Why so white?

In a word, white balance, AWB has decided on something close to daylight, and it should be shade or cloudy, try a manual or custom WB, but if you've shot raw it's a quick fix in post.
 
As Phil says, WB.
Now you can still alter the WB to a certain amount on a jpeg, but again as Phil I would always shoot in raw.

ella.jpg
 
I very quickly picked one of the WB presets in Aperture and added a little sharpening.

There is a much more detailed WB tool in aperture (and I would think in lightroom too) were you can adjust the colour temp and tint to your hearts content until you get just what you want.

But as always your better getting in right in the first place, personally I sometimes use a Grey Kard
 
my guess would be a layer in Photoshop and adjustment curves? Very easy to do. If you shoot raw you should be able to change the WB very easily in the software that came with your camera.

Nice smile.


EDIT I guessed wrong. Many ways to skin a cat
 
Last edited:
Paul there are many ways to skin a cat, but only Adobe think you need to keep adding layers to do so :D

Joel I did this one with the WB temp sliders and made her a little pinker, It's only you who knows how she really looks :) As you can see you can play all day long to get the perfect look, I'm sure some of the portrait experts on the forum could do a MUCH MUCH better job than I ever could.

ella1.jpg

Screenshot2012-02-12at234442.jpg



On a side note I'm not sure why you needed to be at ISO 800 and f1.8, your shutter speed is very high at 4000th, and dropping your ISO right down to 100 will give you a much cleaner image.
 
Last edited:
To be honest I didn't realise the iso was at 800 until after I uploaded the pics onto my laptop, I shot the pic in av mode with a large aperture to blur the background and assumed the camera would keep the iso as low as possible and adjust the shutter speed to suit. I've now realised that the camera doesn't alter the iso. I know so little at the moment that i'm literally learning something new everyday.
 
joel222 said:
To be honest I didn't realise the iso was at 800 until after I uploaded the pics onto my laptop, I shot the pic in av mode with a large aperture to blur the background and assumed the camera would keep the iso as low as possible and adjust the shutter speed to suit. I've now realised that the camera doesn't alter the iso. I know so little at the moment that i'm literally learning something new everyday.
Click to expand...

I've been at it for years, and still learning :LOL:
 
White balance and iso are two things that need checking every time you pick up you camera as it will save you a heap of time in post ! also having 1.8 on a lens is nice, but it's not really the best idea to open it all the way because it's much harder to to get everything in focus and the lens isn't actually at it's best at the aperture. 2.8 is the lowest I go with my 1.8. Bit off topic, but I hope it helps.
 
Try using a grey card to set your custom WB then see how you go?
 
Its a habbit I'm struggling with at the mo
Being totally new last month myself, I stick to manual as a learning exercise, but keep forgetting to alter white balance after I've been mucking about in studio (spare room).
I'm sure it'll come
But dont listen to anything I say too seriously. I went out on Sunday, went to take first shot and never had my battery, D'oh!
How long does noobitis last? :)
 
5 years since I got my first dslr I still have to sometimes remember to take the lens cap off (!)as things look a bit too dark sometimes.lol
 
danelliott said:
5 years since I got my first dslr I still have to sometimes remember to take the lens cap off (!)as things look a bit too dark sometimes.lol
Click to expand...

Yeah, haha, I'm in that club too, as well as a fully paid up member of the forgetting to put lens cap back on club :LOL:
 
You can get the camera to set the ISP by putting it on auto ISO mode.
 
Quick edit in CS5, would be better with the full sized image, but you get the drift :) i always shoot in RAW and JPEG, best of both worlds.

ella2.jpg
[/IMG]
 
I wouldn't recommend shooting in the RAW & JPEG mode, for obvious reasons - it's slow and consumes a lot of memory, plus, there really isn't any need. As you are at the beginning of your photography learning curve, get into the good habits, learn how to shoot in full manual (iso, shutter speed, aperture, white balance, etc) and don't worry to much about WB, just shoot in RAW and sort the WB out afterwards (try to get the WB right in the camera but if you don't then it is the easiest thing to fix)

P.S. Buy a photography book, it will save you a lot of tears in the long run. The first book I read was digital photography for dummies; it's not a comprehensive guide but it gives you a good foundational understanding of photographic concepts.

I hope that helps :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top