Colour at night
Author
Discussion

nickcowen

Original Poster:

625 posts

192 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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I went out tonight and took a few quick shots with 6-10 second exposures but everything tended to come out a little orange. Would a filter help the colour? I had a polarising filter on the way and was thinking off getting some ND filthers too.

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

283 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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You mean light pollution from sodium street lights?

Easy to filter out but it may remove a lot of light from your shot - you can get filters to remove some of this.

Or you can set your white baance to something like 2100k

AndWhyNot

2,359 posts

228 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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Don't really want filters at night as they tend to cause flare from nearby light sources and will slow the passage of light to your sensor in what's already a dark environment.

Rob's suggestion of white balance is a good one, my Nikon only balances to 2500k but has a hue adjustment that can make a reasonable hash of light pollution; that said, if you look around you'll notice everything *is* orange and there's only so much the camera will manage.

Will your subject withstand a mono conversion?

XG332

3,927 posts

217 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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Alternatively tweak the levels and colours on the computer.

Simpo Two

92,739 posts

294 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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White balance issues are negated by shooting RAW - though that may be a step further than you want to tread just yet!

RAW enables you to alter the WB as if it was changed at the time of shooting. Little slider - wheee - WB changes smile

If you're happier with JPG, then playing around with hue and colour balance can work too.

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 18th January 10:06

nickcowen

Original Poster:

625 posts

192 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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I'v been shooting in raw and jpeg as I'm not too sure what to shoot in?

Simpo Two

92,739 posts

294 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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nickcowen said:
I'v been shooting in raw and jpeg as I'm not too sure what to shoot in?
JPG gives you an image file that's ready to use; RAW is data and needs to be processed (typically to JPG) - and that is when you can make any changes you require. But as you are new to the game it may be better if you stay with JPG for now until you hit its limitations.

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 18th January 10:29

Gad-Westy

16,576 posts

242 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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Simpo Two said:
White balance issues are negated by shooting RAW - though that may be a step further than you want to tread just yet!

RAW enables you to alter the WB as if it was changed at the time of shooting. Little slider - wheee - WB changes smile

If you're happier with JPG, then playing around with hue and colour balance can work too.

Edited by Simpo Two on Tuesday 18th January 10:06
Sorry to piggy back onto this but I think from what you're saying that the WB setting on the camera will have no impact at all on a raw image? Presumably then it is just a step the camera goes to in creating a Jpeg? I think I have heard this before but I just wanted to double check.


marctwo

3,666 posts

289 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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Gad-Westy said:
Sorry to piggy back onto this but I think from what you're saying that the WB setting on the camera will have no impact at all on a raw image? Presumably then it is just a step the camera goes to in creating a Jpeg? I think I have heard this before but I just wanted to double check.
You are correct that it will not be applied to the image data in the RAW file, only the jpeg. The data stored with the RAW file will remember which white balance setting was used at the time, and this will be the 'default' option used in the application you open the RAW file in, but you can change this.

The alternative is to use the custom white balance feature on your camera by shooting a grey card (or just some white paper). This should mean the jpegs come out ok too.

Gad-Westy

16,576 posts

242 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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marctwo said:
Gad-Westy said:
Sorry to piggy back onto this but I think from what you're saying that the WB setting on the camera will have no impact at all on a raw image? Presumably then it is just a step the camera goes to in creating a Jpeg? I think I have heard this before but I just wanted to double check.
You are correct that it will not be applied to the image data in the RAW file, only the jpeg. The data stored with the RAW file will remember which white balance setting was used at the time, and this will be the 'default' option used in the application you open the RAW file in, but you can change this.

The alternative is to use the custom white balance feature on your camera by shooting a grey card (or just some white paper). This should mean the jpegs come out ok too.
Ta muchly. I think I now understand. I have heard mention of the grey card etc and have thought about doing it but it's a bit of a pain on my camera to set a custom WB. It's buried quite deep in the menus.

Gad-Westy

16,576 posts

242 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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Sorry, for taking over this thread but I have one last question regarding WB.

When there is a lot of snow about I've often deliberately overexposed (according to the meter rather than reality) by a stop or two which has made the snow white rather than grey. This has worked fine but I've also heard people suggest using a grey card in this circumstance to set the WB but that would have no affect on exposure. Do they actually mean that you should use a grey card to set your exposure using spot metering?

Simpo Two

92,739 posts

294 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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Gad-Westy said:
Sorry, for taking over this thread but I have one last question regarding WB.

When there is a lot of snow about I've often deliberately overexposed (according to the meter rather than reality) by a stop or two which has made the snow white rather than grey. This has worked fine but I've also heard people suggest using a grey card in this circumstance to set the WB but that would have no affect on exposure. Do they actually mean that you should use a grey card to set your exposure using spot metering?
There are two issues here, (1) Exposure and (2) White Balance, and I think the phrase 'grey card' has sent you over the crossing.

Snow coming out grey instead of white is a matter of exposure - so you 'overexpose' from what the camera thinks so it somes out the right brightness. White or grey, the WB is the same, only the exposure is different.

There is loads of 'white' in the scene so although any camera set to any kind of auto-exposure will instinctively underexpose, it should get the WB pretty much right.

White balance becomes an issue when things that are suppoesd to be white appear slightly red or blue. It can be correctly exposed, but the WB is wrong and needs altering. The easiest way to do this is shoot RAW and adjust it later when you have plenty of time and a big monitor to look at.

Every tog has his own way of doing things, and a 'grey card' is not in mine smile

RobDickinson

31,343 posts

283 months

Tuesday 18th January 2011
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I dont use, or even have, a grey card, I guess I should at times. The insides of my lowepro bag are neutral grey I think...biggrin

Remember that in some situations correct white balance is the wrong choice.

Gad-Westy

16,576 posts

242 months

Wednesday 19th January 2011
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Somehow missed these replies last night. Really well explained, thank you.