Photography Message board

Re: Photography Message board

John K Jordan

I see posts from Jan 2018.

Do you have a photography comment or question? Maybe post it there but put a note here so people can check there. I never think to check there. Or just post the comment/question here.

JKJ

Re: Photography Message board

John lucas

Same here, I quit checking it a while ago because there ha e t been posts for a long time.

Re: Photography Message board

Ron Bauer

Thank you Johns. I am struggling with the dreaded yellow "cast" in my photos. I know this topic has been beat hard over the years and that is why I was going to research archives. This is a complicated topic, at least for me, that doesn't have an easy answer. With that being said, I am looking for an easy answer. Question #1 Do I use lights with a 5000K (or higher or lower value)? My camera doesn't have white balance capabilities. Is there a prefered bulb type, incandescent, florescent, LED. In some cases my lighting gives good color on some wood and bad color on others. I am using LED's now. Can this all be eliminated by taking shots in natural light?

Re: Photography Message board

john lucas

If you don't have white balance on your camera then 5000K or higher will work. Best to stay around 5500 if you can find it. If you get bulbs in the 6500K the work will look blue. The orange cast is because the bulbs are 3200 or there abouts which is warm compared to daylight settings. You can find LED bulbs in the 5000 or higher range. A friend I was helping found some at Lowes.

color cast

John K Jordan

I agree with John - use different lights. I used to use photo incandescent bulbs but they are hot, expensive, and don't last long.

A few years ago I found some full-spectrum daylight photo CFLs I still use today, supplemented with LEDs for highlights. (Some LEDs these days are really good!) These are the only lights in a dark room. The color is generally good unless I forget and leave even one other light on then I'll get colored shadows. Also, I make sure there is no daylight from a window, just in case.

What kind of camera do you use? Some have auto white balance which can cause problems as it tries to adjust the color for you as it meters the wood subject. Some have hard-to-find options which can help.

The Olympus camera I used to use required setting the white balance. The Canon 70D I use now is pretty good in the auto mode - I've done test and see no improvement with setting a custom white balance with the lights I use now.

Sometimes a photo with a color cast can be corrected. I use Photoshop but other programs will do this. (look for Levels or Curves) It's easier to get perfect if you put a grey card somewhere in the photo (usually on the edge or on the side of a second photo with the same subject and lighting) but adjustment can be done by eye to get close. (Grey card is something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Anwenk-Grey-White-Balance-Large/dp/B074W1VF2Y)

This is how I shoot woodturnings and other small things:

The frame is PVC pipe, thin white cloth pinned on, a piece of grey mat board from the framing shop curved up in back for a seamless background, always use a tripod. I'm certainly no expert but this works for me.

JKJ

Re: color cast

Ron Bauer

John's, Thank you both for the very useful info. I now know of one problem...my earlier, better, shots were in a darkened room with the windows blocked. My recent, yellow, ones were made when I got lazy and didn't block the windows so there was ambient natural light. I use a "booth" very much like the one John J shows but I use a piece of grey felt as a background. I now have a battle plan. Thanks. R.

Ron,I don't think the ambient  .....

JamieDonaldson

….natural light bleed is your problem, as the orange color cast is evidence of tungsten range 3000K color cast. If you had room lights on rather than a darkened room then that is the source of the color cast error in your images. Shooting for accurate color reproduction without camera controls for color balance is a crap shoot, requires multiple light source tests to find a workable set of accurate color balanced lights.

Re: Ron,I don't think the ambient  .....

john lucas

Room light usually only shows up in the shadows or maybe an overall color cast. If it's really orange overall then you probably had 3000 degree lights and shooting with daylight settings.

looking for camera suggestion right now

Mike Schwing

I'm just now looking for a decent camera and headed to the photo board here to find it sort of dead. I use my Pixel 2, which is a great cell phone camera but it is a cell phone camera. ZERO idea at what I should be looking.

BTW, I bought this setup, and it works really well!

[/url]https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07314B82V/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1[/url]

Mike, define a price range and any..........

http://JamieDonaldson

....other possible uses for a new camera. A great resource for camera shopping reviews is DPreview.com which reviews almost all cameras on the market.

Re: Mike, define a price range and any..........

Mike Schwing

Thanks Jamie. It will be purely for photographing my work, most of which is smaller than a large microwave oven. It would be tough to go over $400, I think. I'll check out that site. I do think I'd require wifi/nfc.

Re: Mike, define a price range and any..........

Bill Blasic

Mike a good buy is the Canon T6 bundle. A dslr with two lenses and generally sells for $449 but can be found a little cheaper.

https://www.amazon.com/Canon-Digital-Camera-18-55mm-75-300mm/dp/B01CQJHJ2E

cameras

John K Jordan

I know several people who use and llke Canon Rebel cameras, should be excellent for turnings.

I borrowed one for a second camera for a wedding shoot and liked it better than the Olympus DSLRs I was using. Based on that experience I bought a Canon 70D kit and added a good macro lens for tiny things.

But anyone reading, never forget: far more important than the hardware is the lighting (and the background).

JKJ

John K, what is much more important.......

http://JamieDonaldson

.....than camera and lighting is the "tool" behind the camera!

That tool is easily sharpened.