Indoor Lighting

[ballaterboy]

Hi
Very new to photography other than point and shoot. Not at all technical and a silver surfer.

Got a Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ18. Doing well and learning but stuck on one problem.

Visit whisky distilleries a lot. Like to take pics of the warehouses, cellars etc: Areas are huge and quite dim and dark and a flash is not useful.

Fiddled with settings, ISO, speed etc but don't really know what I am doing. Invariably my pics come out orangy or dark brown.

How can I manually change the settings from automatic to get a better picture.

Thanks

 

[HoppyUK]

Welcome to TP

Compacts are not great in low light (too much noise) but this sounds like a white balance problem due to the artificial light. Most cameras are pretty poor at this on the auto white balance setting. Closest on your camera will be the halogen setting, but a custom white balance will be better - see handbook. Even better, shoot Raw and have a go with the supplied software which is supposed to be quite good. It will also help with noise, if that's a problem.

You should be okay on auto exposure, but don't be afraid to use +/- compensation if your pictures are too light/dark.

 

[awp]

Be careful taking pictures in whisky distilleries, bonds or warehouses - the atmosphere can be explosive! Batteries and flash are not normally allowed.

 

[ballaterboy]

Thanks will try that. Don't worry, I work in a distillery and aware of the problems. Warehouses tend not to be a problem. Usually in the production areas particularly the still room becomes a problem. But it is a good point.

Thanks

 

[awp]

Thanks will try that. Don't worry, I work in a distillery and aware of the problems. Warehouses tend not to be a problem. Usually in the production areas particularly the still room becomes a problem. But it is a good point.

Thanks

Lucky man! Which one?

 

[ballaterboy]

One of the Lead Guides at Royal Lochnagar Distillery, behind Balmoral Castle. Manually run Distillery. Scenery stunning. Contact me if you are in the area. Ring Distillery and ask for Angus.

 

[awp]

Haven't been there - but tasted ! I used to do a lot of stuff for United Distillers - as they were called then. I'll certainly get in touch if I'm ever up your way again.