Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Trying to get it eggsactly right...

Two days ago, I posted a photo of a white paper towel, before and after processing. Today's photos show the results of playing with white balance.

The first image, my favorite, was shot with the white balance on my camera set to Tungsten. I had the egg in my homemade light box. The bulbs in the lamps are nothing special, just hardware store light bulbs. I had one of the lamps turned away, so the majority of the light source came from one light only. I had a cable release attached to the camera, which was mounted on a tripod.

Shutter speed: 1/6, f/16, ISO 200, focal length 91 mm


This one below has the white balance set to auto. This one is handheld, so the focus isn't as sharp. At this point, I had both lights turned toward it (hence, the double shadows). All I have to say about the color is UGH.


This one below is shot with the white balance set to fluorescent. There is a big fluorescent light in my basement (where my light box is) hanging above and just behind where the camera and I were standing. Another UGH on the color scale. 

Lesson learned? White balance matters, and maybe I should invest in a gray card...

11 comments:

  1. A great experiement, Val ( and I like the first one the best too)! Isn't it amazing the difference between white balance settings...I did that w/ snowflakes not too long ago and it made all of the difference in the world - way less processing in the end! Nice!

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  2. Great job Val. The detail and crispness is wonderful. I need to try the lightbox idea, never have done that. So did you not make any other edits to the light in the first one?

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  3. Hi, Terri. No other edits to egg #1.

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  4. Thanks for sharing your white balance experiment. Good lesson for all.

    That reminds me that I want to make a light box this year.

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  5. Neat experiment!! The first one is my favorite because tungsten created a great white balance. I do like the double shadows on the other two. I think it adds an element of curiosity leading one to wonder how you achieved the double shadows.

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  6. What are you hatching down there Val? Don't rush into anything, just sit on it for a while, Your Eggsperiment is that called [oaching, or just over easy. I hope you didn't coddle the figures by swapping on an egg with a brown shell, that would be eggzageration! Thanks for all the hard work though, but I picture Gyro Gearloose (DD's mate) doing eggsperiments in the basement/ LOL

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  7. Thanks for the education. I could have read a week or more trying to understand what you have shown here. Having so very much to learn, white balance wasn't high on my list. It's a shame that one doesn't know what one doesn't know.
    Got to get with white balance, thanks.

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  8. Val, thanks for sharing this - your examples and the text with each really clear up the need for understanding white balance and light. Great job!

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  9. Nicely done and explained. Nice to that you have indoor adventures. Do you shoot in raw?

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  10. Great lesson you have given us. It is much appreciated. Seeing all 3 shot together were a great idea. I like the first one the best as well.

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  11. A super series! I've been playing with exposures, and just tried a series on white balance on sunsets that I'll be posting soon. I like that you're testing out the process in your lightbox. I haven't been all that successful with my lightbox shots and this may be why. I think it's great that we're all exploring so much more this year to improve our skills.

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What do you think?