DP101 Assignment 2

I made it a point to go out to shoot some pictures in manual mode today. The assignment is to familiarize myself with the white balance function. With my camera, when using auto mode, the white balance is automatically adjusted too. Using any of the manual settings allows manual selection and adjustment of the white balance function. Hallie did a nice job explaining it at Through The Lens: Digital Photography 101 Assignment 2.

In my experimentation, I would find a subject, set up my camera on a tripod, and shoot one auto mode picture (as a benchmark) before switching to manual. I used the same aperature and shutter speeds as auto mode to duplicate what was taken in auto mode only to find out that too much light came in. So, I adjusted my aperature and shutter speed until I was satisfied. Basically, what I found out when I moved the pictures over to my computer was that the ISO setting was set to 1600! I didn't notice and was too uneducated to check!

The day wasn't a complete waste though. I did see the differences in white balance settings through my experimentation. The pictures may have been clearer with a lower ISO setting like 100 or 200. I must have been somewhere really dark to use 1600 recently. Oh well. I guess I learned two lessons today - white balance adjustments and ISO settings! My plan is to redo the assignment, possibly at the same locations. Here are a few pictures I took today at ISO-1600:

Hall of Waters in Excelsior Springs, Missouri
Auto mode

This first photo shows the sand colored wall as something cooler than sand. When I was seeing it with my own eyes, it was a much warmer color even with the scattered clouds overhead that were partially blocking the sunlight.

Hall of Waters in Excelsior Springs, Missouri
Manual mode with white balance set to direct sun at -3

This image is slightly warmer than the one taken in auto mode, but it still isn't where it should be.

Hall of Waters in Excelsior Springs, Missouri
Manual mode with white balance set to direct sun at 0

The sandy color in this photo is about where it should be, at least according to my eyes. I still want to show what it looks like if it is too warm...

Hall of Waters in Excelsior Springs, Missouri
Manual mode with white balance set to direct sun at +3

Here it is! This one really does have too much sunshine in it making it appear too warm. The differences are very subtle, especially when looking at them on a little 2" camera screen.

Now, I need to go out and do it again, but with the ISO set correctly! ;-)