fishnpinball
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So much to learn, so little time
Member since March 2017
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Post by fishnpinball on Aug 17, 2017 14:49:25 GMT -5
I found an old gray balance card for taking light readings and wondered how it would do as a background. Black backgrounds and highly polished stones tend to be over exposed. White backgrounds and the pictures are normally underexposed. DSC00490 by ngboettch, on Flickr Here is one picture for experimentation, but I will use this for posting pictures for a bit to see if it works.
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Deleted
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Member since January 1970
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2017 14:51:16 GMT -5
It works!
Once you get a setting for grey card, you can use that setting fro any color background, even white!
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Post by aDave on Aug 17, 2017 15:06:52 GMT -5
Back in the day, when we didn't have an 18% gray scale card handy for metering, we were taught to use the palm of our hand, but I digress.
Photo is good, but a tad underexposed IMHO. Might want to consider exposure compensation of +1 or +2 and see what you get. Don't feel bad, I just figured this out last month, but it offers more opportunity. In my case, however, I needed to have a tripod as the exposure time became longer.
But, you are right about the gray. I like using that color more than others right now. Keep playing and good luck.
Dave
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 17, 2017 16:26:03 GMT -5
When I went to get a gray card, I learned that digital gray cards are actually a little different. Don't know how true it is, but I did get a digital gray card.
I agree that the exposure is off a little bit, but the colors seem good (though I haven't seen it in person). The point of a gray card is to get good colors, so it seems to work. Now just adjust the exposure in the camera or bump up the levels a little with editing.
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 17, 2017 16:30:33 GMT -5
Took the liberty of downloading your image. I put it in photoshop elements and looked at the levels. The white level was way off, so I bumped it up a little. How does it look?
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fishnpinball
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So much to learn, so little time
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Post by fishnpinball on Aug 17, 2017 18:11:08 GMT -5
Looks great.
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 17, 2017 18:35:17 GMT -5
As long as you can get accurate color with your white balance, exposure is pretty easy to work with without messing up the color. Most editing programs have some kind of exposure adjusting or levels. Try not to use just the plain brightness feature. It's actually a little different.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 17, 2017 19:09:48 GMT -5
Thanks for the gray card reminder. Just took some rock photos with a gray envelope under the rock and the color turned out pretty close. I was using a LED "spot" light and natural light.
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fishnpinball
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So much to learn, so little time
Member since March 2017
Posts: 1,491
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Post by fishnpinball on Aug 17, 2017 19:38:10 GMT -5
Had to find a free editor that would do that. Looks like gimp will manage nicely.
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gemfeller
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Post by gemfeller on Aug 17, 2017 19:42:02 GMT -5
Several years ago I actually made a Rube Goldberg background out of an 18% gray card for photographing cabs face-up. I still use it for tabletop shots -- works very well I think. You turn white balancing and image-making into a single operation and the neutral background works great for most colors.
I did an edit on your image like Tela did and yes, it's slightly underexposed. I don't know about your camera but mine has an option that allows automatic exposure bracketing. While I spend a little more time deleting unwanted exposures, it saves time in the long run because I usually already have a suitable exposure without having to re-shoot the image.
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fishnpinball
Cave Dweller
So much to learn, so little time
Member since March 2017
Posts: 1,491
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Post by fishnpinball on Aug 17, 2017 19:56:10 GMT -5
This one actually wanted me to shift towards a little darker when I looked at it in the editor. I think it turned out decent though. DSC00494 by ngboettch, on Flickr
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 17, 2017 20:16:10 GMT -5
This one actually wanted me to shift towards a little darker when I looked at it in the editor. I think it turned out decent though. DSC00494 by ngboettch, on Flickr Very nice! Now all you need is a tripod to fine tune the focus. Tabletop ones are real cheap- in fact, a tp of the line table top one is real cheap. GIMP is a fabulous editor!!!! That's what my husband uses. I learned on photoshop and it was real hard for me to make the switch to gimp, so I didn't switch. It is good, though.
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Post by fernwood on Aug 17, 2017 20:19:08 GMT -5
I prefer Photoshop. Could not get the hang of Gimp. Plus converting to Jpgs was a pain in the.....
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Post by rockjunquie on Aug 17, 2017 20:24:00 GMT -5
I prefer Photoshop. Could not get the hang of Gimp. Plus converting to Jpgs was a pain in the..... For me, I just could not like the cropping the in gimp. Apparently the newer versions improved it, though. PS is so easy and accurate.
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