Photography question

tustah · 07-18-06, 01:50

My girlfriend and I have been trying to figure out the best lighting to use indoors to take pictures of clothes against a white wall. I've read that hallogen lights give off a yellow tone and fluorescents give a blue tone. Tested, very true.

We haven't tried incandescent bulbs yet, but I read in my facilities management book that it reflects colors like natural sun light. Not sure how many would be needed to light the room bright enough to take pictures.

We're using a Sony DSC-P92 (5.1MP) camera.

Thanks in advance!

G35stilez · 07-18-06, 04:48

You should also look into an FL filter (pink tone) and a flash diffuser.

That combo coupled with a standard camera flash (blue) still looks good, IMO.

Remember to use a low-ISO and a tripod, too.

Joshua312 · 07-18-06, 04:59

You could get one of those natural daylight lights - or if you want an excuse for the garage the 5000k rated bulbs are the highest you can go to get a nice white light without any blue. Or even without the flash I seem to get more true colors when I have the room lit up and just use a tri-pod with no flash.

tustah · 07-18-06, 12:39

I want to avoid using flash at all costs. I also have a tripod already. How many watts would you need for the 5000k color? There are 6500k bulbs as well, but I'm not sure how good they will be.

JohnnyDaJackal · 07-19-06, 07:55

If your camera can shoot RAW then use that. That will allow you to properly set your white balance to suit your current lighting. I've seen lots of shots messed up because the white balance was off, and I admit I've done it before

If your not using a flash a tripod is a must, your probably going to need the shutter open a little longer than normal to properly expose the photo.

jfelbab · 07-19-06, 09:38

If your camera can set a custom white balance the type of lights is of little importance. Just calibrate the WB to the light and the pic will be very good. You can tweek the pic in Photoshop too.

chris01i30 · 07-19-06, 09:51

Try a higher ISO (not not too high, higher you go the more grain you'll get). That might allow you to keep a slightly faster shutter while allowing in just enough light. If you use a tripod, maybe ISO200 and a normal shutter speed might do the trick.

Also try the white balance overrides (dpreview.com says its "4 position" but doesnt list what the 4 positions are.........they very well might be presets for things like flourescent, incandescent, etc).

That camera doesnt have RAW unfortunately.....definitely helpful to post-process a RAW image. It does have exposure compensation, but I think that would only really help if you utilized the flash.

-Chris

velobard · 07-19-06, 11:21

Incandescent, halogen, flourescent bulbs all have color shifts. Filters can correct it but I don't think you can get filters to fit that camera. If you're looking for a light source that's not flash and don't mind spending some $ you could get a movie camera light and some sort of reflector/diffuser. They're pretty expensive from the camera store, but they show up cheap used occasionally.

Another alternative is to correct the colors on the computer.