Photography

When you’re shooting in mixed light, most camera’s automatic white balance can give incorrect or inconsistent results. The most accurate way to get the correct white balance is by measuring it. Most photographers carry a gray card for measuring & setting white balance, but Photojojo has something a lot more convenient: the white balance lens cap.

Instead of carrying around something extra, simply replace your lens cap with the white balance lens cap. Before you start shooting in a new location, measure the light and set the white balance. Then remove the lens cap and shoot normally.

On a D90, press the white balance button and turn the command dial until it shows PRE. release the white balance button and press it again and hold until PRE starts blinking. Set the camera to automatic exposure and snap a picture (which will be solid white/gray). The display will flash GOOD if it was able to successfully capture a reference image. That’s it – you can now shoot normally.

Here are two sample images, taken with automatic white balance and measured white balance, both with no adjustments. The wall is off-white and the lighting is a halogen lamp.

Automatic white balance	Measured white balance

This is why I love the D90. I simply used ‘P’ mode with ISO 3200 to shoot our tree trimming party last night. I really love the lighting, sharpness, and clarity in this shot.

Many more photos here.

The people in my condo really go all out for Christmas, so I walked around and took some photos of the decorations. The D90 still continues to impress and amaze me with its performance at high ISO settings. I simply used Aperture priority with the widest aperture and auto ISO with a maximum of 3200 when I took these shots.

The D90’s video capability also came in handy.

I haven’t had much of a chance to blog in the last week, since life & work got in the way. I had an awesome time Monday night when my friends took me out to dinner at 101 Ocean for my birthday.

People are already starting to put up their Christmas decorations – they don’t even wait for Thanksgiving any more. One of my neighbors put up blue lights & butterflies, as you can see from this photo.

Shooting holiday lights can be a challenge, since the camera will try to adjust the exposure for the background, which will make the lights disappear. Instead, you want to underexpose the picture enough to darken the background and make the lights stand out.

You might be able to get good results using exposure compensation, but to really get it right, you need to use manual exposure. It’s difficult to apply any standard exposure rules, since the ideal exposure depends on how dark it is and the color, size, and brightness of the lights, so you’ll probably need to experiment to get the best results. I took these pictures shortly before sunset tonight and I found that I got the best results using shutter speed 1/30 at f5.6 with ISO 1600. A good way to start is by using one of the semi-automatic modes and noting the shutter speed or aperture it chooses, and adjusting it from there.

The D90’s excellent high ISO performance makes it a lot easier to get good results in these conditions. With a lot of cameras you wouldn’t want to go above ISO 800, so you’ll need to adjust the shutter speed & aperture accordingly.