Adjusting white balance - Help needed

<P>I am interested in taking nice vibrant interior photos of a home (I'm a Realtor) but I don't understand how to

adjust the white balance both with the camera and through Photoshop and I am hoping someone can help. I took

this picture with auto everything setting using my Canon SLR:</P>

 

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<img src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/rayhwang/SOU34qgKBhI/AAAAAAAAEIY/aKnQ971iY_w/s640/IMG_0159.JPG">

</P>

 

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However, this picture is very yellow and dark, especially compared to that taken by the virtual tour company

here:</P>

 

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<img src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/rayhwang/SOU34WnyZpI/AAAAAAAAEIQ/d3lPzhfSN-Y/06.jpg"></P>

 

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I did try to adjust the white balance on my camera to more blue but then I get a picture where my flash drain out

the lights:</P>

 

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<img src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/rayhwang/SOU35e90TsI/AAAAAAAAEIg/Qk30cRZP80I/s640/IMG_0179.JPG">

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Can anyone help me how to make my picture look similar to the middle picture? Both by adjusting my camera

settings and through Photoshop? I tried to change filter, brightness, etc but the sofa, the walls, and the lights

just doesn't come out as white as the middle picture. Please help. Thanks!

The tour company used a blaring flash at a high power and it appears to be bounced off the ceiling. You can't get

that particular look without an off camera flash pointed at a 45 degree angle.

 

I use a Nikon D50 and the way I change the white balance (in PROGRAM auto mode or any lesser than full no control

green idiot auto mode) is to press and hold one of the buttons on the front and twist the control wheel on top.

It cycles through a sun, cloud, lightbulb, rod shaped fluorescent lightbulb, and flash mode. You can also change

this in the menus. It's slower though. In this situation, the lighting is called tungsten balanced which is the

lightbulb, a very red-orange (warm) color. To correct this on camera, switch, as I said, to the lightbulb. To

correct this in photoshop, choose image->adjust->color balance and you want less red and more yellow. In a

scientific manner of speaking drag the sliders until it looks how you want it (white is "correct" but not always

optimal, warm can look good). You can choose image-adjust-levels or curves and pull those levers around to change

the brightness.

 

In short, you can adjust your "EV compensation" to get the brightness right in camera and then adjust the white

balance. Then tweak the colors in photoshop using color balance.

 

IMHO your picture looks better. A little towards white couldn't hurt and you could boost the brightness, but I

like it. The "pros" caught some fuzzy wall on the left.

The first is homey and warm. Don`t change it. Don`t change it.

 

Use a flash bounce off a white ceiling for overall lighting and slow shutter ( 1/15) to pick up the warm glow of the incandescent lamps. WB should be daylight or flash.

 

If you insist on changing it, mask off the tungsten lamps and apply a 80A photo filter. If you shot raw, the converter is the place to adjust things , but the lamps will change too.

 

A more powerful flash or larger lens opening will overpower the tungsten and get more natural color and still pick up the warm lighting.

 

You need to show the room, not furnature. This shot could be anywhere.

here's the picture from the virtual tour company - it's ok. we paid for this service...

<img src="http://picasaweb.google.com/rayhwang/WhiteBalance#5252665981682214546"><div></div>

I'll try to take a stab at this. The first thing you need to do is make sure your flash and lamps have the same white balance. Generally speaking if you think of your flash as "white" light the light bulbs will look "yellow." You can fix this by putting a gel (colored plastic sheet) in front of your flash (in this case tanish/orange) so the flash will have the same color as the lights. Then set your camera white balance to incandescent and flash to TTL (manual will give you more control but lets keep this easy). Take a photo in Manual at F8, ISO 200/400 and adjust the shutter speed to center your matrix meter. Take a photo. If you like what you see, great. If the lights seem too bright up the shudder speed and take another photo. The TTL of the flash will fire at higher power so the room should look the same but the faster shutter speed will degrease the intensity of the lamps.

You can tweak the white balance in camera raw (pre photoshop) or in photoshop. In camera raw try clicking the wb picker on something neutral (grey or white but not "blown out") or adjust the color temp up or down to taste. In photoshop you can do an curves adjustment layer and click a neutral spot like in RAW. Of coarse you can do it a million different ways. Google for some tutorials, they'll do a better job explaining it than me!

Things to take into account. This isn't really the "right" way but without getting too in depth will get you close. Also keep your shutter speed below your flash sync speed (might be 1/250 sec). If the lights are still too bright at 1/250 sec, stop the aperture down or lower the ISO by a stop and try again. If the walls are white you might have to dial in some + comp so they don't come out gray. Hope this helps a little...

Getting white balance right can be difficult with interiors. On top of a variety of lights temperatures, you have colored walls that effect the lighting. The solution I use is to make an extra shot on a gray card in the room then use that as a reference to adjust the white balance.

A grey card works better than a white card because you are sure that you will not blow out the value (over expose).

I have no association with them but i use a whibal greycard. Their web sites explains how to make the adjustments using their product. You can use the same technique with any grey card or if you are in a pinch using a piece of white paper.

Good luck

Edmond

> Can anyone help me how to make my picture look similar to the middle picture? Both by adjusting my camera

settings and through Photoshop? <

 

IMO: No, not really.

 

The issue is more than White Balance. White Balance is inextricably linked to firstly having the correct exposure,

and then these two become a Chicken and Egg scenario.

 

The correct exposure (for the Whites) is a product of adequately lighting the Whites of the scene.

 

The ``good photo`` as you term it, is more correctly exposed for the detail in the whites, especially for detail in the

Whites of the Lounge; and you will not do that, by using auto everything on your camera, and then attempting to

correct it later, in the post production.

 

But the good photo also has the lighting to EVENLY light the scene: and that is where you are limited: very difficult if

you are only using only one consumer flash, bounced in. [This is my guess as to what you used on your second

photo?]

 

So the first issue is to get the scene lit correctly, and evenly, so you can expose for the detail in the Whites.

 

Even Scene Lighting is the most important and technically demanding for rendering a wide range of detail, in interior

shots, (which gives the ``punch``, to which you are alluding).

 

I do not wish to discourage your attempts in post production, nor to imply a superior tone: but realistically the scene

above is why there is professional lighting gear and those who have studied and mastered the use of it. . . My guess

is you would have similar reasons why a client should list their property with you, rather than to sell it privately?

 

With scenes like the one above, attempting to photograph it, to get an image like ``the good photo``, without access

to the lighting power, and multiple flash heads (note the comparisons in the lighting of the alcove and door area,

background camera right), and the mastery of the techniques to use same, in my opinion, it is likely you will spend a

great deal of time getting frustrated in detailed Post Production.

 

But, depending upon what your images are to be used for: (for example if you are using them only for a web posting),

you might find that a less sophisticated post production technique will suit your required outcomes.

 

The top image, (below this post), is your original Photo #1, simply Auto Colour Corrected with one click of the

Eyedropper Tool on the White area of the Lounge, using Microsoft Office Picture Manager. Note, this is just an Auto

Colour Correction and the Brightness is (supposedly) not affected. So it does bring out the ``Whites``, but the floor is

still underexposed . . . getting back to correct exposure and even lighting I mentioned earlier. But something like this

simple approach might be a non frustrating solution for you.

 

The alternative is to firstly light the interior correctly, and then manually expose the image correctly: that certainly is

possible to do, but that would take a little more than the space here to explain, and it would take quite a deal of

practice on your part. If you wish to follow that route, I suggest the first stop, is a practical Flash Lighting Course,

slanted toward interior and product shooting.

 

The second image, is for your direct comparison to the first. It is the one you refer to a ``the good photo`` with the

original WB and brightness not touched: but, for your general interest of interior shots, other aspects have been

attended.

 

WW<div></div>

Swtop shooting JPEGs and start shooting and processing raw. If accurate color is important, use a white balance reference card like the WhiBal (http://www.whibal.com) or simiar. Don't trust "white" or better yet light gray , fabrics, paint or paper to be a neutral in color.

Thanks to everyone for his/her response. However, I guess I should have clarified more. I'm using a Canon Rebel XT (Lenny Purdie - I can't find the lightbulb button). Second, I actually have a powerful flash I was using on both my shots. I was using Speedlite 580 EXII.

 

So, I worked on my last image on Photoshop and was able to make the while look similar to the white of the middle or "good" photo. In this photo, I adjusted my white balance to more blue (manually). With Photoshop, my whites look similar to the whites from the good photo, but the lightbulbs just aren't glowing as the good photo. Suggestions? Or should I just take a class?

3rd picture adjusted in photoshop:

 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/rayhwang/SOZ83Le8TjI/AAAAAAAAEJA/X1zqCrPsj6Y/s720/raynew.jpg

 

The "good" photo:

 

http://lh5.ggpht.com/rayhwang/SOU34WnyZpI/AAAAAAAAEIQ/d3lPzhfSN-Y/06.jpg

> Second, I actually have a powerful flash I was using on both my shots. I was using Speedlite 580 EXII. <

 

How MANY heads, and what ancillary equipment was used for the lighting of the good shot?

 

> but the lightbulbs just aren't glowing as the good photo. Suggestions? <

 

It seems to me that the ``good shoot`` has been evenly lit with the intention to expose for detail in the whites (and to

balance the incandescent illumination). These two points are I outlined previously.

 

In post production you could attempt to Dodge and or Burn the area around the lamps.

 

> Or should I just take a class? <

 

That is up to you, it is fun and interesting, but IMO, as I previously mentioned, to most easily get the results you

desire, you need the necessary lighting equipment, as well as the knowledge, from the class.

 

WW