General questions - help

[UKBob]

So, Ive set up my little light tent, surrounded it with regular daylight bulbs, and Im getting some half decent shots.

All shots come out of the camera looking orange, though. Fiddling around in PS I can turn the background to white. However, sometimes the background comes out blue I still cant figure out what Im doing, and why I get a blue background rather than white (when using a white background)

Can someone explain metering to me, or point me to a thread/explanation. The manual tells you which icon represents which mode, but doesnt explain when each should be used.

Finally, the daylight bulbs - they are naff(ish). Not very bright, shutter speeds are half a second or so, which makes action shots impossible. Question to canon users: When people talk about over exposing one stop, does that mean one "notch" (I use a 30D) or moving up three notches. The only consistent factor Im achieving is inconsistency. Lighting is a lot of hard work. Hats off to the likes of ed/poah who shoot living subjects under studio lights.

One more question - would buying a softbox which fits onto the onboard flash suit "small object in a light tent" photography? Are onboard-flash-softboxes available, or only for the speedlights?

Thanks in advance!
I apologise for my length. except to women

[Gemm]

It would be best to set the custom white balance if you want the accurate colour temperature. AWB in artificial lights can often be off.

One stop means e.g. from f4 to f5.6, f8 to f11, etc... or from 1/125s to 1/250s, 1/1000s to 1/2000s etc etc.....

You should get a good basic photography book. It will explain everything to you.

>> Edited by Gemm on Sunday 21st May 14:14

[bacchus180]

definately setting white balance would cure your cyan colour cast.. even preset wb will improve over awb, however remember colour temp can change over distance as well.. rather like exposure so a custom would cure all. try getting some QP cards.. that will solve any colour issues.

flash over constant light wins hands down everytime.. unless you have a particuarly difficult reflective surface.. say a car or something with heavy chrome.. then constant lighting helps you gauge reflections.

the problem with one flash is directional shadows and how to balance them, if you can get two heads.. even speedlights and a remote cable or infa red release. yes the small diffusers or softboxes will make a difference. then you can balance them and adjust whatever lighting you want to suit the style you want.

err.. I'm sure someone mentioned something about how one dimensional lightents were before.... never mind

[_dobbo_]

Yo Bob, are you shooting raw yet? Reason I ask is that if you are, something like Adobe Camera Raw or Rawshooter will let you correct the white balance - by selecting a point in the image that is white (eg the background). This should have the effect of ensuring all your images come out the same, once processed.

[poah]

like the others say shoot raw the AWB in the camera can't cope