Light box question having problems

[raffile]

I have a nikon d7000 and I built a light box out of white cardboard and I'm using 4 daylight bulbs to light it up... But when I take the picture it looks great on the camera screen but is very yellow on the computer. I have to photoshop everything to get it to look right which makes it pointless to have a light box.... Anyone have any experience with a light box? Any good tips helpThank you!

 

[Big Mike]

Sounds like a White Balance issue. You can try using a different white balance setting, you could set a custom white balance, you could shoot in RAW and adjust the WB in Photoshop (Adobe Camera RAW).

 

[bazooka]

Stating that modifying the color temperature of the image makes having a lightbox useless, makes me think you may not understand the purpose of a lightbox. A lightbox gives even soft lighting. It's not intended to modify your white balance.

The color of the image is determined by your white balance (and the color temperature of the bulbs which have already stated are daylight). If your bulbs are truly daylight, then you should set your camera white balance to daylight and it should be close to accurate. If you are doing this, then maybe you have a monitor calibration problem.

Try this... take a white sheet of paper and put it in your lightbox. Light it as you have been, and take a picture. Make sure you do not overexpose. If anything, underexpose by a stop or so. You do not want the paper to be "blown out". Open the picture in photoshop and use the white balance dropper tool on the paper, or manually adjust the curves so the dropper on the paper gives you the same number on your three channels... something like 245 245 245 or 230 230 230. However, If you are getting 255 255 255, then it is probably overexposed, rendering this test useless.

Once you get it white balance, either automatically with the white balance dropped tool, or via manual curves adjustment and using the dropper tool to get the channel values, if the image still looks yellow, then you're monitor is off. If you want to eyeball it (depending on your needs), you can try to do so in your monitor menu first, then if that isn't an option or isn't satisfactory, you might be able to modify the balance in your video card settings.

 

[edddial]

Maybe it's just your monitor screen too... It's quite typical to get slight yellow on LCD or CRT screen. Some suggest to use LED screen monitor.

 

[KmH]

Light boxes are made from translucent materials that diffuse light by letting light through, not cardboard,. The lights are then placed on the outside and pointed at each side of the box. So you really need 5 lights.

Read your camera user's manual. The yellow color cast is from having the wrong white balance set in your camera for the light color temperature you are using.

 

[raffile]

Sorry everyone, it was a mistake on my part for sure. I feel like an idiot!!!!! bazooka I had the camera set to auto and I did not realize there was a daylight feature. Once I set it to daylight it turned out a lot better! Way better! Thanks, and sorry for being such a noob here. They are almost perfect! I do think another daylight bulb might perfect them 100% better.

P.S. I just recently got this camera and still need to get used to all the features and have not had time to read the manual yet.

Thanks for all your help everyone!http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/members/51110.html

 

[2WheelPhoto]

OP, the cardboard you have may be useful to make something like this to shoot into: How to Make An Inexpensive Light Tent – DIY

 

[KmH]

P.S. I just recently got this camera and still need to get used to all the features and have not had time to read the manual yet.

Big mistake, not reading the manual. Huge, massive, mistake.

 

[bazooka]

Glad you figured it out. Now go read your manual.