Fire The Interior Designer. Oh Wait…Don’t.
If you’re like me and have kids, you know that you have to be quick to get the pictures you want. With the poor light in my house, this means that most of my indoor photos are flash lit (though my recent purchase of the 50mm f/1.8 lens is rectifying some of that).
While I’m a big fan of getting that flash off the camera to get better photos, I’m also a big fan of being practical and actually getting the shot rather than missing it because I was fiddling with gear. What this means for me is that when my camera is at home, it spends a lot of time with my 430EX flash mounted right on top of it.
Interior Designer/Photographer Death Match
I love my wife, but she has a thing for colored walls. I mean seriously, each room has at least three colors goin’ on. Our living room is sort of a beige color with cranberry red accents. Our kitchen is beige and chocolate brown. My son’s room is beige and this sort-of-green color with a blue ceiling. Being colorblind I’m probably not even getting those right. It’s like the Home Depot paint department threw up all over my house.
It looks good and all, but it really doesn’t mesh well with what I’m trying to do with the camera by bouncing the flash off the walls. It’s totally impossible to create a custom white balance and just go with it throughout the house.
You see, whenever you bounce that nice white light from a flash off another surface, the light is going to take on whatever color that surface has. Bounce the flash off a blue wall and you’ll get blue light. Bounce that flash off a green wall to take a portrait of your mother-in-law? Yep, you’ll get a flattering green light that is sure to make her happy with you for years to come.
Consider the first image here. I bounced the light off the wall at camera left and got a warm light thanks to the beige wall. Now take a look at the image here at right. I bounced this one off the blue ceiling just seconds later. Notice the difference in light quality? It’s really cool compared to the first image.
I have this problem a lot. While crawling around the living room taking pictures of my boy, I might bounce the light off the back of one of our big, tan colored recliners. After twenty minutes of taking candids, I can have photos with dozens of different white balances. So what’s a photographer to do? Fire the interior designer? That’s a tough pill to swallow, since I kinda like her and I’m not fond of writing alimony checks.
Who Wins The Fight?
The only solution I’ve ever come up with to this problem is to simply shoot in RAW mode. When you shoot in RAW, the image is captured without the white balance applied to it. Then when you process it on your computer, you can apply whatever white balance you see fit. You can choose a preset white balance, or simply warm up or cool down the color temperature of the photo. That second photo is pretty cool, so I could just manhandle that color temperature slider over into the warmer side until the skin tones look nice and natural.
Sure, I could shoot JPEGs and adjust the color in Photoshop, but it just doesn’t look as good and natural as a RAW image with a good white balance applied.
So what do you know, I get to pop off some great shots of my son with good color. What’s more, I get to keep my wife around for a bit longer. I’m a lucky guy. At least until she comes home with another five gallons of paint. Did I mention I “get” to do the painting?
Is there another, easier solution that you’ve found? I’d love to hear about it. Drop a comment and tell us all about it.
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September 12th, 2007 at 3:29 am
That’s also the very reason I’m shooting RAW more and more. And also the fact it’s a bit more forgiving with the exposure…
September 12th, 2007 at 9:15 am
Oh, yes, there’s a MUCH easier method!
Admittedly, I’m they guy that hates doing post work. I want to shoot, publish, and deposit the checks. I wanna read and study my craft. Post is an evil to me, and I want to do the least amount possible.
I went through the RAW vs JPG fiasco and listened to everyone. Bad, bad mistake. “Shoot JPG!” “No! Shoot RAW!” “Pros shoot RAW!” “JPG is dead!” I started shooting RAW and found that I was getting sloppy like so many others photogs. Spending so much time fiddling in Photoshop. It was frustrating me. Even the presets weren’t making life easier. Sure, it’s “sunny”, but there’s a cast because the model is standing by a green truck. Instead, I had to perfect my craft.
Much of my time went to nailing exposure and other technical issues. Ratios. Light control. Once I got that down everything else came easier.
I found that when I got those things in gear I could shoot JPG all day long and not look back. Sure, some guys will faint when they hear that. Dynamic range! Histogram! Tonality! Yes, but the average viewer cannot tell any of that, nor notice any difference. Besides, I dial it in right at capture so there’s nothing to go wrong. And when I shoot mouch of my work is repurposed for Web, which is JPG anyway.
I’ve been going back to RAW, now, since I can nail a JPG. I’ll use the RAW for mission-critical stuff, but it’s not mandatory that I shoot in RAW.
So, here’s what I do:
CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE
I use a Lastolite EZBalance grey target. I love this thing. I shoot a frame of this in the same light that my subject is in. I set that as my grey reference and the camera neutralizes color based on that. You’ll have to set the cam to CWB (Custom White Balance) and then shoot. (Tip: if the lighting conditions in the environment are fixed, save that frame on a memory card and reuse it!)
If you set your white balance this way you [won't have any post color correction to do]. Of course, as the lighting conditions change you’ll have to shoot a new frame and do it all over again.
Some may complain that it’s tedious, but it sure beats the time spent fiddling in CS2 or whatever you have…
(Alternatively, you can use QP cards. These little babies are phenomenal. They’re not popular stateside, but they WORK!)
Also, as far as gettin the exposure correct, I don’t use my in-camera meter. I use a handheld incident meter. The difference is phenomenal! The incident meter mesures the lighting falling on the subject. That’s the way they look. The in-camera meter measures light bouncing off of the subject (and it’s tainted with a weaker strength, color(s) of (and around!) the subject, distance, and more. What the in-camera meter gets is actually “dirty” light! You want the correct exposure? Use an incident meter.
I use some basic, albeit effective, tools to knock out color and exposure so that I don’t have to fire up Photoshop!
-Scott
September 12th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Excellent description of setting up custom white balance settings Scott, thanks for that.
But what do you do when you’re in the “heat of the shoot”? What do you do when every frame has a different white balance, and you’re taking shots just a minute or even seconds apart? In this situation there’s really no time to fumble with the camera to create custom white balance settings, or you’ll miss that shot!
I certainly agree that in situations where you might be shooting for a little while under constant lighting conditions (such as a portrait session) that creating a custom white balance is beneficial. But I haven’t found a viable alternative when faced with this kind of situation, other than to shoot RAW.
To illustrate my point, the two photos in this article are of my son the very first time we saw him stand up. My wife yelled to me from his room, “Tim, grab the camera and get in here!” In I went and snapped a few pictures. Seconds later he plopped back down on his butt and had I been fumbling with the camera, I would have missed his first time (that we saw) on two feet. I know, two feet, big deal. But you know how us parents are (especially first timers), we like to talk about poop for crying out loud!
Thoughts?
September 12th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Hey Tim, only recently have i found your website, havent yet had the time to read through the whole thing yet but i do grab ur latest posts off my rss reader.
Not much to say on the topic apart from a thanks! but i’d also like to add that i really appreciate your writing style. Its very light and nice to read, and i enjoy reading ur posts, even with 20 odd pending emails to go through first.
Cheers and all the best.
September 12th, 2007 at 10:35 am
Thanks Roohshad, your comment is much appreciated! I spend many many hours every day working on this site, and enjoy getting comments like yours.
I hope you continue to enjoy the content!
September 12th, 2007 at 11:28 am
I wanna echo Roohshad there. The writing style is great. It’s not dumbed-down and it’s not a bunch of gobbledy-gook, either.
Furthermore, thanks for the personalized attention you give to the site. I’m sure everyone appreciates that!
Hope you still have time for us little guys when you write the book! LOL
-Scott
September 12th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Great tip! I’ve never thought of taking the RAW approach, I’ve always done the good ol’ JPEG approach. Cheers!
September 12th, 2007 at 11:45 am
Hey Tim.
Oh, yes, I know about the first time parent thing. I was just sharing some pearls of wisdom with a buddy who’s expecting in November…
You’re right about heat of the moment shots. I do see your point. When you have a controlled environment you have a little luxury. You could always go back AFTER the shot and do the custom white balance if you shoot RAW. Can’t do that with JPG (yes, CS3 offers some tools, but I haven’t tried it). If you go the QP card route you could “hide” a few around the house in a drawer, under a sofa cusion, or stuff like that. After the shot, or shoot, grab the nearest one and shoot that QP card (works with any grey card tool, actually, but I suggest QPs here because they’re so small). Open that with the images that you shot in RAW and tell the editor to use your grey card shot as the grey target. Same principle, but just moving the steps around a bit.
Hmm…as a matter of fact, I believe Photoshop can save some presets or something like that. Here’s an idea: shoot a few targets in the general lighting that the house has. Save them all. When you shoot RAW, and wanna process them, pull up one of those grey targets from your “library”. You can use the information to color balance the shots that you take on the fly!
That will allow you to shoot in RAW and worry about color later. I plan to try some of these techniques over the next several weeks to see how they work : )
Since we’re on this topic, I have TONS of shots from when my son was small. I WISH I had tools like we have today to have recorded him. I have some shots taken on a huge old Sony digital camera. It was VGA, I think. Saved to floppies! There’s so much noise in those shots that you’d go deaf. Contrast was horrible. No sharpness to speak of. Alas, those shots will certainly have sentimenal value, but the quality is terrible!
September 12th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Doh! You know Scott, you’re always pointing out easier ways to do things on this site. I think I learn more by hosting this thing than I teach.
I had never even thought of simply going around the house and creating white balance profiles with a white card and keeping them as presets in my computer for later before. I do have several presets in Lightroom, but never even thought of creating WB profiles by taking images of white cards. I think I’ll do that. Thanks for the idea!
My first digital camera was a Sony, don’t remember the model. It was a floppy drive model too. Ah the good ol’ days. I took this picture with it back in ‘97:
September 13th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
i am just curious…why when i print my pictures in 4×6 size….they have borders around them. i did not request borders. i take the pictures with my olympus evolt 500 camera with dual lens/and the fl-36 mounted external flash. when i picked up the pictures from the printer they all had white borders around…some of them had less of the white border…some had white on the top and bottom but not on the sides…i’m confused…can you help? i am new to photography and some things are driving me bananas…thanks.
September 13th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
sorry i didn’t realize i was to address your article. well thanks for the tips. one of my biggest problems is getting the best light shooting inside AND shooting dark skinned people in low light conditions with ALL WHITE CLOTHES on….now that makes me crazy too….and what in the world can you do about it with photoshop elements.
September 13th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
oh my…after reading these responses, i feel a bit weird and embarassed that i have nothing to contribute. i am a novice who now has a love – hate relationship with photography. well maybe hate is a strong word…but the frustration sometimes in the learning process …and my impatience…which i realize you must have with photography or else…. i find myself doing loads of post work and even there, i am not totally sure what i’m doing…it’s all new to me and i’m still learning everyday. thanks to people like TIM who is unselfish with his knowledge [i can see that and i haven't even read the other stuff], i might even become a real photographer one day. thanks to all of you though…4 real! some of the questions i posed earlier are just a few of my dilemmas as a newly claimed photographer. i manage to get decent shots; however, i really want to know how to get a great shot; a fantastic shot really quick….i practice as much as i can. i do have a day job…and i moonlight with photography etc. in the evening and weekends. anybody have anything to share about my questions, i wou ld be more than appreciative. thanks.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:16 pm
Hi Tanja, I’ll do my best to answer your questions.
The borders on your prints. Your best bet is to ask your printer. If you’re printing at some place like Sam’s Club or Costco or a drug store, they typically just make decisions and don’t give you a choice. It could be that the images don’t have the same aspect ratio as the paper and they aren’t filling all the paper. It could be plain old sloppy work. It could be a variety of things. They can probably help you. If not, find a new printer!
Shooting dark skinned people in light clothing is a nightmare for anyone. Digital cameras have a very narrow range of tonal information and the two extremes mean you have to have your lighting and your exposure spot on. To help with this, really work on learning lighting and lighting theory. Work on getting your exposures dead on, and even try shooting in RAW mode if you have the option, as there’s a little more range in RAW. There’s not much you can do in Photoshop if you don’t get the initial capture down just right.
As for your last comment, don’t feel embarrassed and don’t feel weird. All the readers here are here because they want to learn, not because they already know everything. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here! This site is designed for people just like you, so I hope you’ll find something useful here. Look through the archives (in the upper left) and definitely check out the Portrait Lighting For Beginners series of articles that is currently underway.
And uh…thanks for the thanks!
September 13th, 2007 at 4:21 pm
wow! that was quick… thanks so much Tim…well they did tell me it was the aspect ratio…sorry to say i don’t really know how to make sure that is correct. any advices on that.
i am now reading your series on PORTRAIT LIGHTING FOR BEGINNERS…quite interesting…i will certainly have some questions when i finish though.
many thanks again!
September 13th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Tanja, if your lab is telling you that your images are messed up because you don’t have the aspect ratio correct, then I would find a new lab. Many different standard print sizes have different aspect ratios, and you should be able to use the same file to print to all of them. For example, a 4×6 has a very different aspect ratio from a 8×10 print. To get a 8×10 print from your typical digital camera file, you just have to lose some of the image from the long end of the image. Otherwise you’d have to use a different file for every size print you wanted. Madness!
When I’m getting prints for my business, I get them from White House Custom Colour. If I just want to send a handful off to a 1 hour lab for personal use, I send them off to Sam’s Club in town. Both take care of the aspect ratio for me.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:30 pm
by the way, i would love to have you critique some pictures i took …
go to http://www.photosbytanja.com .
UNDER PORTFOLIO there are a few pictures i just recently too; 4 of them outside shots and 4 of them inside shots…a few of which i played with some artsy features in PHOTOSHOP ELEMENTS…
here is what i have and i’m sure i’m not using it to the best of my abilities…
OLYMPUS EVOLT 500
FL35 EXTERNAL FLASH….however, i used the softboxes for the studio
TWO SOFTBOXES — SQUARE
TWO SIDED COLAPSIBLE BACKGROUND : CHROMO GREEN AND BLUE
WHITE WALLS
GRAY SHEET
MY SPACE IS EXTREMELY SMALL [I LIVE IN NEW YORK] SO I CAN DO ALOT OF CHANGING AND MOVING LIGHTS AND THE SUBJECT ANY DISTANCE…I MEAN VERY LIMITED SPACE…ALL OF THE EQUIPMENT IS IN THE SUBJECTS FACE REALLY….JUST A LITTLE LEEWAY TO MOVE BACK AND FORTH. A TINY WINDOW THAT BRINGS IN VERY LITTLE LIGHT….
i am intrigued and want to learn more about OFF CAMERA FLASH USAGE… i just have to figure out what else i need…besides the PC CORD and the HOT SHOE…which is what use to communicate with my camera and the softbox lights….am i talking shop here…cause i really haven’t put all this equipment and its purposes in my head yet… i just went to B&H and spent all of my hard earned dollars…what ever they told me i needed that i could afford at that moment, that’s what i bought. so there you have it.
September 13th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
yeah, they were telling me that my prints were set to 4X6 SIZE and that digital camera shoot a bit larger than 4×6 or something of the sort.
i picked them up today and thought i’d pass out. they are 300 plus pictures…this is my first time having an order that large and my first time using them. i usually go to the kiosk in some of the stores or Kinkos but they only have glossy paper to use and i don’t want glossy. oh well!
i thought it meant i needed to change a setting on my camera to make sure that the prints would be exactly 4×6 when printed…and if you’re saying that’s not the case, then why couldn’t they do it. they even told me something about PHOTOSHOP CS can change the size of all the pictures at once….and depending on the lens and depending on the camera…so i am just totally confused now. i just know that the pictures with exception of about 2 or 3 have white borders and the tendency is to want to clip that off but then the pictures won’t be 4×6…he said if they had made them 4×6s, then the cropping would have cut some of the scenes and people in the shots. you must be on the site…cause you are fast. i appreciate your attention to my drama!
September 13th, 2007 at 4:44 pm
you have a handsome son…i know you and your wife are proud parents. he seems to love that camera ….
September 13th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Hi Tanja.
I’m in New York, too. If you don’t mind another crit, I’ll put my two cents in.
And, hey, I’m here to learn, too! Like Tim said, don’t be intimidated. This is a great place to be to learn photography!
Hey, what kind of goodies did you get from B&H?
-Scott
September 14th, 2007 at 11:21 am
hi Scott,
thanks for reaching out. wow small world huh? anyway, i would welcome your CRITIQUE as well as anyone who has something to share…but can you swing a nickle instead of two cents….LOL
anyway, in my earlier post i mentioned the gear i’m using…that’s basically what i got from B&H…that evolt 500 came with dual lens though — wide angle and telephoto…
you can see some of the shots i have taken with it…..on the site….www.photosbytanja.com…
the more recent shots i took which are all practice and test shooting…is under PORTFOLIO…now through my reading various posts i have been able to get some fairly decent shots; however, i’d be the first to admit that i am quite the novice and still do not truly understand lighting, the flash and how it communicates with the camera…etc. etc. i just shoot and play around with settings…but i really want to clearly understand my choices and know exactly what to do in various light conditions….well heck…that’s what we all want really…but you know what i mean…
i think i am leaning more toward PORTRAITS/HEADSHOTS because i feel a tad bit comfortable with my studio setup than I do shooting on location in a room with low lighting or outside even or in a dark club or theater…
i find the pictures look better on the site; and heartbraking when printed….
i have the utmost respect for people who shoot weddings or anything else for that matter on FILM…Lord, if i have to take a picture and cannot see it……that would drive me insane until the pictures are developed….those photographers must have loads of knowledge, trust and FAITH…
i’ll stick with digital….LOL
September 14th, 2007 at 3:36 pm
Hey Tanja.
OK. I’ll peep and give my 5 cents worth. Probably over the weekend or so. It’s gonna be a little busy for me.
Stick around at this website for some good information. I learned some stuff from here, and got a new respect for some old techniques that I wasn’t paying attention to. I panicked when I started, but commit yourself to learning and it can come. I remember going to Barnes and Noble and asking for photography books. The helpful fella showed me the stuff. I was overwhelmed with ISO, aperture, focal length, camera shake, f stops, fast lenses, depth of field and all of that. The guy saw my desperation and told me to relax. It’ll come in time.
I’ll post again soon.
-Scott
September 14th, 2007 at 3:52 pm
OH thank you Scott…i feel ya on the desperation and panick…everytime i have a shoot i feel a bit scared…i really want to be sure of myself someday…you know…to know that i have enough tools and techniques under my belt to troubleshoot a situation. that’s why i will never touch a wedding until i am a confident photographer. you have to be confident to do a wedding…you don’t get a second chance. at least if my clients are not satisfied with their portrait, i can have them come back to redo it free of charge.
but you know…most of the time i’ll get at least a few good shots and the clients are happy with them more than me. i don’t seem to ever be satisfied….i guess that’s the way it is.
thanks for your willingness and your FIVE CENTS. i’ll take it any day of the week…you betta believe it.
i’ll stay tuned.
BY THE WAY I HAVE A SHOOT TOMORROW…I’LL LET YOU KNOW HOW THAT GOES…
September 14th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
Wow. I had a shoot on Sunday but had to cancel it. She was one of my first models.
http://nobleatelier.com/sublimelight/andrea.jpg
Hey, maybe you can attend when I shoot. I use some things that you’re probably not using yet. It could be fun. Or, set up a test shoot with a friend and have me tag along. I could show you some stuff.
I do studio light and natural light. Check out my portfolio. One day I’ll be great like Tim. And I’m gonna be the first to buy his book. : )
-Scott
September 14th, 2007 at 4:23 pm
it would be fun…i’m delighted that you’d have me tag along. i’m sure i’d learn a bunch too…
cause i just do trial and error ….and pray for the best…LOL