Can you Help with technical probelm?????

[DinoS]

Hi

I am trying to get some decnet shots of goods on a white background and of water in a glass but they never seem to be White always a greyish colour. I have changed the white balance but still no help? I would like to get shots like Jimmy lemon 3 pepper shots in his thread, as they colours also look great and punchy

any ideas on what to do?

I am using a 400d with sigma 105mm macro

thanks

Mark

 

[Marcel]

Set your exposure compensation.

To understand why its happening, you need to know how your camera 'meters' a photo.

Basically it tried to turn everything to 18% grey.

So if you take a photo of a white background, the camera thinks "Whoooah, thats bright, I need to take this photo really fast / small aperture to make this 18% grey".

With black its the opposite, it has to open the shutter for longer, or open up the aperture to let more light in, to turn it grey.

The same when you photograph your water against a white background. Its trying to turn the main part of the photo (the white) to 18% grey.

So if you set your Exposure Compensation on your camera (I forget where it is on the 400D), to, say overexpose a stop or 2 then you'll find it comes out white

 

[Ugs]

"I have changed the white balance" ....

That is probably the crux of the matter. How have you changed it?
You need to set a Custom White balance. This is explained on page 86 of your manual. You need to set it with the light conditions you will be using.

 

[Coupekid]

Hi

I am trying to get some decnet shots of goods on a white background and of water in a glass but they never seem to be White always a greyish colour. I have changed the white balance but still no help? I would like to get shots like Jimmy lemon 3 pepper shots in his thread, as they colours also look great and punchy

any ideas on what to do?

I am using a 400d with sigma 105mm macro

thanks

Mark

If it is only a little grey, you could also correct in photoshop.

Open the 'levels' and select the white 'eye dropper' tool, then click on what should be white. If it doesnt look right, you can keep clicking until it does. Good luck in your project!

 

[mmcp42]

use a grey card to set the exposure
use M if you have to
then white stuff will come out white, not 18% grey - just like wot Marcel said :rules:

btw white balance will change the colour, not the greyness

 

[DinoS]

it as coming out slightly blue and still is, it is on custom?

HELP!!!

 

[andrewc]

set the white balance to suit the lighting conditions, or take a custom reading.

If there is a lot of white in the frame, you need to add exposure compensation to the cameras metered reading, or take your own reading from an external lightmeter and use that. The same technique can be used in snowy conditions to avoid drab grey snow.