dpic
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2001
- Messages
- 1,107
To begin, I'm not a professional, nor do I claim to have expert knowledge. I have, however, owned a couple of DSLR's and have taken thousands of photos and have learned a trick or two.
One thing I see constantly with people's photos on the Disboards are white balance issues. One of the huge advantages of a DSLR is the conveniences of shooting in RAW. Briefly, shooting in RAW allows the photographer to decide how the captured data will be processed to make an accurate representation of the scene. If you shoot in Jpeg, the camera makes the decisions. Since the camera is just a fancy calculator, it doesn't have a clue what you actually saw. It's making decisions based on formulas, and it normally doesn't do a bad job, but where white balance is concerned--especially indoors or night with artificial lighting--it often misses the mark.
Below are two photos: one is a jpeg where the camera made the white balance choice. The next was shot in RAW, and I made the while balance choice.
I'm sure you see that the bottom Jiko's flatbread looks much more realistic (and yummier) than the top one. To choose a white balance point simply use your camera's RAW processing software and select some white or gray area in the photo. If your first choice doesn't look quite correct, choose another one. With people, my favorite white balance point is the whites in someone's eyes. It's a very simple process and greatly improves your photos.
After a while, you'll get experienced enough to notice slight color casts in your images you once thought were perfect--this isn't a bad thing. It's a good thing to attempt to reproduce the scene way it actually appeared. Obviously, there are time when a color cast is perfectly acceptable. Many times when I first started using RAW, I took the warmth out of sunsets by trying to get a neutral white point--mistake, sunsets have a warm color cast.
Also, with huge hard drives and dvd burners at relatively reasonable prices, I keep all my RAW files--especially vacation images. Often I find I have increased my skills and experience and go back and reprocess RAW files and have noticed huge improvements in the final image.
Yes, RAW is more work. However, anyone who made the financial commitment to purchase a DSLR has already decided they want better images. RAW is a huge benefit to the DSLR owner and is an excellent tool to better images. Lastly, again, I don't want people to think I want to be the "white balance" police. I simply see many people who obviously have a desire to take great images. Shooting in RAW and setting white balance is very simple procedure and greatly improves your images. Also, if anyone wants to jump in and clearify or correct something I've said--please do so. We're all here to learn and share, myself included.
One thing I see constantly with people's photos on the Disboards are white balance issues. One of the huge advantages of a DSLR is the conveniences of shooting in RAW. Briefly, shooting in RAW allows the photographer to decide how the captured data will be processed to make an accurate representation of the scene. If you shoot in Jpeg, the camera makes the decisions. Since the camera is just a fancy calculator, it doesn't have a clue what you actually saw. It's making decisions based on formulas, and it normally doesn't do a bad job, but where white balance is concerned--especially indoors or night with artificial lighting--it often misses the mark.
Below are two photos: one is a jpeg where the camera made the white balance choice. The next was shot in RAW, and I made the while balance choice.


I'm sure you see that the bottom Jiko's flatbread looks much more realistic (and yummier) than the top one. To choose a white balance point simply use your camera's RAW processing software and select some white or gray area in the photo. If your first choice doesn't look quite correct, choose another one. With people, my favorite white balance point is the whites in someone's eyes. It's a very simple process and greatly improves your photos.
After a while, you'll get experienced enough to notice slight color casts in your images you once thought were perfect--this isn't a bad thing. It's a good thing to attempt to reproduce the scene way it actually appeared. Obviously, there are time when a color cast is perfectly acceptable. Many times when I first started using RAW, I took the warmth out of sunsets by trying to get a neutral white point--mistake, sunsets have a warm color cast.
Also, with huge hard drives and dvd burners at relatively reasonable prices, I keep all my RAW files--especially vacation images. Often I find I have increased my skills and experience and go back and reprocess RAW files and have noticed huge improvements in the final image.
Yes, RAW is more work. However, anyone who made the financial commitment to purchase a DSLR has already decided they want better images. RAW is a huge benefit to the DSLR owner and is an excellent tool to better images. Lastly, again, I don't want people to think I want to be the "white balance" police. I simply see many people who obviously have a desire to take great images. Shooting in RAW and setting white balance is very simple procedure and greatly improves your images. Also, if anyone wants to jump in and clearify or correct something I've said--please do so. We're all here to learn and share, myself included.
