Need Help with Lighting - Canon 20D

[shq]

Hey all,

I set up the light box from the tutorial and my photos all seem to have a yellow tint/shade to them!

Any1 have any suggestions?

Here is a sample pic:

http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL578/3246257/16437789/302222652.jpg

[austincabot]

WB looks off.

[arrgeebee]

Shoot in Raw instead of JPG. Also, set your white balance to match whatever the lighting is. i.e. flash or tungsten or fluorescent

[Mark_48]

The white of the shoe to my eyes is white and has no color cast to it. I also looked at it in Photoshop and the R,G,& B components that make up white are fairly close in value on the sneaker. I'm presuming you're refering to the background which indeed does appear yellow/orangish tint. Could you go into a little detail as to what you're using for lighting (flash, hotlights, or both) and was there much ambient room light?. I'm not familiar with the tutorial, can you link to it?

I don't think there's an issue with your camera, but somehow a mixing of different color temperatures of lighting.

[shq]

The white of the shoe to my eyes is white and has no color cast to it. I also looked at it in Photoshop and the R,G,& B components that make up white are fairly close in value on the sneaker. I'm presuming you're refering to the background which indeed does appear yellow/orangish tint. Could you go into a little detail as to what you're using for lighting (flash, hotlights, or both) and was there much ambient room light?. I'm not familiar with the tutorial, can you link to it?

I don't think there's an issue with your camera, but somehow a mixing of different color temperatures of lighting.

Here is a link to the thread... my post is towards the bottom...

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=281524&page=111

[PacAce]

Here is a link to the thread... my post is towards the bottom...

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=281524&page=111

What kind of lights were you using on the sides? And did you also use a flash mounted on the camera?

[Mark_48]

Quartz work lights on the side and popup camera flash? Like one of the images depicted in the tutorial, but they didn't use the popup flash?

[shq]

This is my set up...

http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL578/3246257/16437789/302235426.jpg

Please help!

Thank you

[PacAce]

This is my set up...

http://pic15.picturetrail.com/VOL578/3246257/16437789/302235426.jpg

Please help!

Thank you

Still doesn't answer the question of whether you also used a flash or not. If you did, then that would explain your lighting problem. It's next to impossible to get the white balance right if you are using different types of lighting in the same picture unless they are set up so that the lights get blended together.

[shq]

Still doesn't answer the question of whether you also used a flash or not. If you did, then that would explain your lighting problem. It's next to impossible to get the white balance right if you are using different types of lighting in the same picture unless they are set up so that the lights get blended together.


Yes, I had used the flash.

When I did NOT use the flash the pictures came out blurry and extremely dark.

[Mark_48]

The EXIF from your image..

Camera Model Name Canon EOS 20D
Firmware Firmware 2.0.3
Shooting Date/Time 2/3/2008 15:22:36
Tv(Shutter Speed) 1/60Sec.
Av(Aperture Value) F4.5
Metering Modes Evaluative metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 100
Lens 18-55mm
Focal Length 24.0 mm
Image size 640 x 427
Image Quality Fine
Flash On
White Balance Auto
AF mode One-Shot AF

What mode are you shooting in? Are you handholding the camera?

With the lights you have you may want to try setting the ISO upwards to about 400-800 and shoot in manual on a tripod to keep the camera still. Your image DOF wasn't too bad at f/4.5 so you'll want to adjust your shutter speed to get it the exposure correct, which will likely be slower than 1/60th.

The reason for the yellow coloring is that your quartz lamps have a warmer color temperature than the flash, hence the yellowish tint on the background you got. If you use the lamps alone you can try Auto White Balance and see how that works. Or try the Tungsten balance setting. If you're familiar with how to manually white balance the camera that would be best. Whatever you do shoot RAW and then if you need to, you can tweak the WB in a RAW editor such as DPP.

Sneaker shot was pretty good inspite of the yellowish tint!! Actually I thought the tint wasn't bad as it lent itself to putting more attention to the sneaker.

[shq]

^^

I was shooting in P mode. Yes, I was holding the camera... unfortunately I don't have a tripod yet!

[Mark_48]

I glanced through a few of your other threads and I see that you're new to the 20D having come from a point and shoot recently. Looks like you got some good advice as far as a tripod and the recommendation to get a remote shutter release. That will help steady up your shots at slower shutter speeds so you hopefully don't get blur.

Since the sneaker and background are white, the metering might be attempting to balance things off to a gray tonality. In your 20D manual on page 83 is an explanation of a function called Exposure Compensation. Adjustment of this may help with your exposures.

[yogestee]

Ok,,,here is my 2 cents worth...It appears the you have mixed tungsten with flash..The tungsten lights are much stronger than the flash giving you a red/yellow cast..Check out your exposure 60th @ F 4.5..Try shooting at a faster shutterspeed/smaller aperture which should reduce the red/yellow cast,,use Manual Mode..Experiment here..

Mixing flash with tungsten is a tricky busines if you don't know what you are doing and a real pig to colour correct..

Jurgen