Making Sure Whites Are White

[HSK]

Hi guys - I was wondering if someone could give me a few tips on this - I took a picture earlier of an action figure on a white table, I set a custom white balance for the lighting situation at the time (indoor light and sunlight through the window). But the table seems a lil' grey...Is it mainly to do with the level of light? Because the picture was a bit under exposed. Or to do with the exposure?

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3177/2792166582_64b88ea80f.jpg
50mm f1.8 (1/50)

Any tips for great whites? I'm not used to getting the right settings or conditions.

[John_B]

HSK,
It looks like an underexposure.
There was no Exif data what metering mode did you use? ???

[BTBeilke]

When I use my white paper background, I usually have to put one flash on the background itself in order to get it to come out bright white.

[HSK]

Hi John, It was set on evaluative metering. Hmm I didn't try any other modes at the time.

[tzalman]

The background is very close to being a perfect grey. It is 215/215/213, but that slight yellow cast is probably indetectable. It is however, about 1.33 stops underexposed.

[HSK]

Thanks for the replies guys.
HSK,
It looks like an underexposure.
There was no Exif data what metering mode did you use? ???
Actually, I don't know why the EXIF was not there on the metering mode, it is on my other pictures.
When I use my white paper background, I usually have to put one flash on the background itself in order to get it to come out bright white.
Ahh thanks for the tip, I'll try that...as I only use a sheet of paper (without flash).
The background is very close to being a perfect grey. It is 215/215/213, but that slight yellow cast is probably indetectable. It is however, about 1.33 stops underexposed.Sorry, this might sound silly, but near perfect grey - is that a good thing? Is it something about cameras that they try to make whites grey, and blacks grey?

[*Mike*]

Sorry, this might sound silly, but near perfect grey - is that a good thing? Is it something about cameras that they try to make whites grey, and blacks grey?

Typically, a camera's auto exposure assumes that all the highlight and shadows in a frame will balance out. Works okay most of the time. But, shoot something predominately white and it underexposes. Shoot something dark and it'll overexpose.

[HSK]

Mike! Thanks for that info and tip, next time I'll experiment a bit more and try to compensate for both of those light/dark situation.

[poloman]

You can compensate by using the exposure compensation feature on your camera. An incident meter will come in handy at times like this.