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What is White Balance?

What is it?

It’s a technical term that measures the colour of the light we are seeing. As always, our eyes and brain change to our surroundings and make adjustments to what we see without our knowledge. As a result of this, we don’t see the difference between light from a candle and light from the sun. The light from a candle is very yellow (warm) and the light from the direct sun is quite blue (cool). These are two very opposite ends of the scale in colour balance. This is the reason why, when you take a photo indoors without the flash, the pictures can look very yellow.

How do I use it on my camera?

There is a button or menu for the white balance. Generally the camera defaults to AWB (Auto White Balance), which in truth, gets it right most of the time. If you are shooting jpg only, and the white balance is incorrect, there is little you can do to correct it. So it needs to be right 100% of the time. To achieve this, you need to set it yourself.

Below are the icons. Its best to pick the light that you are taking pictures in, with the exception of “Custom” as this is used when taking pictures with studio flash lighting. There is also “K” that is where you select a number, that and “Custom” will be another blog post.

What does it do to my pictures?

If you pick the wrong white balance your pictures with either look too yellow or too blue. Generally, skin tones will not look right, making people look like they have a fake tan. It can make sunsets look more vibrant or yellow, which could be what you’re looking for too. So picking the right white balance is best done before you take the picture.

The screen on the back of the camera is a great guide to see what you have taken looks like what you are seeing. The RBG histogram is another way, but that’s a topic for another blog post.

Examples

The images below were taken in a RAW format and were processed to show how the white balance changes will affect the result. The icon in the bottom corner of each photo shows what white balance it was processed with.

Sunset clouds; taken at about 5.30pm, the light is coming from the sun and there are clouds so “Cloudy” was used.

Joey in the diner; this image was an ambient light shot with a very little amount of flash. The accurate white balance is closer to “Fluorescent” than it is to “Flash”. You can see though that “Sunny” white balance gives the skin a just tanned look.

Olympic lifting outdoors; This shot was lit by the street lights. As you can see with using “Sunny”, the skin tone is wrong. The correct white balance is “Incandescent”

Christmas lights; As there are so many light sources in this photo, which includes the moon, the white balance was hard to get right. It is somewhere between “Fluorescent” and “Incandescent”. The grass in the “Sunny” setting looks too yellow and the sky has a brown yellow cast.

Try This

Take the same picture with each of the white balance settings, and see which one you think is the closest to the light you are taking pictures in. If you have any interesting findings, feel free to post your comments below.

Top Travel Tips

Here’s our Top Travel Tips for Photographers:

1 Take your charger, even if it’s only a weekend away! Charge the battery every night to ensure your camera is ready when you need it. And remember, cold weather shortens the life of batteries.

2 Take lots of memory cards. They’re cheap, and why risk missing out on that once-in-lifetime shot because your memory card is full? Make sure you format them in the camera before you leave. If you are planning to take lots of pictures and are wondering whether to buy one big card or several smaller ones, we recommend buying many smaller ones. If you lose the one big card, or gets damaged/corrupted in some way, you will lose all your photos.

3 With this in mind, don’t be scared to take one extra photo. You may never come back! Also, don’t delete a picture off the back of your camera without first looking at it in on your computer. The camera’s screen is too small to have a thorough look at the image and you might miss something interesting in the background.

4 Backup the pictures! Keep the used cards separate from your camera (and secure) in case it gets lost or stolen.

5 Be aware of visiting places where taking pictures may not be condoned or may be against the law. As a rule of thumb, avoid photographing inside airports, at border crossings, where there are police or military officials etc. Respect signs that say “no photography”. Also, different countries have different laws about what is acceptable as far as photographing people – research this before you go!

6 If you don’t have a tripod, a bin/chair/or the ground can be a great makeshift tripod.

7 If you are taking pictures at night, and the camera suggests using a tripod or you cannot get sharp photos because the shutter speed is too low, you can use your camera’s self-timer for a hands-free shot that minimises camera shake.

8 Use your shadow as a guide. It’s best to keep your back to the sun when taking pictures so if you look down and see your shadow you’re looking the right way. Of course this is not always possible.

9 Be creative and don’t forget to change your point of view. Don’t just arrive at a scene and take the first shot you see. Remember to think about WHAT you would like to highlight in the scene.

10 Keeping a shopping bag in your pocket or camera bag is a great way of protecting your camera if it rains.

11 Test your camera before you go away. Learn how to use it, and try not to buy it the week before you go away. If you’re flustered and have not read the new manual or are not familiar with the camera, you may not be getting the best out of it.

These tips will ensure that you capture some awesome memories of your trip. And on a final note, make sure you have the camera ready at all times – you never know what’s around the next corner.

Examples

Here are some photos from our travels. Head on over to our No Green Square Facebook page and post your best travel photos.

top travel tips Sunset over Mount Fuji from the Shinjuku Government Tower, Japan

top travel tips Sunrise over Ankgor Wat, Cambodia

top travel tips Junks in Ha-Long Bay, Vietnam

top travel tips Lake Manchester on Fraser Island, Australia

Try This

While traveling, keep your camera handy and ready to take photos. Try to get some shots that are a little different from the norm, using a different angle or perspective.

Do a Photography Challenge

What is it?

Doing a photography challenge lets you explore new things, try doing the same thing many ways, or just explore your creativity. Some examples could be, Photo-A-Day for a week, a month or longer, portraits of strangers, macro, or there are some creative subject lists for 30 days, that make you become more creative.

How do I use it on my camera?

How you use your camera in this challenge is up to you. You could limit yourself to only shooting with Aperture Priority, or just using one lens, or only using ISO100. Whatever you choose, make sure that it makes you think about what you have to do to take those pictures.

What does it do to my pictures?

These sorts of challenges will make you become more creative. They will change the way you think about how you’re shooting, and how it make you see things in a different way. If you choose to only use F3.5 or all your pictures are going to be taken at 1/100^th of a second, these challenges will keep you on your toes.

Examples

Here is my 365 Photography Challenge, as I love photographing wide angle pictures; I decided to challenge myself to use a telephoto lens, and to only take pictures with it at F2.

One Hundred Strangers is a Flickr group with people and portraits in mind. It makes some people come out of their shell, in order to ask someone if they can take their picture, and then post the images with some background on Flickr.

Facebook has a 30 Day Photo Challenge that involves each day having a different photo to submit. This would challenge you to think outside the box, and be a little more creative.

Try This

Do a one week challenge, try to push your boundaries and extend yourself. If you’re stuck for ideas, our challenge is to photograph something green for seven days. You can’t take a picture of the same thing seven times, each photo has to very different, and needs to be a completely different subject matter. Seven photos of leaves won’t cut it!

Here are three pictures to start you off,

look forward to seeing what you take

RAW

What is it?

RAW is the digital equivalent of slide or negative film. It’s a format that allows you to process the image after you have taken it to suit your liking, or to process it a very different way altogether. In short, it’s like the roll of film you used to take to be developed, and then go back to get your prints. With RAW, you do the developing.

How do I use it on my camera?

Usually your camera is set to take photos in .jpg format. This format gives you a processed picture that is ready to share or print. Depending on the make and model of your camera, you may have a dedicated button for selecting the RAW option or you may have to change it through the menu system. Your camera may be able to take both a .jpg and RAW image at the same time, or just one format. This function may allow you to choose different .jpg and RAW sizes as well. Please note: shooting RAW will produce large file sizes and will slow down your camera’s burst mode (ie, how many pictures you can take quickly in a row.)

What does it do to my pictures?

Shooting RAW gives you much flexibility when processing your images. It allows you to adjust every facet of your image, from brightness, colour, contrast, sharpness and lots more. Newer versions of Photoshop Camera Raw Editor even allow you to apply a graduated filter effect, remove dust spots and other unwanted elements in the image. Basically, you can manipulate your picture to your hearts content.

You may be thinking, “we can already do that with editing software for our .jpg files”. Yes you can! BUT, like slide film, any change made to a RAW file is just a tweak to the file. It is not destructive, which means that any change can be reversed, or improved with more changes. You can always revert to the original RAW file. Even cropping the image does not destroy the remainder of the picture, not to mention that in the future, there may be better software or you may have a better understanding of processing that could give you a better result.

Once you have made your adjustments to the RAW file, simply save as a .jpg for printing / sharing.

While you may not be able to process a RAW file now, it is worth shooting in RAW, because at some point you may be able to, or you may want to change the feel of a shot. Processing software will improve over time and will allow you to produce a better result!

The following examples show images that I took years ago, and have been able to re-process because I kept the RAW files.

Example 1

RAW Pics 1.jpg I took the picture above in 2004 on a then new Canon 300D (using a 18-55 kit lens). The picture settings were F16 (aperture), 60 seconds (shutter speed), and ISO 100. I processed the image with the Canon Raw editing software supplied with the camera.

RAW Pics 2.jpg I can now process that file with the latest Adobe Camera Raw Editor. You can see the many sliders and variables that can be used to adjust the look of the image. Please note that when you open the file, all the sliders are set to 0.

RAW Pics 3.jpg In this image, I have moved the sliders, and the image has changed:

Moved white balance – toned down the yellow cast
Increased exposure – increased the overall brightness
Increased contrast – blacks are blacker and whites are whiter
Decreased the highlights – which remove some of the extreme white light around the street lights
Increased clarity – which sharpens the image

RAW Pics 4.jpg Here is newly reprocessed image. If I had not taken this picture in RAW in 2004, these edits would not have been possible.

Example 2

The photo on the left was taken on a Canon 1000D. The settings were F2.8, 1/750th shutter speed and ISO 100. The photo on the left was as shot, you can see that it is quite overexposed, as this image was taken in RAW i am able to repair the image and bring it back.

Decreased the exposure – to darken the overall image
Increased contrast – blacks are blacker and whites are whiter
Increased the highlights – as they needed a little
Increased the shadows – to highlight the flower
Reduced the whites – to remove the harshness on the lake
Increased the clarity – to sharpen the image

If this was a jpg image out of the camera, these adjustments would not have been possible.

Try This

Take a picture in RAW and have a go at processing it yourself with the sliders, moving each one at a time and seeing the results. Watch how the histogram moves left to right and how the peaks rise and fall.

Aperture

What is it?

Aperture is a way of controlling how much light comes into your camera. It’s based on the size of the hole in your lens. By changing lenses you can improve the maximum aperture.

How do I use it on my camera?

Depending on the camera make and model you have, by using the A or Av (Aperture Priority) mode on your camera dial or menu, you can select the F number that you want the photo to be taken at, the camera will set the shutter speed to maintain the correct exposure. You would use the main scroll or menu to change the F number.

What does it do to my pictures?

Simply, the smaller the F number you use the less will be in focus in your pictures. This will make the object in focus stand out more. However, there are times that you want lots of the picture in focus, like a landscape or a group of people. To get all of the picture in focus use a larger number.

Small F number: the flower is only thing in focus

Large F number: the flower in the foreground and the flowers in the background are not separated. The flowers in the background are distracting.

Examples

F number 11: gives a lot of depth in this picture

Small F number: the water closest is in focus.

Small F number: the back ground is separated from the subject

Larger F number: more in focus, the foreground and background are both parts of the picture

Using a larger F number: the subject and his surroundings are both part of the picture

F number 22: all of the above image is in focus

Try This

Get your camera, set it to Aperture Priority mode, start at the smallest number you can and then take a series of pictures of the same thing changing the F number. Note how your pictures are changing. What else is changing when taking these pictures?

Have a read about Shutter Speed and ISO.

Shutter Speed

What is it?

Your camera has a door that opens to let in light; by controlling how long the door is open it can control how much light comes into your camera, and therefore how light or dark or your photo is.

Shutter Speed is how long the door is open.

How do I use it on my camera?

Depending on the make and model of camera you have, by using the S or Tv mode on your camera dial or menu, you can select the Shutter Speed that you want the photo to be taken at. The camera will then set the Aperture to maintain the correct exposure. You can use the main scroll or menu to change the Shutter Speed. Your camera is likely to have a range of 30” to 4000 or (1/4000th), this is 30 seconds to 1/4000th of a second. It may also have “Bulb” or faster than 1/4000th. I will leave “Bulb” and Long Exposures to another Blog post.

What does it do to my pictures?

The longer the shutter is open, the more that the objects that are moving in your pictures will blur. So to freeze your subject in time you will need to use a quick shutter speed. To blur your subject you will need to use a longer shutter speed. Tip: if you are trying to capture your kids on a swing, you will need to use a faster shutter speed than 1/250th.

Fast Shutter: has frozen the seagull in flight.

Slow Shutter: the waves in this picture have a ghostly appearance.

Examples

Fast Shutter: has frozen the subjects mid jump.

Fast Shutter: the movement of the water is frozen.

Slow Shutter: the water on the waterfall has blurred.

Shutter Speed Pics 7 Slow Shutter: the cars are so blurred they are not visible. All you can see is their headlights / tail lights.

Try This

Set your camera to Shutter Priority mode. Using a garden hose or sprinkler, take a picture at 1/1000th and see what happens to the water.

Next, take a series of pictures of the same object, changing the shutter speed after each photo. Note how your pictures are changing. What else is changing when taking these pictures? Feel free to leave your comments on this post.

Have a read about ISO and Aperture.

The making of Natural Bridge HDR

What is HDR? Why would you use it? What is it good for?

The simple answer is this.

HDR is an acronym for High Dynamic Range

What is Dynamic Range?

It refers to how we see light and what we see. Its measured in stops of light, our eyes see about 13 – 14 stops of light, most consumer digital cameras will record about 9 stops of light.

We can see details in the bright and dark areas of a scene that our cameras cannot record. In some cases it is the answer to “Why don’t my pictures look like what I was seeing”.

This photographic technique allows you to get more detail into your pictures than your camera is capable of recording by taking multiple shots that are set to different exposures and combining them together.

Usually three or more shots are taken: underexposed, correctly exposed and over exposed (-,0,+). Your camera may be able to do this automatically with a function called “bracketing” – your manual may explain this in further detail. These multiple images are then blended with third party software or in camera to create one image.

This technique is handy when a scene is unevenly lit, an example of this is a place called Natural Bridge, its in the Springbrook National Park in Queensland. There is a wonderful sun lit waterfall in a cave.

The shot below is exposed for the light on the waterfall and the light outside.

Note that there is no detail in the underside of the cave, but the rainforest and waterfall are exposed properly.

This next shot is exposed for the underside of the cave.

Note now that there is no detail in the rainforest outside and there is little detail in the wall and the waterfall.

The next shot is in-between both of the two shots above.

There is loss of details in the darker areas and loss of details in the rainforest, but there is nice light on the rocks in the foreground.

If we combine these images using HDR processing techniques, we will get the composite of the lights and darks. You can now see the details in the underside of the cave and the details in the rainforest.

This image was combined in Photoshop, using the built in HDR tools. Some of the newer cameras will process this style of image in the camera.

Some people believe that this is no longer photography, and is more akin to art. I believe that if you need to use this style or process to record what you see, then do it.

The making of “30 Minutes of Lightning over Bulimba”

I recently posted a picture which was taken of a large storm with lots of lightning over Bulimba. It was on the 29th of Dec last year. Usually I would post a picture like the one below of ONE big strike captured in one shot.

To capture this sort of picture, I have set-up my camera on a tripod, I have set the camera to manual focus, and pre-focused on the tree in the distance, then set the camera to a manual setting that suited the night, on this occasion it was aperture F9.5 ISO 400 and shutter speed of 30 seconds (this is a long exposure). Then I wait for the lightning to do its job.

But while the storm was passing over, I noticed that the lightning was quite regular. The storm was so large that there would be lots of strikes. So I had an idea, if I took lots of images of the strikes and then put them all into one shot, what would it look like?

This style of processing is called “stacking”, to do this I have used some free software called Startrails, its usually used to stack images of stars tracing across the sky into a star trail, like the picture below. You can download their software here.

So I reset the camera with this in mind, all I wanted was the shots with lightning in them, so I set the camera to F9.5 ISO 400 and 4 seconds. Using a remote shutter trigger, I locked the camera on so it took continuous shots of the storm as it passed over.

The result was about 450 shots taken over 30 minutes. Of those there were 75 images with lightning bolts in them, here are a few of the images.

Please note that the buildings in the foreground and the clouds are not lit up by these four pictures above, but a couple of the closer stronger bolts of lightning actually lit up the houses and clouds like this one.

Those 75 were then processed by Startrails and the result is below.

The difference in the lightning bolts colour and size were the first things that amazed me. Not to mention the amount of bolts that hit very similar spots!

If you note the camera settings above, this could have been taken on a 100D Canon or a D3200 Nikon with a standard kit lens.

The extras that you would need are a remote shutter cable release depending on your camera brand and model they range from $20 to $100, and a tripod.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions.

Michael

How do I choose what camera to buy?

The most commonly asked question I have been asked is.

What camera to buy?

So I decided to answer that question in a blog post so that everyone could read it, here are my simple questions that I ask in retaliation to the above question that helps me sort out what sort of camera you are looking for and that would suit your needs.

1) Portability?

do you want to have a camera in your pocket ready to take “that shot” if so a DSLR (digital removable lens camera) with multiple lenses is not for you, a simple point and shoot that’s portable would suit better.

2) Megapixels?

today’s compacts have 8mp as a minimum and really if your images are just for the web, or to print (is that a dirty word) no bigger than 8×12 (about A4) then really a 5mp camera will be more than sufficient (yes you read that right!)

3) Optical zoom or Digital zoom?

optical zoom is the ability to get closer, on compacts its measured in x (times zoom) so a 5x zoom will get you closer than a 3x and so on… (walking closer also works a treat too though) digital zoom will only help AFTER you have taken the photo, and is the same as cropping a photo, it will decrease the image quality, so a compact with more optical zoom will be better if you want to get closer

4) Creativity?

a compact will usually only have a few functions and will not allow you to control the outcome of the image, it will give you “standard settings” that shoot macro, portrait, landscape and sports, but it wont let you know what changes to the capturing process makes these setting different. A mid range hybrid (like a Canon G15) which has the ability to use the “standard functions” and use the manual camera settings like a DSLR.

With these four things in mind, a beginner can choose from a compact, a hybrid, or a DSLR.

If you have any questions about what to buy, send us an email answering those four, and we will help you as best we can.

What is it?

How do I use it on my camera?

What does it do to my pictures?

Examples

Try This

Share this:

Here’s our Top Travel Tips for Photographers:

Examples

Try This

Share this:

What is it?

How do I use it on my camera?

What does it do to my pictures?

Examples

Try This

Share this:

What is it?

How do I use it on my camera?

What does it do to my pictures?

Example 1

Example 2

Try This

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What is it?

Shutter Speed is how long the door is open.

How do I use it on my camera?

What does it do to my pictures?

Examples

Try This

Share this:

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Like this:

What camera to buy?

1) Portability?

2) Megapixels?

3) Optical zoom or Digital zoom?

4) Creativity?

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