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November 22, 2006
[ THE RED EYE SPECIAL ]
"STREWTH!" SAID THE PAL. “Was I standing near a nuclear explosion when you took that?”
He is looking at a photograph of himself taken with a compact digital camera using the built-in flash. He has werewolf eyes, a startled look and plastic skin. It’s a typical on-board flash picture.
Camera makers know that the powerful electronic flash mounted close to the lens will produce red eye in the subject so they try to counter it with various strategies. Some cameras fire a pre-flash flash to cause the subject’s irises to close down, minimising the effect. It usually makes the subject blink.
Red-eye is caused by light reflecting off the retina, which is rich in blood. The retina is not normally visible, but with a flash the light reflects off it and bounces back into the lens and it becomes visible in the photo.
There are software fixes for red eye in most editing programs which work a little better than in-camera solutions. But obviously it would be better to avoid the nuclear explosion look altogether.
First word of advice: turn off the flash. It will always be on by default if the camera is set to Auto and left there. In Auto mode the camera will calculate the ISO speed, shutter speed and aperture and will fire the flash if it is needed. Cameras are worry warts and can be counted on to fire the flash even in ambient light that is adequate for photography.
When there is a P option on the mode dial that is the one to choose. It will still calculate the aperture/shutter speed automatically but in P the flash can be turned off and the ISO speed selected by the user.
On-board flash should only ever be used as a last resort. It is always better to crank up the ISO setting to 400 or 800 and use the available light. Doing this will increase the picture noise (grain) and will involve some manual white balance adjustment, but it is worth doing.
Cameras with image stabilisation can be used without flash in dim light without too much fear of blur from camera shake.
Most cameras have user-selectable white balance adjustments. By default they are set to Auto which leaves the camera to work out the colour of the light and make the necessary compensation. This hardly ever works under artificial light. It is better to manually set the camera for incandescent or fluorescent light.
Most compact cameras do not have external flash shoes with synchronisation contacts. Better quality cameras do have flash shoes and that is a desirable feature. It means buying an external flash but they are more versatile than the on-board type. For one thing they sit well above the lens and this separation reduces the incidence of red eye.
Separate flash guns almost always have tilting heads that can be pointed up at a white ceiling or sideways at a wall from which the light is bounced, giving a soft, natural diffused light. Be aware that coloured ceilings and walls will put a colour cast on photos taken with bounce flash.
In the end a compact camera with built in flash doesn’t allow many options but at least it can be set to P and the flash set to off, only to be used in emergencies.
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Posted by terry at November 22, 2006 11:31 PM
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Comments
Most cameras have user-selectable white balance adjustments. By default they are set to Auto which leaves the camera to work out the colour of the light and make the necessary compensation. This hardly ever works under artificial light. It is better to manually set the camera for incandescent or fluorescent light.
When taking a night photo of a city scene via tripod, what is the recommended white balance setting? Are buildings typically floodlit by incandescent light? Or is it best to leave it at Auto and use software like PS Elements to tinker with remove color-cast or alter colors?
Please excuse the unrelated questions: whenever I plug a USB key or other USB storage device into the computer, PS Elements (version 3) automatically [though the program isn't running] opens a window that starts scanning the contents of the device/key to find pictures that it thinks I will want to download into the computer. I can't find an option to turn that off. Do you know if it can be turned off?
Would you recommend converting all Canon raw files into Adobe's DNG format and storing them that way? I notice on the Adobe website that Canon isn't among the camera manufacturers that have turned to DNG as a native raw format.
Why doesn't Adobe build the DNG converter into Elements [as Elements 3+ already reads and converts Canon raw files] - why do you have to install it as a plugin?
Terry mentioned in the Green Guide review that Elements v5 doesn't include actions. Do you see them including that soon in Elements?
Thanks.
Posted by: Dave Nutting at November 25, 2006 01:59 AM
Dave: That's a lot of questions!
"When taking a night photo of a city scene via tripod, what is the recommended white balance setting? Are buildings typically floodlit by incandescent light? Or is it best to leave it at Auto and use software like PS Elements to tinker with remove color-cast or alter colors?"
Leave the camera on Auto white balance. There is now way to get an overall correct white balance when there are so many different light types shining on and in the buildings.
"Whenever I plug a USB key or other USB storage device into the computer, PS Elements (version 3) automatically [though the program isn't running] opens a window that starts scanning the contents of the device/key to find pictures ... I can't find an option to turn that off. Do you know if it can be turned off?"
Go START/RUN/ and type msconfig in the command line. Click on STARTUP tab and look for a line that refers to Adobe Photoshop Elements and uncheck it.
"Would you recommend converting all Canon raw files into Adobe's DNG format and storing them that way?"
Nope. Just put the CRW files on a CD in their original state, then you won't accidentally overwrite your precious original, untouched RAW file. Use the Adobe RAW converter [free from Adobe] to open the CRW files in Photoshop. DNG is an unnecessary intermediate step in this process.
"Why doesn't Adobe build the DNG converter into Elements [as Elements 3+ already reads and converts Canon raw files] - why do you have to install it as a plugin?"
Good question. My guess is that they want camera manufacturers to use it, presumably with a royalty paid, in-camera. The new Pentax K10D saves in DNG. Other makers may one day see the value of a universal RAW format just as they all use the same JPEG format.
"Terry mentioned in the Green Guide review that Elements v5 doesn't include actions. Do you see them including that soon in Elements?"
Hard to say. Every new version of Elements includes a few more features from Photoshop CS. They could take the attitude that adding Actions might damage CS sales. On the other hand they could take the sensible view that the customers for a $150 application are not going to pay $1500 anyway for the Big App. Elements 5 is a big improvement over previous versions but without Actions it is crippled.
Posted by: Terry at November 25, 2006 04:19 AM