[AlanWillis]

If this is going to be something you plan on doing a lot of, I might suggest getting a handlemount flash with a tilting flashhead, and getting a small "softbox" for that flash. Of course, use it a few times in no-risk situations to see what the best wb setting is for that particular flash to use as a starting point where ever you go (you may need to adjust once there, depending on the particulars of the situaiton).