Light Temperature and Pictures

I saw a previous thread that was commenting on whether or not editing photographs is good. I thought I would take some time to put together a picture to show how a photograph editing program could be used to more accurately display the colors of the animals being photographed. I decided to start with the issue of light temperature. If you use flash, that light temperature is going to be around 6000K. Generally, it is accepted that natural sunlight can range from 5000K to to about 6400K. Most of the lights in your house are probably around 2700K. What this does is affect how the camera sees white. To show this, I built a jig that would hold some paint chips (I went to Home Depot and used the Gliden ones) and a WhiBal card. A WhiBal card has certified color values for grey, white and black. This can be used to adjust either your camera's white balance, or done later in a photograph editing program (I used Adobe Photoshop Elements 8). I first took a picture outside (at about 4:30 pm in South Carolina, near Savannah, Georgia). I then went to Home Depot and used their light display for Compact Florescent Lights (CFLs). Their display has an incandescent light, a soft white light (2700K), a bright white light (3500K), and a daylight light (5000K). So the unedited photographs are (from left to right, on the top row) Incandescent, Soft White, Bright White, Daylight, and Natural Sunlight. I then took each photograph into Photoshop Elements and created a layer to adjust the levels. Using the grey eye dropper, I clicked on the grey part of the WhiBal card, then using the black eye dropper, I clicked on the black part of the WhiBal card, and finally, using the white eye dropper, I clicked on the white part of the WhiBal card. I'll let you guys decide and discuss the results. The color corrected photograph is below each original. I hope this shows how a photograph editing program can be used to correct the color of a photograph for the light conditions under which the photograph is taken. The WhiBal card only costs about $20.00 and can be a great tool.

Incandescent, Soft White, Bright White, Daylight, Natural Sunlight
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...ndescent_s.jpg

So in my previous post, I showed how one could use the WhiBal card and a photograph editing program to correct the color of a photograph. Now I want to show what can be done by a camera. I put together another collage based off one picture taken outside and a couple of pictures taken inside using a light tent and (3) 120 watt equivalent soft white (2700K) compact florescent light bulbs (1 on each side and 1 on the top). For comparison, I used a couple of shots that I color corrected in Adobe Photoshop Elements (PSE) 8 and for the other shots, I used the various white balance settings on my camera.

Here is a picture of the set-up:
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...up_trimmed.jpg

Here is a description of the photographs in the collage:
First Row: Outside PSE Corrected with all 3 droppers, Inside Auto White Balance PSE Corrected Grey Dropper, Inside Auto White Balance PSE Corrected with all 3 Droppers
Second Row: Custom White Balance, Natural Sunlight, Auto White Balance
Third Row: Tungsten White Balance, Daylight White Balance, Florescent White Balance
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file..._collage_s.jpg

To create the custom white balance, I first took a picture of the WhiBal card under the same light conditions as the shots that I wanted, seen here:
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...hibal_card.jpg

Then, on my camera, I went to white balance, custom, and selected the picture I had just taken of the WhiBal card. As long as I stay on this custom white balance, it will adjust the pictures for me without using a photograph editing program. For the others, I selected the preset white balances meant for different situations (Daylight is meant for a sunny day, Tungsten is meant for incandescent lights, and Florescent is meant for the old, long, tubular florescent lights).

Just wanted to post this so that others might know that it is possible to alter the colors of a picture without using a photograph editing program. If the person taking the picture has a knowledge of light temperatures and white balances, they can change what we see. So I guess we are left hoping that people are being honest about the pictures they post, whether or not they use a photograph editing program. In the next couple of days I will try to post some pictures of some of my collection under the same soft white lights with and without various color corrections.