Need to get those custom settings figured out

[captivating]

I missed out on some gorgeous views of a stormy afternoon yesterday. I'll share what I did get with "auto mode" but I can't wait til Winter Break from school so I can focus (no pun intended) on learning my custom settings. I'll put the settings below the pics. Comments/advice always welcome. I shot 16 really fast and again, my hand is not steady at times. The camera is pretty good though and focused in better than the old camera I had. Also, I didn't have my tripod ready which I may just leave it setup when I'm at home. Thanks all, denise

[captivating]

The colors on the one with more blue on the left were actually wayyyy pink clouds and almost purple sky. I know I have a lot to learn but there is hopefully a way to capture what the eye actually sees. I used the contrast feature of my Photoscape image editor to make it look a bit better but nothing I could do to get those actual colors. denise

[captivating]

I did find a good article/blog and copied it. I'll study it later today if I can fit it into my schedule denise

http://improvephotography.com/2989/1...-what-you-see/

[davidedric]

Hi Denise,

Just so you know, if you post images just the way you did above, it includes the EXIF information and we can learn quite a lot about your settings without you having to go to the trouble of an extra screen shot.

This is what we can see:

Date Time Original	2012:11:20 17:48:58
Exposure Time	1/50
F Number	f / 4
Exposure Program	Normal program
ISO Speed Ratings	64
Metering Mode	Pattern
Flash	Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length	7.80mm
White Balance	Auto white balance
Make	FUJIFILM
Model	FinePix S4250WM

[Donald]

Yep - The compositions are starting to work - Goos positioning of the tree line in both of these.

But,as you acknowledge, it's all about getting the space and time to really start learning your camera and practicing so that changing settings becomes almost automatic in your mind. And, as fare as I can figure out, there is absolutely no substitute for practice in getting that to work.

Oh, and by the way - Need to get find the 'Disable' button for that date-stamp facility.

[Andrew76]

but nothing I could do to get those actual colors. denise

Hi Denise, I'm not familiar with your camera, and so can only offer some general advice. To get the colours that you're looking for, a custom white balance would be ideal - I'm not sure if you can do this with what you have, but it would surely help. Otherwise, in auto WB, you're taking huge risks by letting the camera decide which colours it thinks it's actually seeing, and to produce an outcome that it thinks will look 'best'.

Even in the programmed white balance settings, such as 'fluorescent', or 'shade', there are a very wide band of temperatures that the camera has to choose from, and what your eyes are seeing accounts for just one.

Lastly, it does take a little PP to get those colours to pop. And again, I'm sorry but I have no experience with the program you mentioned, but I'm sure someone will!

[captivating]

I did think about that but wasn't sure everyone knew that Thanks for the info though denise

[captivating]

LOL, haven't worried about the date-stamp but yes, I better disable it in case I get lucky and shoot something I want to actually keep denise

[captivating]

Ok, I surely appreciate your help. I will check out WB and see if my camera has it or not. Thank you much denise

[John Morton]

Hi, Denise;

Okay I've looked up what I think is the applicable manual for your camera...

http://www.fujifilm.com/support/digi..._manual_01.pdf

The instructions for setting a custom white balance are on page 80.

It looks like this camera only records images in the JPEG format, so you'll have to set the white balance before you take the photograph in order to get the colors that you see. Many of us here shoot our photos in RAW format because then we can set the white balance after the photo has been taken, and can tweak that to get just exactly the colors we want to see.

Your camera's manual recommends shooting a white card that has a little bit of color if you want to adjust the balance of the photos. In the case of the photos which you have put up here, that would mean using a 'white' card that was just a little blue in color so that the reds and pinks would be more colorful.

One thing I noted was that the image size listed for your photos is much smaller than your camera is capable of capturing; and I don't know if you have downsized these photos before posting them here but if not then you should change the image size setting on your camera so that you are capturing as much information as possible, at the highest image quality available to you, so that you have the best images possible to work with.

[revi]

I just wonder if setting a custom white balance (as opposed to one of the presets) is really what is needed in this case:
you want to capture the evening colours, which are (in part) due to the light being redder (cooler) than standard.
So if you set a custom white balance, you will correct for those red colours and thus remove them (the same thing happens with auto white balance,
with the difference that a custom white balance uses a known reference, and AWB uses the scene as is).
I saw that the manual recommended a slightly tinted WB card, but where do you find those? (Colour Passport has patches of off-whites for just that purpose, but those are used in PP, not to set auto white balance while shooting, as they are about 4 cm² each...)

I'd rather try one of the presets, e.g. daylight WB setting, around 5000K, or perhaps as an experiment an overcast or shade setting (or a dedicated scene setting perhaps?). These are usually easy enough to select, and change at will, so you could take a series of shots any evening to see the effect.

[Colin Southern]

Hi Denise,

Look any better?

[captivating]

Hi John, I will look at my manual page 80. I don't know what a "white" card is but I can look it up. I will also look up shooting in "raw" as I don't know about that one either. I have so much to learn and am overwhelmed right now. I have final assignments due by end of this coming week and final exams the week of the 3rd. I am so anxious to just focus on my camera and it's settings, plus, the ways, for example, you mentioned to get more of what I actually see in the photo. Yes, I did downsize these but saved the originals which are set at largest I can take, I think, I better check though
Thank you much John! denise

[captivating]

Yes Colin!! Much closer to what I saw!! Thank you much At first I thought it was wrong to enhance with photoshop etc but I am learning some of you pros do it as well I did read early on, here on the site, to go for the BEST pic you can capture with your own settings and not try to leave too much up to PP but thank you, this looks way prettier denise

Hi Denise,

Look any better?

[captivating]

That's not the white board they are talking about is it? If so, how interesting that it brings out the color, omg, I have soooooooo much to learn!! I love learning and love this site!! denise

[John Morton]

Yes Colin!! Much closer to what I saw!!

Hi, Denise;

I vividly remember, back in the 1980's, sitting in a hotel room up in the Northwest Territories watching the midnight sun trying its' best to set, with a friend who has since become the editor of a newspaper up there and, asking him: "Do you see the purple in the sky that the lake is reflecting or, the deep vibrant green in the sky that is shifting within the troughs of the waves?"

He looked at me and said, quite honestly: "No, man; what are you talking about?"

Odd but, a well wielded camera can catch things that other people's eye's miss; and then, they can in fact see what they might otherwise might be missing in the world around them. That is the beauty of being a photographer: helping other people to see things they'd like to catch but, have been missing in this world we all share.

We can all appreciate here that the immediate demands you face upon your time are determined by your school schedule; but, that being said, people here are not going to disappear overnight so you can come back to this site secure in the knowledge that those who are here have a sincere interest in passing along their knowledge of photography simply for the sake of doing so.

I occasionally publish through a journal edited out of Washington State University called "Rhizomes"; with an edition this year dedicated to photography:

http://www.rhizomes.net/issue23/index.html

So please: realize that those of us who frequent this site do indeed enjoy seeing people who are eager to learn as much as we ourselves enjoy learning new things!

Best of luck with your finals;

Sincerely,
John Morton.

[MrB]

Hi Denise,

Look any better?

Colin, it seems to be often asserted that major changes to an image are not possible with Jpeg files. However, you often appear to confound that notion, regularly producing pleasing but very different results by processing even the tiny files uploaded here on CiC. Presumably, if you were to start with an original out-of-camera large fine Jpeg (about 7 MB), the product of your similar editing would make a good quality large print.

Philip

[Colin Southern]

Colin, it seems to be often asserted that major changes to an image are not possible with Jpeg files. However, you often appear to confound that notion, regularly producing pleasing but very different results by processing even the tiny files uploaded here on CiC. Presumably, if you were to start with an original out-of-camera large fine Jpeg (about 7 MB), the product of your similar editing would make a good quality large print.

Philip

Hi Philip,

It's really a question of degree. In essence, I can ALWAYS get a better result starting with an unadjusted RAW image because I have the maximum amount of information to start with - and - it means I'm not "adjusting an already adjusted" image.

In cases like this it can look "OK", but in reality it's still very much a "hatchet job". In the case of a full res JPEG there would be more information to work with, but the image would still be missing information (or have severely degraded information) in key areas.

The consequences of this often don't show in a small internet image -- different story with something that's going to be printed several feet wide though.

Those are generalised thoughts anyway - real-world examples vary one a case-by-case basis. Bottom line is RAW gives the most to work with - case closed / game over ... but in reality I'm usually not given a choice by the client as they generally only have one or the other. Case in point ... got a call from a prospect today ... he'd like 2 canvas prints (probably 22 x 15") to give as a present for Christmas ... the 2 files he sent me measure 500 & 600 pixels along the long side ...

[bsk]

I can't figure out how you do get the EXIF data from the posting? (I'm new to the site)

[Colin Southern]

I can't figure out how you do get the EXIF data from the posting? (I'm new to the site)

I usually just save the photo and then open it in Photoshop. I know some browsers have an "exif info" plugin too.

Hope that helps.