Inside Photography Tip

[Pooh_Girl]

Ok, so I have a question regarding inside photos. If you're trying to shoot pictures of people inside, how do you get rid of the color cast from the artificial light?? If it was objects I could use a light box, but unfortunately I don't think I build a light box big enough for 3-4 people!! Everything I take inside always comes out with a yellow tint or something like that. Would it make a difference if I used clear light bulbs instead of the normal white light bulbs? Or what about adjusting the white balance to match that of the light source? I saw that last tip mentioned on another site, but I'm not sure if that will help or entirely what they're talking about. Thanks!!!!

 

[YesDear]

Your digital camera should have a white balance setting. Change it to the type of light you have available. You can do that in post production if you shoot in raw and some if you use jpg.

 

[ukcatfan]

You can also try using custom WB. You need a source of white or neutral gray to do it. I use a sheet of bendable white craft foam.

 

[Pooh_Girl]

You can also try using custom WB. You need a source of white or neutral gray to do it. I use a sheet of bendable white craft foam.

How does THAT work?? Do I get a really large piece of craft foam and have the people stand in front of it, or what?

 

[mhaddon]

search for a gray card (lots of them online) and then you custom set your WB from that and it should get rid of the color casts.
What kind of camera do you have? Also if your monitor isn't calibrated it may not be as bad as you think. But yes, shooting in raw can help a lot too for post processing. What kind of flash are you using? So many factors

 

[Pooh_Girl]

search for a gray card (lots of them online) and then you custom set your WB from that and it should get rid of the color casts.
What kind of camera do you have? Also if your monitor isn't calibrated it may not be as bad as you think. But yes, shooting in raw can help a lot too for post processing. What kind of flash are you using? So many factors

Sorry!! I guess that would have helped! I'm using a Pentax K100D with a Pentax AF 360FGZ flash. Does that help??

 

[ukcatfan]

How does THAT work?? Do I get a really large piece of craft foam and have the people stand in front of it, or what?

No, it is just a piece I cut down to about 6"x6" (inches). You just hold it far enough away from the lens that it fills the frame then go through setting the custom WB for your camera. It varies slightly by camera, but is not difficult. It will not likely be in focus, but that is not important. It does not actually take a shot.

An alternate method if using RAW is to take a picture of the white/gray card and then set the WB for the set in post processing using that shot.

 

[ukcatfan]

Sorry!! I guess that would have helped! I'm using a Pentax K100D with a Pentax AF 360FGZ flash. Does that help??

If the WB is set on flash, there should be no problems with WB. BTW, in auto WB, it should pick flash, so this confuses me. Is it possible that you do not have the WB on auto? I have never had any problems with the exact same setup. There could be something wrong with your camera, but I think it very well could be your monitor if the WB is set correctly and still looking strange.

 

[Pooh_Girl]

No, it is just a piece I cut down to about 6"x6" (inches). You just hold it far enough away from the lens that it fills the frame then go through setting the custom WB for your camera. It varies slightly by camera, but is not difficult. It will not likely be in focus, but that is not important. It does not actually take a shot.

An alternate method if using RAW is to take a picture of the white/gray card and then set the WB for the set in post processing using that shot.

I'm really sorry, but I'm kind of clueless on this subject. First suggestion: how do I set the white balance while looking at the card? Just like usual, set the exposure/shutter/aperture to get to "zero"?

And then the second suggestion: Do I use the gray card as my first picture in the photography session and then shoot the rest of the night in RAW w/o the gray card? And then when I get home I post process all of them to the same setting as the gray card shot??

 

[ukcatfan]

I'm really sorry, but I'm kind of clueless on this subject. First suggestion: how do I set the white balance while looking at the card? Just like usual, set the exposure/shutter/aperture to get to "zero"?

And then the second suggestion: Do I use the gray card as my first picture in the photography session and then shoot the rest of the night in RAW w/o the gray card? And then when I get home I post process all of them to the same setting as the gray card shot??

Press "Fn", press left, pick the bottom one that looks like a rectangle with two small triangles below it, press right, compose the card so that the card fills the frame, press shutter. It should now be set. On our camera, it actually takes a real shot when setting the custom WB. It does not do that on most cameras.

If you use the RAW white card reference method, you need to take a new shot of the card every time the lighting changes.

 

[RBennett]

Press "Fn", press left, pick the bottom one that looks like a rectangle with two small triangles below it, press right, compose the card so that the card fills the frame, press shutter. It should now be set. On our camera, it actually takes a real shot when setting the custom WB. It does not do that on most cameras.

If you use the RAW white card reference method, you need to take a new shot of the card every time the lighting changes.

That's pretty awesome!! I learned something new today!!! And any day that I can learn a valuable lesson like that is a great day!!!