In this first project in the colour of light we are asked to complete two exercises associated with judging colour temperature. The course manual says that there is no need to be exact about colour temperature but it's enough to know when the light is not white, and if by a little or a lot. We are asked to take photographs of a subject such as a face and take three photographs - one in full sunlight in the middle of the day, one in shade in the middle if the day, and one in sunlight when the sun is close to the horizon - with the camera's white balance set to 'daylight'. My Nikon D7100 does not specify 'daylight' in its menu selection but 'sunlight' so I am selecting that.
The photographs were taken as instructed and appear below. They can be enlarged by clicking on them. In addition, I took a fourth photograph in the shade at late evening. We are photographing "Elizabell", a doll. My observations are as follows. The first photo is illuminated with bright white light and the doll's hair is casting shadows over the face. The second photograph is in the shade, the tones are more pleasant and the lighting is softer. In the shade is normally where I would try and take portraits during the day, (being aware of any colour casts coming off surrounding objects). The third photograph at late evening has a warm cast to it and is appealing and often portraits during the late evening 'golden hour' make great photographs - if one is looking for warmth, but it has to be managed carefully. The final additional photograph is taken in the shade at late evening. Here the shade does not work as well as during the day and the image has a blue colour cast.
This exercise makes me more aware of how the light changes during the day in terms of its colour temperature. Now on to exercise 2 on judging colour temperature and this follows below.
The photographs were taken as instructed and appear below. They can be enlarged by clicking on them. In addition, I took a fourth photograph in the shade at late evening. We are photographing "Elizabell", a doll. My observations are as follows. The first photo is illuminated with bright white light and the doll's hair is casting shadows over the face. The second photograph is in the shade, the tones are more pleasant and the lighting is softer. In the shade is normally where I would try and take portraits during the day, (being aware of any colour casts coming off surrounding objects). The third photograph at late evening has a warm cast to it and is appealing and often portraits during the late evening 'golden hour' make great photographs - if one is looking for warmth, but it has to be managed carefully. The final additional photograph is taken in the shade at late evening. Here the shade does not work as well as during the day and the image has a blue colour cast.
This exercise makes me more aware of how the light changes during the day in terms of its colour temperature. Now on to exercise 2 on judging colour temperature and this follows below.
In this second exercise, we are again using "Elizabell" my granddaughter's doll. The days when we shot on film such as Kodachrome and vibrant Fujifilm Velva and use filters are now replaced by digital cameras with white balance settings. What do all these settings do? We are about to find out.
In this second part of the judging colour temperature exercise we are asked to take a similar situation to the last one and shoot the same three kinds of picture but for each one to vary the camera's white balance setting using the sunlight, shade and auto settings. We are asked to compare the three different white balance settings for each shoot and state which setting we prefer.
The first three photographs are taken in the middle of the day in sunlight. Camera setting is f10 @ 1/350 iso200 50mm lens. The sequence is Auto setting, sun setting and shade setting. The colour temperature settings observed in Raw are 4600, 5000 and 5850 respectively. The first setting on auto is a little pale and I think my preference is the second photograph with the sun setting (5000) where the image colour more accurately measures the colour of the doll. The third photograph seems a little too warm. All the images can be enlarged for examination by clicking on them.
In this second part of the judging colour temperature exercise we are asked to take a similar situation to the last one and shoot the same three kinds of picture but for each one to vary the camera's white balance setting using the sunlight, shade and auto settings. We are asked to compare the three different white balance settings for each shoot and state which setting we prefer.
The first three photographs are taken in the middle of the day in sunlight. Camera setting is f10 @ 1/350 iso200 50mm lens. The sequence is Auto setting, sun setting and shade setting. The colour temperature settings observed in Raw are 4600, 5000 and 5850 respectively. The first setting on auto is a little pale and I think my preference is the second photograph with the sun setting (5000) where the image colour more accurately measures the colour of the doll. The third photograph seems a little too warm. All the images can be enlarged for examination by clicking on them.
The next three photographs are again taken in the middle of the day but in the shade. Camera setting is f8 @ 1/250 iso200 50mm lens. The sequence is Auto setting, sun setting and shade setting. The colour temperature settings observed in Raw are 4600, 5000, and 5850 respectively. It is very difficult to tell the difference between the first two as the camera settings of auto and sun have given almost identical shots and I would be happy with either of these. Again, as in the previous set, I find the third photograph a little too warm. But on re-examining the three shots and also putting them in context with the previous three I find myself preferring the third image below because the additional warmth using the shade setting gives the best result so far. What this tells me is that it is important to look at photographs as a group to compare them and not just individually.
The final part of the exercise is to take the same three photographs with the same three settings towards the end of the day when the sun is lower in the sky and warmer. The sequence is Auto setting, sun setting and shade setting. The colour temperature settings observed in Raw are 4800, 5000, and 5850 respectively. Looking at the three images it is difficult to see much difference, despite the colour temperature settings ranging from 4800 to 5850. I think my preference is for the first photograph as photographs two and three start to get a little too warm for my visual preference. And, overall is is this first photo in this final set that is my preference overall out of the nine photographs. I am surprised as I thought my preference would be a photograph taken in shade around the middle of the day. However, every subject is different and so this may not be the same outcome with other types of subject. The doll has pale face tones. The result may be quite different for someone with darker skin tones perhaps.
What this exercise has taught me is that it is important to be aware of the effect of different colour temperature settings when taking pictures and even if photographers are adjusting temperature post-shoot in Raw, exercises like this open your mind to the effects and importance of understanding colour temperature.
As a final addition to this exercise, I took a reading with my camera of a Lastolite 18% grey reflector using the Pre-set function on my Nikon and took one final photograph of the doll to see the result and what the colour temperature reading is, using this special method. The exposure was f10 @ 1/350 iso200 50mm lens and the colour temperature preset using the Lastolite grey card was 5250.
As a final addition to this exercise, I took a reading with my camera of a Lastolite 18% grey reflector using the Pre-set function on my Nikon and took one final photograph of the doll to see the result and what the colour temperature reading is, using this special method. The exposure was f10 @ 1/350 iso200 50mm lens and the colour temperature preset using the Lastolite grey card was 5250.