White balance

Rick O · 09-20-2003, 07:30 AM

I used to take good pictures but lately the color has been off on nearly every picture I take. I suspect that I don't have the white balance set correctly.

I have a Nikon CoolPix 950. Could someone suggest the best way to set it manually. Currently I'm using the auto setting but the pics show up more purple than they should be.

rickswika · 09-21-2003, 01:02 AM

I position a piece of 1-1/4" x 3' white PVC pipe in the tank near what I'm photographing, then set the white balance on it. This works because it calibrates your camera to see white under the distored spectrum in your tank. White is an equal balance of all colors.

The PVC pipe also serves as a feeding tube useful for directing shrimp pellets and other morsals exactly where I want them at feeding time. A towel prevents dripping salt water all over when extracting the PVC pipe from the tank.

Rick O · 09-23-2003, 10:43 PM

Hey Mr Gumhead...... Got any suggestions?

gumhead · 09-24-2003, 02:33 PM

rickswika has the right idea. You can use a piece of white plastic or PVC in the tank to set your white balance or you could just use a clean area of white sand. Most of the higher end cameras let you manually set one or two custom white balance settings, your camera being one of them. Try to focus in and get only the white area and make the setting. I'm not sure on your camera exactly how to do it, it will be in your camera manual under advanced setting...

Rick O · 09-24-2003, 04:47 PM

Thanks. Does the light have to hit the white directly? If I shoot the white balance from the front with the white plastic at an angle to the light will that be accurate enough?

gumhead · 09-24-2003, 05:53 PM

Ya it should be. As long as the white piece is in the tank. Give it a try.

gumhead · 09-24-2003, 07:59 PM

Sometimes you have to play around to see what will work.
Snap picks with diferent settings try sunny mode, cloudy mode, ect... sometimes you can get lucky, it really depends on the kalvin of the light. The good thing with digital cameras is that your not wasting film

EdgeKrusher · 10-17-2003, 10:30 AM

I've noticed that my pics are coming out very bright, I think it has to do with the white balance. Is there some other way of adjusting without putting the PVC in there, I'd rather not have it in the pic. here's an example.

Oct10.jpg

I am using the Canon EOS 10D. Still am kinda overwhelmed by all the different settings.

Thanks

Rick O · 10-17-2003, 07:36 PM

I think your pictures look very nice. The color appears correct to me.

If you think they are too bright you could close the aperture or speed up the shutter speed.

Joel · 10-18-2003, 12:29 AM

or turn off the lights.

gumhead · 10-18-2003, 10:12 AM

EdgeKrusher the brightness is not that bad either. Do you have/use irfanview? You can adjust the the contrast, brightness and color balance with the software (and its free). Over all the pic looks good, there is some camera shake though.

EdgeKrusher · 10-20-2003, 12:47 AM

Yeah I don't have a tripod. Where can I find a cheap but good one. I don't have the option of spending more than $30 bucks to get one.

pista01 · 10-24-2003, 11:04 PM

I've seen cheap ones at Meijers and Wall-mart.

Try setting the camera on the end of a chair. Anything solid is better than holding it in your hand.

EdgeKrusher · 10-25-2003, 11:43 AM

Thanks for the tip. I'll try that.

rickswika · 10-25-2003, 08:24 PM

Wal-mart has $20,$30, and $40 models that all look pretty decent for occasional use. I recently bought the $40 model and am very pleased with it so far. You bolt a plastic mounting plate onto the base of your camera...the plate snaps into a quick release mechanism on the tripod, so its easy to mount and unmount the camera at will. Many of the parts are plastic, so don't expect it take much abuse. The one I bought included an extra mounting plate to support interchange with another camera.

White balance

White PVC Pipe