My buddy David from HandsInMotion.info, knowing I’m a photography geek lately, asked me if I would mind taking a few photos of him. He wanted to update the portrait for his newsletter. I, of course, jumped at the opportunity for a real world photography project. Plus, it would give me a chance to use a couple new toys that I haven’t had a chance to work with much.
The setup was to be extremely simple. I hung up a backdrop, placed an umbrella on a light stand with a flash on 1/16th power at a 45 degree angle just to the left of the camera to be fired with wireless Alien Bee Trigger/Receiver. For the first two lenses I wanted to shoot with, I placed the camera on a tripod and we were ready to shoot. Total setup time was less than 10 minutes.
First, I wanted to test out my new White Balance Lens Cap. The way it works is you place the lens cap on that has an opaque front. You fire a shot at the subject using the same lighting settings that you are going to use for shooting. You then use the custom white balance setting on your DSLR to use the proper white balance based on the information received when you took your shot with the lens cap on. I followed these instructions and then removed the lens cap. I set the camera back to auto-focus and snapped the first picture. I chimped the shot and saw the shot came out pretty much exactly as I wanted. We could probably have stopped right then and he would have had a usable shot his newsletter. But what fun would that have been? We pressed on.
I took several photos three different lenses. There are shots taken with all three lenses that I like. However, when I imported all my shots in to LightRoom, this is when the wheels sorta fell off. The first shot you see above is untouched, straight off the camera. When I view this photo by itself, I’m pleased with the shot. In my eyes, this shot will solve David’s newsletter needs. But when I used the Auto White Balance setting in LightRoom, it removed some of the orange tint and I ended up with the second shot shown above. To me, in this second shot, David has a blue-ish hue to him. The color doesn’t look exactly right. I prefer the untouched shot to the “corrected” shot.
The shot was taken with the following camera settings:
Lens: Canon EF 70-200mm
Shutter Speed: 1/13 sec
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 400
Zoom: 85mm
So, my question to you is, which shot do you like better? Or, how would you change these shots to make them better?
The first shot looks better, though you should remind your friend not to slouch much.
The second shot adds like 20 pounds, I'm not a photographer though. I'm a tweeter 
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Thanks for the comment, Cathy. I agree that the first shot looks better. I can't wait to hear David's reply once he reads that I added 20 pounds to him.
I'm with you and prefer the first shot. I've discovered that the AWB thing in Lightroom does goofy stuff to my photos. There's a possibility that I just don't have my monitor calibrated correctly and/or that it's correcting for more print view than screen view. I try to get the right balance in the camera itself because changing WB settings after the fact is just beyong my post processing skills right now.
The untouched picture is more natural looking… well unless he is a vampire. If he is a vampire then the second one is the way to go.
As it turns out, David is NOT a vampire, so for the natural look, I like the first one as well.
OK, cool. I'm just glad to hear it's not just me. It appears most people agree with us that the first shot is best. No more auto-correct White Balance in LightRoom for me!
The first one looks better. Reality is not always preferable.
The first one is better. I don't like using any of the auto correct features in PS Elements either. I think the shot itself is a little dark on the right side though (shadow).
On my Samsung monitor (Calibrated w/ Pantone HueyPro) I think the best WB would be somewhere between the two. The first one looks too yellow and the second looks too blue.
My camera skills fall somewhere south of “mediocre”, but I have a bit more experience with calibration, and let me tell you it sucks. I've used an inexpensive Datacolor Spyder2 colorimeter to try to get the most accurate picture out of my monitor, but then you have programs (PS Elements, etc.) and various colorspaces that cause adjustments. Oh, and 98% of peoples' monitors aren't calibrated, so they are likely set at 9300K blue-torch mode anyway. It is a fools errand! That said, if anyone wants to borrow the colorimeter+software, I'll give it to Todd and he can share it as necessary.
I'm certain that my monitors are way out of calibration. I'd love to try out your calibration tool if you don't mind. I'm sure it'll give me a whole new look at my digital pics.
@greg thanks. That's what I think, too. I'm still fumbling my way around the camera and related tools. Just keep plugging away is my goal!
My camera skills fall somewhere south of "mediocre", but I have a bit more experience with calibration, and let me tell you it sucks. I've used an inexpensive Datacolor Spyder2 colorimeter to try to get the most accurate picture out of my monitor, but then you have programs
It is a fools errand! That said, if anyone wants to borrow the colorimeter+software, I'll give it to Todd and he can share it as necessary.
14 weeks ago
I'm certain that my monitors are way out of calibration. I'd love to try out your calibration tool if you don't mind. I'm sure it'll give me a whole new look at my digital pics.
My camera skills fall somewhere south of "mediocre", but I have a bit more experience with calibration, and let me tell you it sucks. I've used an inexpensive Datacolor Spyder2 colorimeter to try to get the most accurate picture out of my monitor, but then you have programs