Colin D wrote:
>
> Gene Palmiter wrote:
> >
> > Two ways to be sure...I used to use a warmcard set for fluorescent lights
> > www.warmcards.com I think...but now I shoot everything in RAW mode and fix
> > the casts in the computer.
> >
> > --
> > Thanks,
> > Gene Palmiter
> > (visit my photo gallery at http://palmiter.dotphoto.com)
> > freebridge design group
> > www.route611.com & Route 611 Magazine
> > "Ken" <> wrote in message
> > news:frSdnXvt9qfTWm_fRVn-...
> > >I tried taking some pictures of a birthday party. The main lights were
> > >fluorescent. I tried AV setting on my Digital rebel with the onboard flash
> > >up and the white balance set to fluorescent. The pictures turned out
> > >yellowish. I tried setting white balance to flash and pics were not much
> > >better. I tried using the portrait setting with flash and the pics turned
> > >out bluish gray. I am not sure what settings I should have used to get more
> > >natural looking skin tones.
> > >
> > > Any suggestions for the future?
>
> Yep. Courtesy of other posters in the rec.photo. groups, there are two
> ideas which are said to work well. One is to use an ordinary white foam
> plastic disposable coffee cup over the lens, disable autofocus, and
> shoot from the subject's position, treating the camera as you would an
> incident meter. The resultant blank image is then used to set white
> balance. This helps to get the balance right where it matters, e.g. the
> subject's face, since you aren't going to get the whole scene balanced
> anyway. A second spinoff of this method is that the indicated exposure
> read through the cup is pretty close to the correct exposure as per gray
> card, but is easier to do. Use the camera on 'manual', adjust the
> stop/shutter till the camera indicates proper exposure, and then shoot
> your subject at that setting. Play with it first, of course. This idea
> came from Alan Browne.
>
> The second is the same procedure as outlined above, but using a white
> plastic Pringles lid instead of a coffee cup. I don't know who suggested
> this, but it has been repeated a number of times by different posters.
>
> There is also a commercially produced filter-like lens attachment which
> is used in the same manner, but is fairly expensive at about $120 US.
> See: http://www.expodisc.com/
>
> I personally haven't tried these ideas, tho' I intend to try the coffee
> cup one soon.
>
> Colin D.
Well, no time like the present, as my old dad used to say. I gleaned a
styrene coffee cup from the kitchen - a clean one, luckily - and stepped
outside to have a go.
We have a large white corrugated iron fence around our back yard, very
bright in the sun. I stuck the cup over the Canon 17-85 lens, AF off
(stops the lens trying to focus on the cup), set the camera to manual
and f/11, and adjusted shutter speed to centre the exposure indicator
in the VF. Came out at 1/400 at f/11. Took a shot through the cup and
white-balanced on the resulting gray image. Then I shot the fence, and
the rhubarb patch in front of it. Looked at the LCD and the histo.
Whites very close but not touching the right-hand end, excellent. Went
indoors to the lounge, pale off-white wall, large brown piano, venetian
blinds half-closed. Some daylight, but turned on the fluorescents.
Stood in the corner by piano, cup on lens, set exposure via exposure
indicator to 1/4 sec at f/8, took shot of cup, WB on the image, then
shot the lounge with walls, piano, etc. from across the room. Again,
great exposure, the walls close to the highlight end on the histo.
Loaded the images into Photoshop and looked at WB. Excellent exposure
and color rendition, from the white fence and rhubarb to the lounge
walls and piano, all looked good.
This system works.
Colin D.
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