White Balance

White Balance is the process of measuring the light source's color temperature based on lighting conditions.


If your camera’s white balance is set incorrectly, you will see a color cast on your image: it will look slightly blue, slightly orange, or slightly green. A low color temperature shifts light toward the red; a high color temperature shifts light toward the blue. Different light sources emit light at different color temperatures, and thus the color cast.


Color temperature is effectively the warmth that is emitted from a light source, and the effect that temperature has on the intensity of any particular color in the visible spectrum. For example, a 200 W bulb has more intensity in the orange/red end, and shows purples and blues with very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “warm”. Daylight has equivalent intensity across the whole spectrum, so you see purples and blues with the same intensity as oranges and reds. But shade or a heavily overcast sky has more intensity in the blue/purple end, so your oranges and reds will have very little intensity. This makes your photo appear “cool”.

Some examples of color temperatures:

1500 K: candle light

2800 K: 60 W bulb

3200 K: sunrise and sunset (will be affected by smog)

3400 K: tungsten lamp (ordinary household bulb)

4000-5000 K: cool white fluorescent bulbs

5200 K: bright midday sun

5600 K: electronic photo flash.

6500 K: heavily overcast sky

10000-15000 K: deep blue clear sky

Newer light sources, such as fluorescent and other artificial lighting, require further white balance adjustments since they can make your photos appear either green or magenta.



Your camera searches for a reference point in your scene that represents white. It will then calculate all the other colors based on this white point and the known color spectrum. Remember, white balance is the automatic adjustment that makes sure the white color we see will also appear white in the image.

Setting your camera’s white balance to AWB will provide color accuracy under many conditions. Your camera will adjust the white balance between 4000K – 7000K using a best guess algorithm. Auto white balance is a good choice for situations where the light changes over time and speed is an issue.

You should avoid using auto white balance settings in the following situations:

1) The scene is heavily dominated by one color

2) Colour accuracy is absolutely imperative

3) You are photographing particularly warm or cool scenes

White Balance Presets

Most digital cameras come with multiple white balance preset options.

Tungsten - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 3,000K.
Best Use: indoors at night. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too blue.
Creative Use: Set your exposure compensation to -1 or -2 and use this setting in daylight to simulate night.

Fluorescent - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 4,200K.
Best use: Fluorescent, mercury, HMI and metal halide lights used in your garage, sports stadiums and parking lots. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too purple.

Daylight - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,200K.
Best use: studio strobe lights. Otherwise, your exposure may have a slight bluish tinge.

Cloudy - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 6,000K. Best use: direct sunlight and overcast light. This setting will warm your photo by giving it an orange tinge, which is often desirable in landscapes and portraits.
Creative Use: sunsets.

Shade - The color temperature of this setting ranges from 7,000K - 8,000K.
Best use: shooting in shade, no direct sunlight (cloudy), backlit subjects. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too orange.
Creative Use: direct sunlight – it will warm up your photos even more!

Flash - The color temperature of this setting is fixed at 5,400K. This is almost identical to Cloudy but sometimes redder depending on the camera.
Best use: overcast skies. Otherwise, your exposure will turn out too red.

5 Common mistakes and how to fix them

Problem: Lackluster composition
Sometimes just a subtle shift of emphasis is all it takes to turn a throwaway photograph into a treasured keeper. Here are the top tips to immediately improving your composition.

Tip 1: The Rule of Thirds is a time-honored technique professional photographers use to improve composition. Imagine a tic-tac-toe grid over the image you want to take. Use the intersection of those lines to place your subject slightly off center, and bring interest up or down.

Tip 2: Take photos at various angles and distances to give you more options to choose from. Also experiment with vertical and horizontal camera orientation. You may discover that this simple shift yields interesting results.

Tip 3: Eliminate distracting background clutter by getting closer to your subject. You can achieve the same effect, known as a shallow depth of field, by manually adjusting your aperture setting to a low f-number, such as f2.8.


Problem: Poor lighting
Photography is all about catching that magic moment when the light is just right. But lighting also provides some challenges. These tips will help, whether you’re indoors or out.

Tip 1: Balance bright or dim light
Digital cameras get “confused” by unbalanced conditions, such as a very bright or dim light, causing the camera to under or over expose your photo.

In low light conditions, lower the ISO to 50 or 100 to get rich detail in low light. Use a tripod, or steady yourself against a stable object to avoid moving the camera.

In bright light, manually choose a fast shutter speed to control the amount of light that comes in.

Tip 2: Shooting indoors
Avoid using your flash. Instead, provide as much natural light as possible—open curtains, or even the door. Or use lamps to add light to the scene. Your flash mutes color and casts stark, deep shadows that are especially unflattering in portraits.

Don’t place your subject in front of a bright window or they will become a silhouette (although this can be a nice effect when done intentionally). Try placing them off to the side instead, or facing a natural light source.

Tip 3: Shooting outdoors
Try to have the sun behind you when you shoot. This will provide the most flattering light to your subject.

Shoot early or later in the day—dawn and dusk provide lovely light, whereas midday light can be harsh.

Take advantage of overcast days. That’s when the light is even, and casts almost no shadows.

Problem: Red-eye
The appearance of glowing red eyes can ruin a portrait of even the cutest child or pet. The red color comes from light reflecting off of the retinas in our eyes. The following quick tips can help get the red out.

Tip 1: Try not to use a flash if possible—it is the number one cause of red-eye. Instead, turn on lights or open curtains to add additional light to your scene.

Tip 2: Ask your subject to look toward the camera but not directly at the lens or to look into a bright light first.

Tip 3: Stand farther away from your subject.

Tip 4: Take advantage of in-camera red-eye removal. Many digital cameras and photo printers now allow you to remove red-eye or prevent it altogether. Check your digital camera’s manual to see if it includes these features.

Problem: Blurry photos
While a photo with a dramatic blur can often be artistic, it can also render a subject incomprehensible. Here are some ways to add clarity to your digital photographs.

Tip 1: Reduce shutter lag. The time between pressing the trigger and the camera taking the picture is called shutter lag, and it can cause blurry pictures. Avoid it by pressing the trigger halfway down until you’re ready to shoot. When the right moment comes, press the rest of the way. This strategy is great when you're taking pictures of people (especially kids) or animals.

Tip 2: Minimize camera shake. Even the slightest camera movement can cause unclear photos. Use a tripod or brace yourself against a stationary object to hold the camera still. Some digital cameras come with image stabilization, another way to get clear images of moving subjects.

Tip 3: Use your digital camera’s Action shooting mode for sports or other action shots. It automatically optimizes your shutter speed to help capture motion. Or manually increase your camera’s shutter speed to achieve the same effect.

Problem: Low-quality prints
If you plan to print your photographs using a digital photo printer, keep resolution in mind. Resolution is measured in megapixels (MP), and matching the resolution to the print size will help you get clear digital photo prints.

Tip 1: If you plan to enlarge or crop photos before printing, it’s best to shoot at the highest resolution possible. But high-resolution pictures take up more memory.

Tip 2: If you plan to e-mail images or print smaller sizes, like 4" x 6" or 5" x 7" photos, you can stick to 4-5 MP with no problems.

Tip 3: Many digital cameras let you select the resolution level, so you can determine ahead of time whether you want to shoot a big file with lots of detail, or a quick snapshot you can post to a website or e-mail to friends and family.

Photography 101: Shutter Speed

SHUTTER SPEEDS
In very simple terms, shutter speed is the time it takes for the shutter on the camera to open and close. When the shutter is open, light is let in to the sensor and when it is closed, no light gets in. The longer the shutter is open, the greater the amount of light that is let in. The more light, the brighter your image will be.

Conversely, the shorter the shutter is open, the less light that is let in.
Shutter speeds are typically recorded in fractions of a second: ½ second is a long shutter speed (more light) and 1/1000 is a short one.

There is also often a “B” (or “bulb”) setting which allows the user to hold the shutter open for as long as they wish.

With a fast shutter speed, the shutter is open for only a short time. This helps especially in two ways. First, it helps to freeze the movement of a fast moving subject. Secondly, it reduces the chance of camera shake. A slow shutter speed will allow blurring of movement and will enable much smaller apertures to be used.
Of course, shutter speed settings are combined with aperture settings in setting the amount of light that comes into the camera. You can see it as the aperture determining the intensity of the light hitting the sensor and the shutter speed determining how long it hits the sensor for.

A change from one shutter speed to the next either halves or doubles the time of the exposure. Sound familiar?

Play around with moving objects on different shutter speeds and you’ll see what I mean about the different types of effects you can get.ect such as a moving car.


As the aperture number gets smaller (for example, from f/16 to f/11) the aperture opening gets larger and the image gets lighter.
As with the shutter speed, the aperture also affects the sharpness of your picture, but in a different way. Changing the aperture changes the depth of field. Smaller apertures increase depth of field while larger ones decrease it.

Increasing the time the shutter remains open to allow light in, you must compensate by allowing less light in to expose the image sensor in that longer amount of time, if you still want a properly exposed picture. If your lens does not close down to F16, you could use a Neutral Density (ND) filter to reduce the amount of light coming into the lens, and thus allowing you to use a slower shutter speed.

Here is a list f the more common aperture values - each lets double amount of light in. I also wrote the shutter speed needed to get an equivalent exposure of f=1/2.8 with shutter speed of 1/500.

aperture f/1.4 f/1.8 f/2.8 f/4 f/5.6 f/8 f/11 f/16 f/22
shutter
speed 1/2000 1/1000 1/500 1/250 1/125 1/60 1/30 1/15 1/8




A high shutter speed (1/1000 of a second or higher) can freeze even very fast moving objects dead in their tracks. However, you will need to keep a couple of things in mind:

1.) You are going to need a brightly lit subject as shutter speeds this high don’t allow your camera much time to gather light for exposure. You can get around this to a degree by using a higher ISO setting, but don’t go to high, or noise will creep into your shot.

2.) If possible, set up your shot by having your camera focused on the spot where your subject is going to pass by. This will allow you to concentrate on timing your subject’s approach, giving you a better chance to trip the shutter at just the right moment.

Medium shutter speeds (1/20 of a second to 1/80 of a second) can be used to create motion blur when photographing moving objects. This gives the photo a sense of life and motion. Here are several ways you can approach this type of motion blur:

1.) With your camera stationary, trip the shutter as a moving subject passes by. This will make the subject look blurred, while keeping the rest of the shot clear—giving your subject a look of speed and a sense that it is moving out of the shot.

2.) Follow your subject through the viewfinder in a smooth sweeping motion as it approaches, and trip the shutter as your subject goes by—this is called “panning.” This method will keep your subject relatively clear, but will blur the background, giving an overall sense of speed and movement. The timing for this type of shot takes a little practice, but the results make it well worthwhile.

3.) When shooting a stationary subject, purposely move your camera in a sweeping or circular motion to create a blur of colours and lines. This one is a lot of fun and can provide some interesting abstract results.

Low shutter speeds (1/8 of a second up to 30 seconds and beyond) can be used to create a variety of effects—here are just a few:

Note: For most of these long exposures a tripod or some other means of keeping the camera perfectly still is necessary to avoid creating unintended blur.

1.) Moving water will look smooth and silky when shot at shutter speeds of 1/8 of a second or more—the longer the exposure the more pronounced the effect.

2.) When photographed at shutter speeds of 2 seconds or greater, car lights will turn into long colourful trails—the longer the exposure, the longer the trails.

3.) When very long exposures are used (15 seconds plus) city lights will often take on a stretched, star-like appearance.

4.) Photographing city lights at shutter speeds of 1/15 of a second, or so, either from a moving vehicle, or while walking, can produce interesting and colourful abstracts (no tripod needed.)

Composition tips

1. Emphasize through placement: slightly off center.
2. Emphasize through relative size: fill frame
3. Emphasize through framing: sense of depth and perception, guides viewers eye
4. Emphasize through selective lighting
5. Emphasize through selective focus
6. Emphasize with converging lines: low camera angle or wide angle
7. Emphasize through repetition: lines, curves, circles, triangles, and squares.
8. Emphasize through motion
9. Emphasize foreground object with wide angle, move in close
a. Vertical: foreground on the bottom
b. Horizontal: object to one side
10. Use a large dominate foreground subject with a with complimentary background.
11. Use a smaller foreground element leading to a larger background element
12. Compose in a way to create diagonal or direct lines from on to another.
13. Shoot horizontal and vertical.
14. Use backgrounds as subjects
15. Concentrate on a single subject; try to isolate it against a plain background.
16. Use contrasts:
a. Light and dark
b. Color and monochrome
c. Contrasting colors
d. Large and small
e. Texture and smooth
f. Warm and cool colors
17. Find center of interest.
18. Keep backgrounds simple
19. Follow the rule of thirds
20. Do not put horizon in dead center of frame
21. Use lines of direction to lead eye into the frame: diagonal, ‘S’ curves.
22. Vary POV
23. Radical balance: feeling of directional movement

Photography 101: What is an "aperture"?

Aperture is one of the three main controls you can use when you are taking a picture. Along with shutter speed and ISO, aperture controls how light will hit the sensor or film.

Aperture is referred to the lens diaphragm opening inside a photographic lens. The size of the diaphragm opening in a camera lens controls the amount of light that passes through onto the film inside the camera the moment when the shutter curtain in camera opens during an exposure process. The size of an aperture in a lens can either be a fixed or the most popular form in an adjustable type (like an SLR camera). Aperture size is usually calibrated in f-numbers or f-stops. i.e. those little numbers engraved on the lens barrel like f/22, f/16, f/11, f/8.0, f/5.6, f/4.0, f/2.8, f/2.0, f/1.8.

The larger the hole the more light that gets in - the smaller the hole the less light. "Stopping down" the lens from f/4 to f/5.6 will halve the amount of incoming light. "Opening up" the lens from f/5.5 to f/4 will double the amount of light.
Stopping down means to reduce the size of the iris of a lens. This increases the depth of field of the image, but results in dimmer images at the film plane. You can can compensate for this by increasing the exposure time (shutter speed),or increasing the ISO. Keep in mind that a change in shutter speed from one stop to the next doubles or halves the amount of light that gets in also - this means if you increase one and decrease the other you let the same amount of light in - very handy to keep in mind).



The best way to get your head around aperture is to get your camera out and do some experimenting. Go outside and find a spot where you’ve got items close to you as well as far away and take a series of shots with different aperture settings from the smallest setting to the largest. You’ll quickly see the impact that it can have and the usefulness of being able to control aperture.

Make your own muslin backdrop

To make a simple backdrop you will need:
· About 4-5 yards (12 to 15 feet) of natural or white muslin. Buy the widest width you can find. (Try to find one that is at least 108 inches.)
· A roll or two of no-sew fusible tape.
· An iron and ironing board.
· A pair of scissors, a pencil, and straight-edge.

One of the best materials to make a professional looking backdrop is out of a material called muslin. This is an inexpensive cotton cloth that can be found in almost any fabric store. Muslin commonly comes in either white or natural (off-white) and in a variety of widths.
When you get your fabric home, throw it in the washing machine for a quick wash. After drying the fabric, spread it out on the floor and trim up the ends so that they are as straight as possible.
Use a long straight edge, make a mark with some chalk or a pencil, and then cut the fabric to be as exact as possible. Now use the double-sided fusible tape and run it along the cut edges.
Fold the fabric over to create a sharp edge. Following the tape instructions, iron the fabric where you've inserted the tape. Now you've finished your simple, professional backdrop. It's that simple! The tape, once ironed, creates a good bond that requires absolutely no sewing. The backdrop can be gently washed when needed, the the finished edges won't fray.
If you are handy with the sewing machine and enjoy this type of work, by all means, you can sew a 1/4 or 1/2 inch seam on the ends, instead of the no-sew tape, to finish the back drop.
If you have a very ample piece of fabric, you can simply toss it over a back drop pole or even tack it up to a wall. If you have a smaller size of fabric, or want a more professional look, there is another step you can add to the process.

On one of the ends that you've ironed, fold the fabric over another 4 to 5 inches, tack that end down again with the double sided tape, and iron it again. This will create a hole running along the width of the muslin that you can easily fit a backdrop pole through.
Is a natural or white backdrop a little too boring for you? Adding color to your backdrop is easy.
Back at the fabric store you can find fabric dyes in a multitude of colors. I prefer to use the liquid dyes to the powder ones. Powder dyes are more difficult to mix completely and can leave little spots on your fabric.

To dye your fabric you will need,
· a large plastic or metal tub or bucket
· rubber gloves
· dye color of your choice
· hot water

Do this process outside or somewhere where it doesn't matter if you spill a little. Dunking such a big piece of fabric usually produces some splashes. Follow the dye instructions, add the bottle of dye into the bucket of hot water, and dunk your muslin into the bucket. To make sure the color is solid and even throughout the muslin, put on your rubber gloves and swish the fabric around a lot so that every part of it gets well soaked by the dye. If you would like to have a slightly mottled, tie-dye effect, scrunch up the fabric and gently submerge it into the solution, without much movement. Either hold it there or gently let go without moving the fabric around much. If you pull out the fabric and don't like the mottled effect, simply put it back in the dye and swish it around until all the fabric is infused with the dye. Viola! Your fabric is dyed!
When your fabric has the desired amount of color, remove it from the dye solution and rinse it in warm, then cool water.

A few tips for dying the muslin:

Before dying the fabric, wash it in the washing machine.
Don't dry it, but place it pre-wetted in the dye solution.
After you've dyed and rinsed the fabric, you can send it through the washing machine one more time to get any last residue from the dye out.

Let the fabric dry on a line, rather than the dryer, for the least amount of shrinkage.
A final note about muslin is that it looks great either ironed or wrinkled up.

Making your own backdrop is an inexpensive and quick process, and in no time you have a great addition to your photography equipment. You'll find that the muslin creates a simple, lightweight background good for photographing people or objects without any other distracting elements.

Caring for Muslin Backdrops

A successful photography studio must be able to offer its clients a variety of backgrounds. Although seamless paper backdrops are very effective and commonly used in commercial studios, I prefer to use muslin backdrops in my studio.

Muslin backdrops are significantly more expensive than seamless paper and require more storage space and care. However, they provide interesting textures and more realistic backgrounds for more sophisticated studio work. Muslin backdrops vary from very simple, single color backgrounds to complicated, hand-painted works of art. Likewise, they range in price from $30 to upwards of $400 per backdrop. Thus, if you decide to invest in muslin backdrops, you certainly need to know how to care for them properly.

Here are a few tips I have found helpful in caring for muslin backdrops:

Washing - I have purchased a variety of muslins from various manufacturers. Some will indicate that muslins can be hand or machine-washed. Others vehemently instruct you NOT to wash them. I have found through experience that washing muslins will quickly degrade their quality and hasten your need to replace them. I would avoid washing muslins unless absolutely necessary.

Stains or Soil - If your muslin backdrop becomes stained or soiled, try to spot treat using a scrub brush and mild soap and warm water. NEVER use bleach or harsh, abrasive detergents. If the stain resists spot treatment, you may need to soak the area in a warm water and mild soap solution overnight. You can drape the backdrop over a tub, strategically placing the spot over the tub and placing a smooth but heavy object on the spot to hold it in the solution. If this course of action fails to remove the stain, you may have no choice but to use a more powerful detergent or, perhaps, OxyClean. Keep in mind, however, that you may damage the backdrop and have to incorporate the damaged area into your photo background, shift it out of your camera’s view, or simply place your subject(s) in front of the stain.

Creases and Folds – Your muslin backdrop will arrive heavily folded, as there is simply no other way to ship a heavy, bulky muslin backdrop. If you know you will not need to use the backdrop for several days, simply hang it on your backdrop support and allow gravity to work for you. If you cannot wait several days to use the backdrop or if the creases and folds are still visible, use a hand-held fabric steamer. I use a Conair compact fabric steamer (model GS4, est. retail $30.00) with great results. Follow the instructions included with the steamer and be careful not to rub the muslin with the steam head. In the absence of a fabric steamer, you can (if you are brave) allow your backdrop to lay outstretched on a clean, no-traffic portion of your yard overnight. The natural dew will help to remove most of the wrinkles and folds.

Ironing – JUST DON'T DO IT! Ironing your muslins will create noticeable, shiny hotspots in your backdrop and ruin the material.

Dust and Hair – Muslin backdrops, like everything else in your home or studio, will attract dust and hair. To remove dust, simply shake the muslin as you would any other linen. To remove clingy pet or human hair, use a large lint roller (est. retail $4.00). They work fantastic and won’t break the bank.

Storage – It’s best to roll your muslin backdrops into a ball when storing them. Natural wrinkles, not patterned folds and creases, can actually enhance your backdrop and create even more texture, which adds to the realism of your backdrops. Many photographers like working with wavy, naturally wrinkled backdrops. If your photo shoot is casual, then you can certainly get by with using one. If, however, you will be doing formal, more serious work, I would highly recommend removing as many of the wrinkles as you can before the shoot. I like to store my muslin backdrops, rolled in balls, in large plastic tubs. This helps to eliminate excessive dust from collecting on them and makes it easier and faster for me to simply shake and hang them when needed.

Muslin backdrops, when properly cared for, can last a number of years. They represent a significant investment in your photography business. I hope these tips will help you to better preserve the quality and integrity of your muslin backdrops.