 Sharon Melton |
White Balance with Canon Digital Rebel what is the secret with white balance, using studio lights, whites are too blown out, using light meter to get correct settings and still not having good shots.
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
white balance is for color. blown out is exposure overdone
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David King |
Sharon, you didn't say HOW you were using the light meter using the studio lights or whether it was "hot" lights or strobes. Greg is exactly right, the blown out highlights is an exposure issue and it usually comes from not using the light meter correctly. I'm assuming you are using a reflective meter either handheld or in your camera. Remember that whatever you are pointing the meter at, i.e. whatever you see in the frame or in the meter brackets with a camera meter (if it's aiming is accurate which few are) will be turned into middle gray and everything else adjusted accordingly. So if, for example, you filled the meter with predominantly a shadowed side of the subject, something that ought to be dark, the meter would try to make it gray or lighter and the highlights would lighten up as well. Meters are wonderful tools and there is a reason why the pros use them religiously, but they have to be used carefully and correctly for their readings to give you the results you want. David
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Sharon Melton |
thanks david, I understand what you are saying about the gray card and etc. I am using a handheld light meter and studio lights.What I do not understand is that I shot with film and digital and used all the same settings, f stop, shutter speed iso, studio lights set exactly the same for both digital and film cameras, the film looked great but the digital was blown out, you could not tell what the white objects were. I have been told by some other's that it was the white balance, which now I find out is not the case, and I have been told to step down 2 stops with the digital from your light meter reading. I do not have this problem when I am shooting color's only when white is involved. thanks again for the info
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David King |
The ISO settings on digital are attempts to placade photographers who would never be able to figure out what certain decibles of signal gain meant. They are approximations, little more. So to be really precise you need to calibrate your camera. If you have a histogram readout it is fairly easy to shoot a gray card (FILL the frame with it) and see if it gives you a single spike right in the middle of the histogram. If not, then if you are using the camera's meter you will need to adjust the exposure compensation dial until it does. if using a hand held meter, adjust the ISO setting of the meter until it gives you a reading that when you take the gray card will center the spike. THAT then is the effective ISO for your camera and meter combination. Then your meter is reading correctly for your camera. Just remember what you need to set the meter to in order to get the correct reading for your camera. BTW the proportional adjustment may not be the same for all ISO options on your camera. Digital also has a different tonal curve than film and like the older transparency film, it is really oversensitive to highlights even though it often contains usable print data in areas that, on the monitor appear black. David
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David King |
The ISO settings on digital are attempts to placade photographers who would never be able to figure out what certain decibles of signal gain meant. They are approximations, little more. So to be really precise you need to calibrate your camera. If you have a histogram readout it is fairly easy to shoot a gray card (FILL the frame with it) and see if it gives you a single spike right in the middle of the histogram. If not, then if you are using the camera's meter you will need to adjust the exposure compensation dial until it does. if using a hand held meter, adjust the ISO setting of the meter until it gives you a reading that when you take the gray card will center the spike. THAT then is the effective ISO for your camera and meter combination. Then your meter is reading correctly for your camera. Just remember what you need to set the meter to in order to get the correct reading for your camera. BTW the proportional adjustment may not be the same for all ISO options on your camera. Digital also has a different tonal curve than film and like the older transparency film, it is really oversensitive to highlights even though it often contains usable print data in areas that, on the monitor appear black. David
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