Auto White Ballance and Skin Tones

I was having a look through some wedding photographers web sites the other day and I noticed how just how nice the skin tones were in a lot of the photos. Some of the photo were taken in contrasting lighting conditions - I mean on sunny days and in some photos in particular the bride and groom were in a shady spot but I noticed how well exposed the photo was and the skin tones looked spot on, and how the sunny, well lit parts of the photograph were not burnt out.

They were excellent photographs. I've had a few disasters when taking photo of the bride and groom in a park. The groom asked for some shots of him and his new bride under a horse chestnut tree. The branches were quite low and the leaves were full and very green with the sun beating down on them. The shot looked great but the green reflecting on the skin and the brides dress really spoiled the shot. I tried a bit of fill in flash in some shots to see if it would help but it didn't really.

I tried tinkering with the images in Photoshop and attempted to adjust the colours to make the skin look more natural rather than skin of the Hulk but it was so had to do and it threw the colours out elsewhere in the photograph so I had to do a bit of selective tweaking. The end results were slightly better but there's not much you can do really when there that much green light reflecting off of everything.

This got me thinking and I started tinkering about with the white balance settings on my camera. I watched a tip on YouTube where a photographer used a white sheet of paper to take a custom white balance reading to set his camera up. I tried this and the results were ridiculous. The photo turned out far too warm. So now I usually set my camera's white balance to Cloudy (it's a Nikon), just so the white balance doesn't change much from one shot to the next.

I'll keep striving to get those great skin tones, but sometimes I think the lighting conditions make things that bit harder. What very annoying is when a lot of the shots are fine but you get the odd few where the skin tone is terrible. Definitely dull days with poor light doesn't help. Anyway more for me to keep thinking about and wondering if it's the camera gear, me or just the way things are.

Canon PowerShot A720 IS compact digital camera Part 2

The Canon PowerShot A720 IS is powered by 2 AA size batteries. You can use standard alkaline batteries, rechargeable NiMH rechargeable batteries (the higher the mAh the longer the batteries should last) or you could use AA Lithium batteries which are good for use in colder weather. To save battery power you can switch off the 2.5" LCD display and use the viewfinder to focus your shots. Viewfinders are not often found on other makes of compact digital cameras.

The grip on the A720 is where the 2 AA batteries are housed.

At the heart of the PowerShot A720 IS is Canon top of the range DIGIC III image processor. From starting up to focusing and taking and saving the shot, the camera works much faster with this chip. It also has better power consumption. Oh, and it takes great photos too.

When you switch the camera on the all glass aspherical lens extends from the body and the built in shutter that was protecting the lens opens. The lens is a 6X optical zoom ranging from 35-210mm in 35mm format and the aperture range is f/2.8-4.8.

The Canon PowerShot A720 IS also boasts face recognition. Coupled with and advanced 9 point AiAF TTL autofocus system it can find up to 9 faces within a scene and ensure they all remain in focus. In dull situation the autofocus assist lamp helps to illuminate the subject to allow for accurate focusing.

In macro mode the lens can focus down to 1cm.

More in part 3...

Canon PowerShot A720 IS

In the following series of articles, I will be writing about the fantastic Canon PowerShot A720 IS compact digital camera.

To start off I will give you some of the basics:

This is a quality compact digital camera from Canon packed to the rafters with features and quality at an affordable price.

It packs an 8 mega pixel sensor, a high ISO speed of 1600 for taking photos in dull situations, a very handy 6x optical zoom lens and Optical Image Stabilisation which is a great feature giving sharp images. You will notice a big difference when you view your photographs when they've been taken with the stabilisation feature turned on. It also has 19 shooting modes, but no doubt you will only ever need to use a few.

I will go further into the features and settings in my next post, but for now why not check it out if it's a camera you are interested in.

Taking Holiday Snaps

Found a useful article for those of you wanting to take better photographs when on holiday. Enjoy:

Remembering Your Vacations Through Great Photos

Some view life as a collection of memories and whether or not this is true is not the purpose of this article. However, we will say that you will definitely want to save your vacation memories on film, whether by photos or video, rather than just your memory. Going back to look at pictures after a cruise can take you back to those great feelings and help you remember some of the moments you may have forgotten.

Here are some useful tips whether you are new to photography or a professional with extensive knowledge of the skills necessary to take fantastic pictures. The information provided here is not necessarily about all of the techniques of photography, but rather on the more personal side of taking pictures and capturing memories. For those of you desiring a holiday video, these tips can also be useful since the information is not focused on the technical side of photos.

First, do not go into your cruise or vacation viewing it as an extended photo session of every pose possible. Remember, it is a vacation. You will undoubtedly not forget you were present on the ship, so a collection of pictures proving your presence is not the goal. Rather, you want to take pictures to portray the atmosphere on the cruise or vacation destination. For example, instead of lining everyone against the side railing for the most “still image” shot possible, opt for unexpected snap shots. These will better capture the true atmosphere and bring back the pleasant feelings and fun times when you go back to reminisce. Even the blurred pictures you may end up with can show some of the vacation spirit and present a truer image of the fabulous time you had.

Also, do not forget to take pictures of the surroundings. So if you are visiting the south of Spain then remember to take some great pictures of Altea and Benidorm. If you are on a cruise, appreciate the fact that it is not an everyday time so be sure you have many photos to remember it. Some great shots are the ocean view, your cabin and even the crew but remember to be creative even with these shots. For these shots, though, you may want to spend a little more time finding the best lighting, angle and camera settings. What you include in the photo and the angle from which you shoot it can make a big difference in reminiscing later when looking at the photos.

Finally, don’t go overboard. No pun intended. The best camera or video equipment available may provide more guarantee of technically better photos and shots. But, you may find a regular camera, digital camera or even a disposable camera more convenient. After the vacation and in the years to come, it will not be the picture quality that you pay attention to but rather the great time you had. So, relax, enjoy the vacation and capture the memories to be shared!

Jack Blacksmith often pens detailed reports on information on Alicante and Altea. You can find his observations on Altea and Benidorm over at http://www.alicante-spain.com

Nikon SB-26 To The Rescue

I found myself, once again, in a dark hall taking some pictures with my Nikon D40x. I knew I was going to find myself in the situation, taking pictures of a fiends wedding cake it a dark hall, so before I left the house I packed a stand fitted with a flash head attachment and my trusty old Nikon SB-26 Speedlite.

I was going to take my even older Metz Megablitz 45CT4 but I could not find my flash slave unit. A flash slave unit is a little attachment containing a light sensor and when it detects a flash from another source, it fire off the attached flash gun (see picture).

Fortunately, I remembered that my SB-26 flash unit has a built in salve facility. Looking at the picture of the Nikon SB-26 flash unit, you will see a small switch situated between the two white glass parts and above the red glass. The "S" setting is the built-in wireless slave.

To trigger the SB-26, which I bought with my Nikon F90x, I simply took a photo whilst using the pop-up flash of my Nikon D40x. It was quite simple and effective. Well, triggering the flash was simple, but it's a complicated beast of a flash gun. In all the time I've had it, I have only used it a few times. I preferred to use the powerful and simple to understand Metz 45-CT4. If you want to read more about eh Nikon SB-26 flash gun you can do so at this site.

In my next post I going to write about Fill-In flash done old school!

Happy photography.

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D40x, SB400 and Poorly Lit Indoor Hall

Hi all,

I was using my Nikon D40x to take some pictures of a happy couple cutting a wedding cake. The wedding reception was taken place in a poorly lit club.

As the man with a camera I was faced with the decision whether to use the camera on auto, or program, whether to crank up the ISO or not an whether to use the pop-up flash or the SB400.

Firstly my instincts told me to use the SB400 as it's more powerful and second to up the ISO because of the poor lighting situation, plus hopefully making the shadows a little less severe. I set the ISO to 800, the camera to P and turned on the SB400.

What I was left with was very underexposed, grainy crap picture and I'm still trying to get my head around why. Perhaps ISO 800 and the SB400 was overkill. I understand that if I left the ISO at 100 or 200 it would not be so grainy, but I can't figure out (just yet anyway) why I was left with such an badly lit picture. I had to work magic with the levels in Photoshop to brighten up the whole image.

From where I am just now I don't have access to the images in question and the camera settings, but I will make a point of investigating and if I'm brave enough post one of the photos.

But I will have to leave with this message. I seem to get nicer results with the built in flash than with the SB400 flash. Having said that, when the situation presents itself making use of the bounce facility on the SB400 gives nice results, which I have tested.

Flash Sync speed of the Nikon D40X

When I was looking for a new camera, before I bought the D40x, or even before I knew there was an upgrade to the D40, one of the features that I was looking for, which is extremely handy when taking photographer the require fill in flash on bright days a camera with a flash sync speed of 1/500 of a sec. The D40 had this so this camera was on my shortlist.

When I visited a local camera store to take a proper look and to get a feel of the camera I discovered the upgrade. Everywhere you turned the key improvements of the D40x that were being talked about was the higher megapixel count and a faster drive mode. Most digital camera owners and buyers are looking for a bigger one - megapixel count that is. That's why I bought the newer D40x over the D40 even though I could get a D40 at a good price. However nothing was said about the huge reduction in the flash sync speed from the D40 to the D40x, and sadly this was one of the key selling points for me and I never thought for a moment that Nikon would reduce the flash sync speed on an upgrade.

It wasn't until I was reading a debate in a forum at www.dpreview.com about they two Nikon cameras the I suddenly realised that I had bought a camera with a flash sync of 1/200 - even though I had been using the flash trying my camera out.

I really do believe that the higher the flash sync speed the more freedom you have when using the flash outside. It is especially useful when using fill-in on harsh sunny days where you may have a shutter speed of say 1/500 sec at f11 but at 1/200 sec you would need to go to f16 or f18. I know it doesn't sound like much but what if you're trying to take a portrait shot and you are also trying to throw the background out of focus too. It's harder to do with a higher f-stop.

Anyway, that's me had my little moan about my lack of sync speed. I'm sure you enjoyed reading about it.

PS the weather is not looking good for my Snowdon weekend at all. Plenty of rain forecasted. Don't be surprised if I don't post any photos. But I hope do.

I think I might buy myself a portable dvd player and take a few dvds down with me in case I'm sitting in a guest houses bedroom with nothing to do because of the rain.

If you are interested in buying a Nikon D40x you can get one thourgh this digital camera site.