Experimenting with the Camera, No 2

I've already used this title, but I decided that I would use it again, as it aptly describes what this post is about.  My daughter wants a camera for her birthday.  She wants a DSLR because now she wants to be a photographer, actually she says she is a photographer.  I told her that I don't mind getting her an entry level one as long as she is willing to learn how to use it properly.  There is no point getting an DSLR if you are only going to use it on program.  You may as well buy a automatic camera.


Using the camera on various settings is good, but it doesn't hurt to experiement with using the camera on different settings, things that you don't normally touch.  Over the years I've done lots of experimenting, though have to say it is so much easier, and not  to mention cheaper, with a digital camera.  I will do some more experimenting with stuff that I have done before, but will do again to show pictures and talk about the experiments.

For this post I'm going to talk about White Balance.  This is something new on camera's.  My old film camera didn't have white balance on it.  It is a very usual tool, but rather than explain it myself, I'm going to let the manual for my camera do it:

The color of light reflected from an object varies with the color of the light source.  The human brain is able to adapt to changes in the color of the light source, with the result that white objects appear white whether  seen in the shade, direct sunlight, or under incandescent lighting.  Unlike the film used in  film cameras, digital cameras can mimic this adjustment by processing images according to the color of the light source.  This is known as "white balance".

Of course, you can use it on auto, and for the most part I do, but I saw some photos that my friend Kate did, she had changed the white balance and I loved the outcome.  I asked her what she did and decided that I would experiment with it.


My trip to Eildon gave me ample opportunity to try some different stuff.  Though in hindsight I really should have taken the tripod with me and used it, so the photos would all look exactly the same.

 

I started with the camera on the auto setting.  I took a photo and then worked my way through each setting.  Some images look exactly the same while others change quite dramatically. I like the way some images are cold, then others are warmed up quite a bit.



I really should have taken a notebook with me so I could record exactly what I was doing, but I didn't.  I know with the digital cameras you can get a great deal of details about the image, aperture, shutter speed, whether the flash fired etc, on the computer, but I still don't think it is a bad idea to try and keep your own details when experimenting.



The second example is from the dam wall at Eildon.    The first few are all very similar, but then the colour in them changes quite a bit.  I have just looked up the computer information on the images and it all is says for white balance is "Manual White Balance".  This suggests that you really do need to take some notes when experimenting.


On my camera the order is auto, incandescent, fluorescent, direct sunlight, flash, cloudy, shade, K (choose colour temp), and PRE (preset manual).  For those images, I am fairly sure I worked my way though the array above, but would have left out flash.  Though the purple shaded one and the blue shaded one would have been the incandescent and the fluorescent.


Try experimenting with the white balance, you never know, your best image might happen because of it.