photo editing help
- Thread starter kratos1028
- Start date
kratos1028
Active member
you guys are going GIF crazy lol
Tangency
New member
First lets sort out setting a custom WB. I know its tedious... but it will get easier I promise!
Setting a proper white balance is important because it will better your initial image. In most cases you wont even need to mess with digital color manipulation afterwards. If you decide the image still needs tweaked, altering colors later is not only more accurate but much much easier.
You can use any white material that you feel comfortable throwing in your tank. Frag plugs, PVC pipe, plastic sheet stock, paper, even your sand (not preferred but acceptable). The more 'white' your material is... and the more you can fill your camera frame... the better your results.
Herbie
Banned
First lets sort out setting a custom WB. I know its tedious... but it will get easier I promise!
Setting a proper white balance is important because it will better your initial image. In most cases you wont even need to mess with digital color manipulation afterwards. If you decide the image still needs tweaked, altering colors later is not only more accurate but much much easier.
You can use any white material that you feel comfortable throwing in your tank. Frag plugs, PVC pipe, plastic sheet stock, paper, even your sand (not preferred but acceptable). The more 'white' your material is... and the more you can fill your camera frame... the better your results.
this is so key Jeff. I am lazy and just shoot my sand really close for the custom WB, but even that makes a night and day difference in initial image quality. It's funny how much you learn about one hobby doing another. Keep preaching the way for us Jeff. No one takes pictures as good as yours.
kratos1028
Active member
Here is a sample shot I took. The white balance card I used was a white plug with a couple of zoas that I glued to it last night. The plug did not fill the entire frame so I will probably need something bigger. first shot is before custom white balance adjustment and the second shot is after custom white balance adjustment. I think a fully white plug with nothing on it would adjust it better.
Herbie
Banned
wow, I think you can actually see the shap of the plug in the second image there. I don't know anything about this, but I wonder if it only balances the part of the sensor that see white. It might just be coincident but that it really interesting if it is a factor. Hopefull Jeff will tell us now. LOL
kratos1028
Active member
I don't see the shape of the plug? I think the outer edge of that piece is brighter is because the light is directly hitting it.
Herbie
Banned
yeah I think it's the crack I was just smoking. the other colors in the edges are more vibrant in the second picture too. It really is a great example of using custome WB. It's hard to take the same picture twice after making adjustments.
kratos1028
Active member
Also do you have a way to skew the custom WB photo additionally. The screen will look something like:
I do have that but without all those colors showing. Here is the white balance picture I used.
Tangency
New member
Perfect thanks!
Sometimes it easier to see the difference, so I have taken color averages of your initial photo and a small sample of only the top of frag plug. You can see how the colors differ. With a custom white balance the camera sensor perceives color based on this average. This is why it is important to fill your frame with as much white as possible. The goal is to achieve a true white 'average'.
Keep in mind that this is being extremely picky! I Know! It is an important step to achieve desired results.
Sometimes it easier to see the difference, so I have taken color averages of your initial photo and a small sample of only the top of frag plug. You can see how the colors differ. With a custom white balance the camera sensor perceives color based on this average. This is why it is important to fill your frame with as much white as possible. The goal is to achieve a true white 'average'.
Keep in mind that this is being extremely picky! I Know! It is an important step to achieve desired results.
kratos1028
Active member
I see! I'll take another White card picture and I'll try to fill up the frame as much as possible. I didn't know it doesn't need to be in focus lol that makes filling up the frame easier.
