At the Shore 01

This week I challenge you to go out to the beach of an ocean, or the shore of a lake or photograph at a river or creek. The main point is, don’t get captured by the obvious but rather photograph small things or living creatures that we all normally overlook.

At the Shore 01

I did this exercise at Asilomar State Beach in Central California. Normally I photograph the incredible waves, rocks sea lions otters whales and other breathtaking things. This time, I opuposely took my 100mm macro lens and I was looking for small subjects.

As always, enjoy this exercise!

White Balance 05

White Balance 05a White Balance 05b White Balance 05c

As my last image of this week I picked a landscape image with people. I shot this image shortly before we arrived at the Northwestern Glacier in Alaska. The camera automatic white balance was set at 5559K. I subtracted and added a 1000K to the original image. Again, which on do you like the best?

White Balance 05d

I liked the water of the warmer image, the clouds and people of the original image and the mountains and snow of the colder image the best. In order to get my “perfect” image I created a couple masks in Photoshop and here is my final image.

Enjoy and keep on photographing!

 

 

White Balance 01

The color temperature is measured in “Kelvin.” Normal daylight has a color temperature of 5600 K or Kelvin. Most people have their white balance set to “automatic” and then in post production they sometimes change it if deemed necessary. I ask you to take a raw image and develop it. After you are done with all your setting export the image and then change the White Balance of your image. Subtract 1000K from your image and export it. Then go back to your original white balance and add a 1000 K. Look at all three images and compare them.

White Balance 01a White Balance 01b White Balance 01c

I photographed this dahlia at the dahlia garden in San Francisco. The automatic white balance setting on my camera picked a 5623K setting in my first image. I subtracted 1000K from the original image and I got a pretty cool colored image. Then I added 1000K to my original image and I got a very warm colored image. Which image do you like the best. Do you like the automatic setting of my camera or would you pick a custom setting? Do this exercise and pick different subjects and photograph them. Change the white balance in post production or in your camera and watch the outcome. As always, enjoy this exercise!