Exercise: tungsten and Fluorescent lighting and digital cameras

It seems that the aim of this exercise is to get us to start appreciating the colour of light and learning how to tackle difficult lighting environments where one is faced with different coloured light sources, like daylight and tungsten, for instance.

Before starting this exercise I would like to point out that since 2009 incandescent tungsten lamps have been undergoing a phasing out period and are  now exceptionally rare... you will still find them in homes but less so as more and more homeowners are obliged to use energy saver fluorescent bulbs as substitutes. The photos I took where with fluorescents bulbs but the same principles apply. I have also taken a photo where both light bulbs were being used and it's interesting to see the difference in colour between fluorescent and tungsten bulbs. the fluorescent, as you can see are more turquoise, or blue green biased.

f 7.1; 1/250 ISO800

I did originally compose a still life as suggested making use of internal and external lighting and was going to use a set of 3 images as suggested, but yesterday I was photographing my cousin's sons 3rd birthday party and by chance took a photograph of the entertainer against a window (almost contre jour, but not quite) and because of the heavy snow, it accentuated the different colours between indoor and outside lighting. I have used the same photo here and altered the white balance setting in Lightroom instead. The photo was shot in RAW so effectively it allows me to create 3 different images as though they were taken 3 times at different WB  settings, but this is the same image with the WB changes made Lightroom.

Image 1: WB set manually in camera using a custom setting by taking a photo of a white card:

You can see from the photo that while the camera has adjusted the colour setting of the internal light to give a white light effect, outside everything appears blue, despite the eye registering it as white

Image 2: WB set in LR4 to daylight:

This time round you will notice that while outside appears natural, everything inside has taken on a golden hue

Image 3: WB set to Fluorescent:

This WB setting almost fixes the colour issues but doesn't remove the blue outside.

Image 4:  WB set to Auto

This setting, strangely enough, is no worse than the fluorescent setting and there is little difference between auto and fluorescent! Although I tend to avoid automatic WB  settings clearly in this instance it has worked satisfactorily.

What I chose to do, in this instance was use the custom setting and then in LR4 desaturate the blues to remove the blue from outside, as you can see below. It has left the outside looking desaturated of colour but that's not necessarily bad and avoids what's going on outside competing with the subject for the viewer's attention

In conclusion, relying on the camera's built in WB settings may not always be a bad thing especially in tricky lighting situations where you won't necessarily be able to accurately capture the colour range because the dynamics are too wide for the camera. In these instances, it is still best to use a custom setting but if you have to, using auto WB can still be useful and no worse than one of the other camera settings.

Exercise: Weather and rain

Part 1: Photographing same view in shade and sun

Foliage

f6.3; 1/320; ISO200

 

f7.1; 1/200; ISO200
 





The picture above on the left was taken with the sun behind cloud cover. It was late in the day but because the sun was behind clouds there are few clues within the photo to indicate the time of day. the colours appear dull and listless and despite a wider aperture the photo is not bright relative to the one taken when the sun was out (on the right). The photo on the right was taken about 30 minutes later. Looking at the foliage you can see it is more vibrant and glowing. I had to stop down the aperture and shutter speed setting for the sunlit photo in order to avoid blowing the highlights. Both photos have their merits. it is certainly easier to avoid blowing highlights   (as you will see in the next set) when the light is diffused through the clouds however this does leave the photos feeling dull and lacking in contrast and dynamic range.

 

 

Olive Tree



f6.3; 1/160 ISO 200

f7.1; 1/100; ISO200





This next set is a good example when one can use overcast days to great advantage. The olive tree is growing in a shaded area of the garden (sunlight is only striking the top leaves). The photo on the right's dynamic range  is too much for the camera which cannot compensate for both shadows and highlights. The photo on the left, however, was taken when the sun was behind cloud cover and you can immediately see the difference in the dynamic range... shadows are lighter, whilst highlights are not as bright. the tree is more evenly lit. Again these photos were taken less than 30 minutes apart, yet the presence of cloud cover has produced a completely different and altogether more pleasing photo.

 

Tumbling ruins

f6.3; 1/640; ISO 200

f7.1; 1/320 ISO 200





Again, these two photographs show the difference sunlight has on capturing an image. The one on the right was taken in sunlight which has created harsh shadows but has lit up and brought out the colours in the stone. The one on the left is cooler but it is easier to make out the detail in areas which would be cast into deep shade if the sun were out.

 

 

 

2. Part 2: Overcast days and detail.






Pietralia Sottana: f8; 1/160; ISO100

Hobbit hole: f11; 1/40; ISO100

Etna: f8; 1/500; ISO100

I took all three pictures on the same day. An overcast day which eventually brightened up in the late afternoon. Each in their own right take advantage of shadowless light in different ways:

1. Petralia Sottana: Areas that would ordinarily be cast in deep shadow are clearly visible. Although not identifiable, the sun would have been low on the horizon (winter sun) and to the left of the frame which would have meant that anything that fell to the right of a building would be cast in shadow;
2. Hobbit hole:   The vegetation in this photo is easily distinguishable not only by the colours but also because the diffused light lights up the darker areas and again avoids creating deep shadows, which would otherwise have been present at this time of day;
3. Etna: This photo shows the blue cast that is captured under a cloudy sky, though note the brighter yellow hues from the sun breaking through the clouds and striking Mount Etna.

 

 

3. Rain:

 

f4.0; 1/640; ISO800

Rain! or more precisely a fine misty rain which has produced a photo where visibility is limited to a couple of hundred yards and distant objects blend into each other. The effect has a somewhat ethereal quality.



Judging Colour Temperature (Part 1 and 2)

The aim of this exercise was to get us to start thinking about the white balance (WB) setting on the camera and how this can be used to "colour" the photograph. This is a useful exercise if you shoot predominantly in jpeg format as you let the camera do the work and the thinking at the time of shooting. If, however, you prefer to use RAW files, then it should be noted that white balance settings can be adjusted post shooting at the processing stage. To maximise the learning of this exercise I have accordingly used jpgs taken by the camera (as opposed to my usual habit of shooting RAW)

 

I have combined the 2 parts of the exercise into a combined exercise. The brief was to take initially 3 photos with a WB daylight setting at different times and/or locations: one in full sunlight, one in shade and one at a time of the day when the sun was close to the horizon- I chose sunset). The second part of the exercise was to alter the WB setting to "shade" and then Automatic and then identify and assess the different colour temperatures.

 

As mentioned above, I have combined the 2 parts of the exercise and have arranged the photographs in 3 separate sections: Full sun; shade and sunset. Within in each section the photos will be set out according to their respective WB settings of  custom (my own based on setting the WB using a white card in situ), auto, daylight and shade. I would add that I used spot metering and set the camera's picture style to "portrait" mode. I used a canon 5D mkii and the 100mm L macro lens. I shot in Aperture Priority mode and the settings are set out in each picture.

Full Sunlight





WB: Custom; f 11.0; shutter speed:1/250; ISO 100
I used my own custom setting for the white balance in this shot.  You can see that skin tones appear natural and fairly neutral. I deliberately chose a light terracotta background which easily changes colour to orange or pink depending on the WB setting. In custom mode the background colour is reflected accurately but skin tones appear  less accurate than expected (it seems that they have a yellowish tinge and this may well be due to the colour of the light at the time of day) and perhaps not the most flattering; and due to the time of shooting (around midday) the photo is very contrasty and shadows appear harsh and unflattering. The light also makes it difficult for the subject to keep their eyes fully open.

 

WB: Auto; f 11.0; shutter speed:1/250; ISO 100
Using Auto WB setting in full sunlight has produced a softer picture but the colour rendition is not accurate. Skin tones appear washed out and the background has been rendered less accurately and has taken on a more salmon colour. again due to the time of day the photo has harsh contrasts and the subject's hair colour is subtly different from the custom WB. 

 WB: Daylight; f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/320 ISO 100

The daylight setting has rendered the colours slightly more accurately than Auto WB but they are still biased towards a red/ pinkish hue. Again the hair colour is subtly different from the custom WB setting but the background colour appears the most accurate  in hue, even above the custom WB setting which had rendered tones slightly yellow.

 

 

  

WB: Shade; f11.0; shutter speed: 1/200 ISO 100

The shade setting has created a photograph with the least contrast of the 4 but has given the photograph a distinct orange hue. this can be seen in the skin tones and particularly in the hair as it now appears ginger.

In full sunlight the best setting to use appears to be the camera's daylight setting. even using a custom WB setting has created difficulties with the colours being biased towards yellow. Auto WB is biased towards red and the Shade setting towards orange.

Shade

WB: Shade; f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/20; ISO 100

Colours appear accurate and somewhat richer. Contrast in shade is less pronounced and harsh shadows are minimised.

WB: Daylight;  f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/20; ISO 100

Daylight setting in shade whilst still rendering colours well, tends to  bias towards the red creating an unrealistic pink skin tone.

WB: Auto;  f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/20; ISO 100

similarly to daylight setting in shade, auto WB is biased towards the red end of the spectrum and it too creates unnatural skin tones.   

WB: Custom;  f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/20; ISO 100

On this occasion the custom WB setting has rendered colour much the same as the shade WB setting. colours appear accurate and natural if somewhat less saturated than the shade setting.

Sunset

 

 

WB: Auto; f 11.0; shutter speed: 0.3 sec (hence the blurring) ISO 100

unfortunately this shot suffers from blurring due to camera shake. the shutter speed was too low and whilst the image is accurately exposed it is blurred. Blurring aside the colour rendition of Auto WB can still be assessed.  This set of photographs was taken at sunset  and the colour of light at this time of day is rich in reds and oranges. Nevertheless, the auto WB has not rendered the colours satisfactorily. It is biased towards red (what you would expect at this time of day) but it gives no indication that this is a photo taken at sunset. there is no golden glow and areas in shadow appear unnaturally red and the background is decidedly pink!

WB: custom; f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/6 ISO 100

Of the 4 photographs this appears to be the best setting. The colours appear realistic and natural and there is a definite sense that the photo has been taken at sunset. Skin tones are rich and vibrant and the background is rendered accurately.

 

WB: Daylight; f 11.0; shutter speed 1/6; ISO 100

The daylight WB setting has worked well and there is little difference between this and the custom WB setting except that perhaps the colours do not appear as rich  and highlights are perhaps brighter. Again, skin tones are accurate and the background is the right colour.

WB: Shade; f 11.0; shutter speed: 1/4; ISO 100

The Shade setting at this time of day is almost as inadequate as the auto setting. It does not reproduce the colour at the time of day and as with the auto setting the colours are biased towards red under these lighting conditions (interestingly this is not the case in  the other light conditions where Shade WB setting was biased towards orange). Skin tones appear unnatural and unrealistic in the circumstances. The background whilst not pink is till too salmon compared to how it is rendered by the custom and daylight WB settings.

 

In conclusion then this exercise has made it apparent that  the WB setting of a digital camera is crucial to rendering colours accurately and is one of the factors influencing the subtle messages that you want your photo to make (like mood; ambience and emotion). There is no single setting that will work all the time and it is for this reason that I tend to use a custom setting. However, in the absence of a white (or grey) card as a rule of thumb, the auto WB setting should be avoided and you should take into account the lighting conditions at the time of shooting and choose  the appropriate setting, i.e daylight in daylight shooting irrespective of time of day and  shade WB  in shady conditions.