Pics testing out custom whitebalance

[puddlediver]

Hi,
I have a fuji F30 and over the past few visits to capernwray I have been trying out different settings to see if I could improve things.

Just a link to a few of the pics I did yesterday. Have adjusted them in either Fuji prog or Elements. May have overdone it with some of them but have been able to see that with custom white balance the three RGB colours are present. Whereas without white balance the red is virtually absent.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mandl1/...7604374274339/

Cheers

Lyv

[XeN]

Nice pics!

Wish mine had come out that well at capers!

[GLOC]

There was a post someone on here from either Cussy or Tim talking about keeping some green in the pictures because there is some green in our waters!

They are pretty good and white balancing is brilliant.

A tip which has been posted quite a few times is shoot up into your subject, be that diver or fish. Makes the image appear much nicer.

Regards

[puddlediver]

Ta guys for the positive feedback. Think I may have overdone the elements thing, will leave more green in next time. You are quite right, overdoing it makes it look false.

Point taken about shooting up and I shall attempt to do it next time out. These last few trips out have been just to decide on which settings to have the camera on for the best results. I also found good results when I used the continuous focus facility when shooting the fish towards the end of the second dive. Much better results, more in focus, 'cause we all know that the little devils will keep on moving when you've pressed the shutter button.

No doubt, you guys are going to have to look at lots more pictures as I attempt to apply Martin Edge's techniques......... such are aspirations.

And it's my burfday today too. He he he. couldn't get a cake big enough though.

Cheerio

Lyv

[buchhawk]

You have some very good photos there, some of the Sharm ones are top draw.
Well done Ken

[copperband]

Except Capernwray which can appear blue in the shallows.

Nice pics and Happy birthday!

[puddlediver]

Ta people. Now off for a birthday tipple.

Lyv

[David P]

By jove I'm v impressed. It works, doesn't it! The comparison with the earlier ones is just staggering (and you've done a much more scientific job than mine at Picasa Web Albums - David P - UW-UKTests).

I know it's a cheat (ish) but I still recommend "are you feelin' lucky" in Picasa to get a good idea of "polishing" the original shot - if it looks good you can then do more in Photoshop. Now - just to get the video as good!

Good luck.

[puddlediver]

Ta for the Picasa tip, will check it out. Yes am pleased to be getting to grips with the camera potential. It adds a further element to my diving and sometimes gives me the reason to get into the water, even cold stuff, just to fiddle with settings.

Don't think there's much I can do with improving video. Can't set white balance on video but may try the filter option for it.

Cheers

Lyv

[David P]

Ooh - damn', you're right, I've checked, you can't set the white balance on video - sorry, shows how much I use the video mode. Oh well - blue water and auto-magic filters would be a useful alternative I guess... or get a proper video camera for that! You'd also find that any form of image stabilisation on video gave better results (and one thing stills cameras don't do...).