The Photographers' Corner 2013-2020

[timeasterday]

Does anyone else use a monitor color calibration device?

I bought a Colormunki Photo a couple of years ago to calibrate the monitor (Dell U2410, ISP) and printer. The difference with in-plane switching on the monitor was immediately apparent the first time I turned it on and it got better after calibration. I was so impressed with this that I bought a Colormunki Smile for my younger sister to go with a new camera she'd bought. According to some reviewers there wasn't much different between results with that $99 device and the $1,500 pro device.

Printer calibration was also easy, although I found that increasing the brightness setting in Lightroom produced prints that more closely matched, to my eyes at least, what I see on the screen although I do brighten output a bit.

How about white balance settings on your camera? I use an Xpodisc to set a custom white balance - takes a few seconds - and have a Colorchecker that will set a custom color calibration for the camera and can also set camera white balance.

How about a graphics tablet? Anyone else use one of those? I'd get carpal tunnel syndrome without it.

I use the GretagMacbeth Eye-One Match 3 for monitor calibration. I have a Dell U2412 ISP as my main monitor and it makes a huge difference. For camera white balance I mostly just eyeball it in post processing for outdoor shots. I take product shots for my wife's online store and in that case color accuracy is very important so I use a WhiBal grey card. I'd be lost without my tablet - a Wacom Intuous. It's pretty big, I think the actual surface of the pad is something like 12" x 8". Great for a dual-monitor setup.

 

[FIREd]

The Bay Bridge framed by a sculpture named "Cupid's Span". I like the colors on that photograph.

 

[ERD50]

That's more in line with what I would have expected. Good job on the white balance correction, it totally saved that picture! I also like the composition. The leading lines created by the logs add a nice perspective.

Agree on the composition, nice photo.

So maybe one of you can explain something about white balance to me. I get the technical aspect of it, different weighting in the spectrum of the light source will emphasize certain colors. The WB setting basically inverts this.

But our brain apparently adjusts most of this out when we experience it in real life. So things look a little greener under most fluorescent, and a little more orange under incandescent light - but not to the extent that we see in a non-adjusted photo.

So why can't our brain adjust when we look at a photo? We know a log cabin is not blue. Or is there something else going on? This has always bugged me.

-ERD50

 

[Ronstar]

Shot this little guy (or girl) walking up the driveway with its mom (mom was too quick to photo)

 

[Ronstar]

The Bay Bridge framed by a sculpture named "Cupid's Span". I like the colors on that photograph.

I agree - great colors. Great photo. I like the framing

 

[photoguy]

So why can't our brain adjust when we look at a photo? We know a log cabin is not blue. Or is there something else going on? This has always bugged me.
-ERD50

Maybe because we view photos in ambient light so there are other objects that we use to set white balance. E.g., when I view the log cabin picture above, it needs to compete with the white of surrounding space and the walls of my room.

 

[Walt34]

So why can't our brain adjust when we look at a photo? We know a log cabin is not blue. Or is there something else going on? This has always bugged me.
-ERD50

My admittedly dim understanding of it is that there is as much neurology going on with vision as there is physics, perhaps more, and that people adjust perception regardless of the actual color of light. So we perceive a blank sheet of copy paper as white no matter the color of the light on it but do not make that same adjustment for a photograph.

Maybe one of the members with a medical background can explain it better.

 

[Ronstar]

Got the new 70-300 lens in the mail today. Tried it out on this guy.

 

[TOOLMAN]

Got the new 70-300 lens in the mail today. Tried it out on this guy.

I think you will like that lens.
Here is one I took from far away with that lens. I had to do a tight crop. It was at 300mm, hand held. JPEG, so no othe camera data.

 

[Ronstar]

I think you will like that lens. Here is one I took from far away with that lens. I had to do a tight crop. It was at 300mm, hand held. JPEG, so no othe camera data.

Nice shot! You're right - I'm liking the lens already. But the hand held shots are tough.

 

[FIREd]

Nice shot! You're right - I'm liking the lens already. But the hand held shots are tough.

Yes they are tough. Try to use the 300mm when you have good lighting so you can use a faster shutter speed. It should make it easier to take sharp handheld pictures.

 

[Mickslick]

Hi, not much of a contributor, but lurk all the time. Since I Fired eight years ago, photography became my new "occupation". If you have time check out my website

[mod edit: link removed]

 

[frayne]

 

[TOOLMAN]

Nikon D7000, Nikon VR 105 micro f 2.8, ISO 160 , 1/200 No flash, hand held

 

[Birchwood]

Good work guys. Aa lotof talented photographers here. Very impressive!!

 

[FIREd]

Going full throttle toward the seawall:

 

[Walt34]

Going full throttle toward the seawall:

Yikes. I bet the Navy/Coast Guard guys cringe when they see someone doing that! Steering gear has been known to fail at the most inopportune time....

 

[panacea]

Nikon D7000, Nikon VR 105 micro f 2.8, ISO 160 , 1/200 No flash, hand held

These are awesome- I'll have to share with my youngest son, our future entomologist!

 

[TOOLMAN]

These are awesome- I'll have to share with my youngest son, our future entomologist!

Bugs are interesting subjects to photograph. Here are a few more taken with the same equipment.

 

[frayne]

Awesome pics Toolman !

 

[Larro Darro]

This little guy took a break from selling insurance long enough to catch a few rays on the fence around my gourds.

 

[FIREd]

Yikes. I bet the Navy/Coast Guard guys cringe when they see someone doing that! Steering gear has been known to fail at the most inopportune time....

My lens probably dramatized the scene. The long focal length compressed the perspective quite a bit and I don't think the boat ever came that close to the seawall. As a reference, the shipping containers in the background are 3 miles away.

 

[TOOLMAN]

I find night shots difficult. Especially bats and stars. So far this the best I have been able produce. Fireworks I am getting the hang of.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

I am still a novice at this. Here are some shots at Key West. Canon AS470 Nothing special. DW Enjoying some wine in Ft. Lauderdale on the trip there.

 

[Walt34]

I find night shots difficult. Especially bats and stars. So far this the best I have been able produce. Fireworks I am getting the hang of.

I think you got the hang of the fireworks pretty good!

And that you caught a bat in flight at all is better than I've ever done.