white problem

[caro]

Just new here and also not a crash hot photographer. However, I am trying to photograph small gift cards to put on a website. They have a white background and a small 3d embellishment. No matter what I have tried with my Nikon Coolpix 3100 - the white card shows on the computer screen as a very grey and sometimes bluey colour When I adjust the brightness and contrast the embellishment goes all pale as well. need help getting camera onto correct setting perhaps - help - have spent many hours trying to get clear images with the white background

 

[ajmall]

can you post a picture? Are other pictures coming out OK on the camera - you'll need to rule out any techy problems even though it's unlikely.

 

[Rob]

Don't forget monitor calibration as well - there's lots of info if you want to google.

http://epaperpress.com/monitorcal/

 

[santino]

seems like the lightmeter gets tricked by the large scale of white. can you adjust exposure by yourself?

 

[caro]

I am taking close up pictures of small gift cards that have a simple embellishment on them - the bulk of the card is white. Have been working with the eyedropper and colour repace in Paint Shop Pro with some success to change the blue grey to white. Treid everything ith my camera - haven't had a white card yet!

 

[caro]

Want to insert a copy of my white problem photo - but couldn't put one it - pop up box says please enter URL of image - what does that mean!!

 

[amoki]

Follow the instruction in the "posting" thread in the photo section.

There is 2 things I will say here:
1)
You will need to learn to calibrate your monitor. Those who owns Adobe products (and most of us here do!) will have Adobe Gamma to help us with it. However, despair not if you don't have it. Use this link: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikoncp3100/ Use the colour blocks on the bottom and fool around with the contrast and brightness setting until you can see all blocks as individual colours.Of course, this may prove to be more complicated than said.

IF you are using LCD monitors you might get into some trouble calibrating. Traditionally CRT monitors are easier to calibrate than LCD monitors - another reason why CRT still rockxx aside from being significantly cheap.


2)
In the event that after calibration your monitor still don't look right, it's the problem with colour balance. Things in a nutshell: Our eyes are wonderfully designed (some might say evolved, but that's their problem) to "adapt" to our own version of white in all condition. However, because digital sensors acquire colour from RGB combination from light, their interpretation of "white" will definitely be different than ours. Things you can do: 1) use the proper WB setting instead of Auto WB while shooting and 2) use photo editing software to change the colour values of your photo e.g. more Mirads of colour. Picasa 2 is an excellent suggestion (and it's free!).


Hope this helps