Outdoors at night

By coincidence, in September the Guildford Photography Club held an evening of night photography in Guildford town centre. I used this event to take several photographs for this exercise, which I have supplemented with a few other recent photographs.

Floodlit buildings

I reached the floodlit buildings in Guildford long after twilight, and hence the photographs did not include the skyline.

Guildford Castle

Nikon 18-200mm at 18mm: Iso 3200 f7.1 for 1/5th second

I took a few photographs handheld using maximum Iso of 3200 before taking a further series at lower Iso using the tripod. After reviewing the photographs subsequently, I thought that this handheld photograph had better alignment of the tower than the equivalent tripod photographs. The problem was caused by a high cast iron fence with narrow gaps which made it difficult to check the camera viewfinder when on the tripod.

I was using the camera in manual mode, varying the aperture and shutter speed until the exposure seemed right.

Observation

The orange to yellow colour of the floodlights override the natural colour of the stone. I did not think that it was necessary to make any correction however, because the tower is this colour when seen at night by the naked eye. In effect, the orange has become the "natural" colour.

Through castle arch

Nikon 18-200mm at 18mm: Iso 3200 f7.1 for 1/5th second

The scene through the arch is lit by a street light rather than floodlights. The lighting however seems relatively similar in the small space of the street. Again, I took some photos handheld at Iso 3200 before lowering the Iso and using the tripod.

Observation

In this case, someone switched off the interior white light behind the doorway and left the building whilst I was setting up the tripod. Comparing the photos subsequently, the picture loses much of its vitality when that light is switched off. I therefore have chosen the high Iso photograph, even though there is significant noise if it is viewed at large size.

Guildford Guildhall under cover

Nikon 18-200mm at 18mm: Iso 100 f8 for 1.3 seconds (using tripod as a monopod)

The Guildhall is normally floodlit, but on this evening, it was covered with scaffolding for some maintenance work. I chose this viewpoint to include the shape of the platform jutting out around the clock and the bell tower which was illuminated internally.

Observations

I liked the way bright lights were illuminating the first floor verandah covered with scaffolding. The upright scaffolding polls are at an angle to the edge of the frame, but this diagonal view seems to work visually. The photograph was not improved by rotating the photograph to correct this. I also liked the small contrasts of the red lamp lights at the bottom below the verandah, and the lavender colour in the dome of the bell tower.

In addition to the Guildford photos, I have also included a couple of photographs of floodlit buildings and fireworks that I took whilst we were in Edinburgh in August, one at twilight and one in total darkness.

Edinburgh Castle with fireworks at twilight

Nikon 18-70mm at 48mm: Iso 250 f13 for 9 seconds

There was a roof garden on the building where we were staying from where there were views over Edinburgh, including Edinburgh Castle where the Tattoo was being performed. The castle walls were floodlit in various colours during the course of the performances of the tattoo, and at the end of each show there was a short burst of fireworks.

This was one of the photographs I took on my visit to the roof garden. I still had the camera set to aperture priority mode, but with the exposure compensation set to minus a half stop. I was trying various views and compositions, with the camera resting on a bean bag for stability, when the fireworks suddenly went off during a relatively long exposure. The frame cut off the highest part of the fireworks, but apart from that I was very fortunate to catch this.

Edinburgh Castle with fireworks in darkness

Nikon 18-70mm at 34mm: Iso 250 f6.3 for 1.6 seconds

This photograph was taken about an hour later presumably at the climax of the second show of the evening.

I had now set the camera exposure on to manual mode and had spent some time experimenting with different settings working off the light levels for the floodlit buildings.

The burst of fireworks erupted a second time, but in this case, my shutter speed was relatively short. I therefore took two photos in quick succession, the second one catching this view.

Learning from my experience earlier in the evening, I used a wider angle of view (34mm instead of 48mm) so that the fireworks stayed within the frame. I have subsequently cropped out the dark sides and bottom of the frame to leave the castle in blue light floating over the city.

Brightly lit store fronts

I found two shop windows that I felt were visually interesting.

White Objets D'Art

Nikon 18-200 mm at 200mm: Iso 100 f8 for 1/3rd second

The window display of this small shop seemed inviting because of the variety of forms, all in shades of white and silver. I chose a long focal length simply so that I could place my tripod on the safety of the pavement opposite, rather than in the road. Again, I was experimenting with using manual mode to set the camera's exposure level.

Observations

I also took photographs of the shopfront as whole, but the big difference in intensity of the light between the shop window and the exterior meant that the exterior was simply dark black.

Silver kitchenware

Nikon 18-200mm at 22mm: Iso 100 f10 for 1/2 second

I liked the autumnal theme of the decorations in this window and the darks and lights of the reflections in the shiny silver.

Observations

As above, I took several photographs of the shop front as a whole, but in this case, the contents of the window are too small to show up well. I therefore selected this close-up view.

Large interior

One of the city centre shopping centres closes at 6 pm and the other one does not permit photography. Instead, I photographed a view looking into a modern style Italian restaurant. The scene includes the activity of the restaurant, some customers and a waiter. This seems to have many of the characteristics of a shopping centre: there are numerous people, it is an interior that lit by a multiplicity of electric lights.

Modern style Italian restaurant

Nikon 18-200 mm at 24mm: Iso 100 f7.1 for 5 seconds

My viewpoint was a doorway with a clear view of the side of the restaurant away from the street and main doorway. I took a number of photographs using manual exposure settings. I included the upper story in the portrait shape frame, but in processing the photographs, I have cropped out the upper story as this was less visually interesting. In particular, no people were visible from my low viewpoint only the domed ceiling.

The instructions say not to use a tripod for this photograph, although the reason for this is not explained. If the reason is to encourage the use of hand-held camera using a high Iso, the first two photographs in this blog were both taken using this technique. The light level in the restaurant was probably a lot less than in a brightly lit shopping centre, and I needed to use a tripod for this particular scene.

Observations

The scene is attractive visually as the figures some of whom are blurred add vitality to the scene. Behind the figures, the interior is like a factory with racks of ham, shelves of wine and so on. There is a reflection of a mannequin from a shop opposite in front of the waiter. I feel that this is part of the scene which should be retained rather than cloned out, even though it partially obscures the waiter's body.

Overview of traffic

It took some time and thought to find somewhere with an elevated view of a busy road in this area. It was just a few days ago that I found a location with an overview of a bend in the A3 on the outskirts of Guildford.

A3 at night

Nikon 18-200mm at 44mm: Iso 125 f16 for 8 seconds (with tripod)

I set the camera onto manual exposure setting with fairly low Iso sensitivity and adjusted the aperture to obtain varying exposure times, ranging from as short as 1 second up to a maximum of 10 seconds. I also varied the framing and viewpoint aiming to show the curvature of the road and the traffic lights.

Observation

Whilst the photograph fulfils the requirements of the exercise, the scene lacks visual interest other than the receding lines into the distance. I feel it would have been better if there was someone waiting by their car at the side of the road or something similar to add some intrigue and mystery into the scene.

Conclusions

For me, a key element of this exercise was to gain experience and confidence in using manual exposure settings, and also in using my camera in the dark. Previously, I have done night photography rarely, maybe once a year. On these occasions, I recall a considerable degree of fumbling with the camera and tripod, and a lot of guesswork in managing the shutter speeds and exposure levels.

Tungsten and fluorescent lighting

I found locations in our apartment that provided the lighting conditions suggested for this exercise.

Part 1 Tungsten and daylight

Starting in the living room, which is lit by small but very bright tungsten spotlights, I found that my camera indicated a shutter speed of 1/20th second with the aperture wide open at f3.5 and an Iso of 400. The garden outside is shaded by tall trees and at 5 pm in the evening, the camera's meter indicated a shutter speed of 1/40th second for a photograph of the garden with the same other settings. I considered these to be reasonably close.

I tried the visual tests, first looking outside then inside. In this case, there was a noticeable yellow/orange colour cast when initially looking into the room. For the second test, looking inside and outside I found the colour change less noticeable.

Auto WB setting of scene lit by tungsten and daylight

Nikon 18-200mm at 28mm: Iso 400 f5.6 for 1/13th second (with tripod as monopod)

Tungsten WB setting of scene lit by tungsten and daylight

Camera settings as above

Daylight WB setting of scene lit by tungsten lights and daylight

Camera settings as above

Observations

The Auto WB photograph was relatively close to the Tungsten WB photograph, and in both photographs the colours of the interior were reasonably close to the actual colours. The view of the green plants and trees in the garden however has a distinct blue tinge. This is slightly more prominent in the Tungsten WB photograph.

In the Daylight WB photograph, as might be expected, the white interior walls and window frames have a pale orange tone rather than pure white. The colours of the leaves and trees in the garden are, however, more accurately represented.

Part 2 Fluorescent lighting

The first two photographs were taken in a bedroom lit by two CFL lamps, one in the ceiling and one in a standard lampstand. Our kitchen worktops, on the other hand, are lit by "straight" fluorescent tubes and I took a photograph of a spice rack lit only by this light.

Auto WB setting of a scene lit by CFL lamps

Nikon 18-200mm at 18mm: Iso 400 f5 for 1/4 second (with tripod as monopod)

Fluorescent WB setting of a scene lit by CFL lamps

Camera settings as previous photograph

Observations

Visually, the CFL lamps appear to give a soft mellow light which is not so bright as the tungsten spotlights.

The photograph taken on Auto WB setting has a slight yellowish cast. In the photograph taken on Fluorescent WB setting on the hand, the white colours have a noticeable an orange-red colour cast. Furthermore, the red painted wall in the latter has acquired an orange cast compared to the original colour.

Auto WB setting of a scene lit by fluorescent tubes

Nikon 18-200mm at 55mm: Iso 400 f5 for 1/45 second

Fluorescent WB setting of a scene lit by fluorescent tubes

Camera settings as previous photograph

Observations

The Auto WB setting in this situation is close to the Fluorescent WB settings. I barely noticed any colour differences between the two photographs.

Both pictures have however lost the pale green colour of the wall behind the spice rack.

Conclusions

Whilst software in principle makes it possible to adjust for colour temperature and colour casts, my previous experience of attempting this produced rather disappointing results, even in tungsten lighting. Having reviewed the results of this exercise, it seems that photography in available light is probably only suitable for record type photographs where there is little or no alternative.

Cloudy weather and rain - part 3

Part 3 of this exercise is to take photographs in rainy conditions. I have included two photographs from our visit to Scotland and northern England in August and a third photograph from a visit to France last year.

Queue at Edinburgh Fringe

Nikon 18-70mm at 18mm: Iso 640 f6.3 for 1/160th second

The weather was surprisingly dry during our visit to Edingburgh so I was relatively lucky that it started to drizzle whilst we were waiting to go in to one of the performances of the Fringe Festival. For this photo, I stood on a step to get a high viewpoint over the line of umbrellas.

The light level was so low that I needed to use Iso 640 to obtain a shutter speed quick enough for a hand-held photograph. This photo stood out from the other views that I took because of the blue umbrella and the two women chatting together underneath it. The depth of field with f6.3 aperture was surprisingly good.

I was prompted to take this by a previous photo that I liked of a line of people queuing in the rain in Barcelona:-

In between showers

Nikon 18-70mm at 70mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/350th second

This was one of those moments of sunshine in between heavy showers. This is the High Street of Brampton, the final stop on a walking holiday on Hadrians Wall. I saw the sunlight highlighting the roof tops and whisked my camera out of the bag to take a quick photo before the local bus stopped to drop off passengers obscuring the view. There was fortunately plenty of light so that the Iso 200 setting and f8 produced a reasonably good exposure of this high contrast scene.

Then the rain eased off

Nikon 18-70mm at 70mm: Iso 500 f4.5 for 1/750th second

We had sheltered from a sudden downpour in a small town in northern France. When the heaviest rain eased slightly, my wife and a friend started to walk up this hill on the way back to the car. Seeing the light reflection in the surface of the road, I stopped to take this picture before they disappeared too far ahead. Unfortunately, the photograph lacks quality as the dark areas are very noisy and the figures are soft edged due to the wide aperture. I am hoping to have an opportunity to take a similar picture in future, but this has not so far happened.

Conclusions

Whilst I would not normally deliberately go out in wet weather to take photographs, I do look out for interesting light when the weather turns stormy out of doors. I am developing a small repertoire of rainy day photographs.

Cloudy weather and rain - part 2

I took the photographs for this exercise last Sunday, when the Guildford Photographic Society had a photographic outing to RHS gardens at Wisley. The weather in the morning was slightly misty with a blanket white overcast sky.

Gnarled tree trunk

Nikon 18-200mm at 42mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/4 second (with tripod)

Looking out for gnarled tree roots, I noticed the trunk of this tree which was probably some sort of yew. I liked the twisted shapes and the warm orange colour of the bark. I chose this viewpoint as I liked the way the light from the right hand side reveals the form and texture of the bark. I tried various compositions in vertical and horizontal frames, from which I chose this version because I felt that there is a pleasing asymmetry of dark holes.

I can imagine that a tree trunk like this would have inspired the Spanish architect Gaudi in his designs of naturalistic arches and pillars.

Yew tree leaves

Nikon 18-200mm at 130mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/30th (with tripod)

A few areas of leaves on this same tree were changing colour, even though these were typical spiky coniferous leaves. Viewed from underneath the tree, the leaves were backlit revealing the pattern of green, yellow and orange bands across the small spines. I found a position where the background was a reasonably uniform dark green of an adjacent conifer. I chose this composition as I liked the orderly pattern of leaves in the top half of the frame contrasting with the criss-cross pattern of the leaves in the lower half.

Acer leaves

Nikon 18-200mm at 80mm: Iso 200 f5.6 at 1/25th second

I was fortunate to find this Acer plant with these glorious red coloured leaves. Relatively few of the trees and shrubs had started to show their Autumnal colours in the gardens. The tree was only about ten feet tall, but I could not at first find a viewpoint with a distraction-free background. It was almost by chance that I noticed this group of leaves slightly more in the light than those in the background. The slight difference in tone and the narrow depth of field combine to make the foreground leaves stand out with almost 3D clarity.

Reviewing the photographs when at home, I was surprised at the visual attraction of this composition of a red subject with a red background.

This style of photograph is reminiscent of the American nature photographer John Shaw. His articles in Outdoor Photography frequently stressed the benefits of overcast weather to enhance natural colours.

Conclusion

The guidance and incentive of taking photographs for this exercise contributed to my enjoyment of this visit to Wisley Gardens.

Guildford Photosoc Digital competition No 1

Last week, I entered two digital images for this competition in the Club Class (the class for less experienced photographers). The judge, Don Morley, was very knowledgeable with a background in photojournalism.

Decorated Glass

He liked the concept of the composition, but felt that it could have been improved. He would have liked to see the position of the figure adjusted slightly so that more of the reflection in the floor was visible. He also suggested that rather too much coloured glass was included and that the golden coloured blobs in the upper part of the background were too much of a distraction. He gave the image a score of 7 out of 10, which in my understanding signified a technically satisfactory photograph, but one which had some weaknesses in composition.

Entrance to church, Italy

I took this photograph whilst on a tour of Milan and surrounding towns. Initially, I had chosen another photograph from this holiday, but my wife suggested that this image was better. Her judgement was spot on as the judge gave this image a 10 out of 10 score. The most important features that he liked were the framing and the depth of field. As a judge his most frequent comments were on cropping and framing, but in this case, he said that he would not change a thing in the composition. He did not think that the space behind the figure should be cropped, and he thought the area of door in front of the figure was sufficiently sharp.

Cloudy weather and rain - part 1

For the first part of this exercise comparing photographs in direct sun and cloudy conditions, I used the same subjects as the previous exercise; Guildford Castle and the sundial.

Sundial in direct sunlight

Nikon 18-200mm at 56mm: Iso 100 f5.6 for 1/400th second

Sundial in overcast sunlight

Nikon 18-200mm at 56mm: Iso 100 f5.6 at 1/60th

Observations

The light level in overcast sunlight is between two and half and three stops less based on the shutter speed difference. Furthermore, the sunlit photograph seems slightly brighter on average than the overcast light version.

As regards colour, the light blue-grey surface of the sundial appears to be slightly more saturated in the overcast light. There would appear to be a slight blue tinge to this photograph. Recalling the experience of trying to gauge saturation and brightness of colours in the previous part of this course, however, the effect might instead be caused by the darker tone in overcast light, and it might not in reality represent a change in saturation.

The dark shadows in the sunlight version bring out the shapes of the figures and make the sundial stand out from the wall.

On the other hand, the pale gold markings on the surface of the sundial are slightly obscure in the sunlight version, whereas these are more clearly visible in the picture taken in overcast light. This is probably due to the different direction of sunlight, rather than its intensity.

Guildford Castle in direct sunlight

Nikon 18-200mm at 18mm: Iso 100 f5.6 for 1/180th second

Guildford Castle in overcast sunlight

Nikon 18-200mm at 18mm: Iso 100 f8 for 1/80th second

Observations

The light level in overcast sunlight based on the shutter speed and aperture settings would appear to be only about 1 stop different, which was surprisingly little. I believe that the explanation for this may be that the tones in the photograph in overcast light are significantly darker than those in the photograph in bright sunlight (even though both were taken with zero exposure compensation).

There is quite a definite blue cast to the photograph taken in overcast light.

The photograph of the castle in overcast light is quite dull compared with the photograph in bright sunlight, even though in both cases the the light is from the front. The shadow areas are quite small lit from the front, but in bright light they still make the structure stand out better, especially the windows in the upper floor. Also the colour of the stone of the tower is more vibrant in sunlight and it contrasts more strongly with the white coloured ruined wall just in front of it.

Library photographs taken in overcast light

Apples and pears

Nikon 18-200mm at 20mm: Iso 100 f7.1 for 1/60th second

The soft shadows of the overcast light reveal the shapes and smooth texture of the fruit, without the need for more intense light. Furthermore, the colours are more saturated without the bright highlights if there had been direct sunlight.

Caterpillar

Nikon 18-200mm at 200mm: Iso 400 f5.6 for 1/180th second

The caterpillar was moving through a small bush that would have been in the shade if the sun had been shining. Its pale yellow colour contrasts quite effectively against the mid red of the leaves. The overcast weather means that the background colours are muted, whereas on a sunny day, these would have been bright and distracting.

Conclusions

The qualities of bright light and overcast light are quite different, but I have not generally in the past planned deliberately to use these qualities. At most, I have sought to adapt the type of photographs that I have taken to the prevailing conditions.

Variety with low sun

For this exercise, I took a sequence of photographs of anemone flowers in the late afternoon sunshine on the last day of September.

These photographs were taken with a new lens, an AF-S DX Nikon 18-200mm f3.5-5.6 ER VR II. I damaged the old 70-210 mm telephoto lens whilst we were on holiday in Scotland in August. After some research and discussion with photography friends, I decided that this wide to long telephoto lens would suit the holiday type of photography which is currently my main interest.

Image 1: Frontal lighting

Nikon 18-200mm at 200mm: Iso 200 f16 for 1/60th second

I chose a flower head pointing towards the setting sun, which was free of any shadows. With the sunlight coming from behind the camera, the background was also quite brightly lit. I therefore used the zoom at maximum extension to blur the detail and to narrow down the field of view of the background. I took the photograph from above the flower heads as a lower viewpoint would have included a background wall which would have been quite distracting. It was however quite difficult to position myself where my shadow did not obscure the flowers. In this photo, my shadow does fall across the flower stems in the lower left of the frame. However, I do not feel that this detracts from the main subject.

Image 2: Side lighting

Nikon 18-200mm at 112mm: Iso 200 f5.3 for 1/320th second

I chose this flower head as it was just in a position where shadows from other petals covered a significant area of the flower head. The photograph was taken looking down from roughly square on to the surface of the flower. From a standing position, this meant using a mid-range focal length to frame the subject. I opened up the aperture to blur the background, parts of which were also catching the sunlight.

I cropped frame to remove a band from the bottom of the frame. I chose this composition, as I felt that the flower and bud just to the right of centre are balanced by the anemone leaves in the upper left area of the frame. Visually, these form a diagonal line across the frame from top left down to bottom right. I think that this composition is rather reminiscent of a botanical illustration, where the artist aims to show various parts of the plant; flowers, buds and leaves within the frame.

Image 3: Back lighting

Nikon 18-200mm at 200mm: Iso 200 f16 for 1/45th seconds

I again used maximum focal length in order to limit the field of view of the background. Otherwise there would have been distracting light spots in the background foliage. I checked the histogram after taking the photos and decided that the exposure was OK without bracketing.

I originally used a portrait frame with the flower head in the upper part of the frame. However, I decided that it was the lights and shadows of the overlapping petals which were the visual interest from this viewpoint. I therefore cropped the photograph close to the flower head, except on the left hand side where a strand of cobweb is just catching the light creating some diagonal asymmetry.

Image 4: Edge lighting

Nikon 18-200mm at 112mm: Iso 200 f16 for 1/50th second

My original intention was to photograph this group of flowers to illustrate back lighting. However, I afterwards took the previous photograph with the flower head facing the lens. I have nevertheless included this photograph as I think that the edge lighting of the flower stems is a key visual element of the photograph. I used a mid-range focal length as the background is relatively uniform and dark.

Observations

Each of these photographs seems to convey a different attribute of these anemones:-

• The front light seems to emphasize pure white simplicity of the petals.
• The side light emphasizes the shape and form of the petals and the leaves.
• The back light focusses attention on the complexity of the petal structure and highlights their curled over edges.
• The edge lighting shows the tallness of the flower stems, which are not apparent in the other versions.

Conclusions

When I thought about using the anemones as the subject for this exercise, I was not sure whether they would turn out to be a suitable subject. I was pleasantly surprised when working through the photos and was reasonably pleased with the outcome.

Light through the day

For this exercise, I took photographs of Guildford Castle, which is a stone tower that stands on a mound surrounded by gardens, close to where I live. I envisaged that this would catch the sunlight at most times of the day and I chose a viewpoint from which it would catch both the morning and evening sun. The photographs were taken over several days between 15th to 21st September.

Guildford Castle 8 a.m.

Guildford Castle 8.30 am

Guildford Castle 11.30 am

Guildford Castle 2.30 pm

Guildford Castle 5 pm

Guildford Castle 5.20 pm

Guildford Castle 5.40 pm

The practical issue involved with taking this sequence was not so much keeping the same viewpoint and focal length. I had selected a position standing just inside a gateway to the gardens which was easy to remember.

The greater challenge was keeping reasonably consistent exposures in photographs taken several days apart. I generally use my camera set to "pattern" (that is matrix) metering. However, it took time for me to realize that focussing on the foreground shadow areas was causing overexposure of the castle walls. After the first few photographs, I made sure that the metering location was in an area of sunlight so that the colours and detail of the stonework of the tower were not blown out.

The white balance was set to sunlight for each of these photographs except for the second photograph in the series which was close to the sunlight colour temperature.

Observations

I framed the photographs to show the mound on which the castle stands, which meant including a part of the gardens in the foreground. I nevertheless intended that the main subject of the photograph should be the size and grandeur of the tower.

For an architectural subject like the tower, frontal lighting does not emphasize the form of the surfaces of the tower. These surfaces appear to be quite plain in both the photographs taken in mid-day light.

Comparing the photographs taken in the early morning and late afternoon sunlight, the morning light photographs are more interesting:-

• The side light is casting a vertical shadow up the edge of right hand stone corner of the tower as well as vertical shadow up a central pilaster below the window. The evening light is less visually interesting as the left hand surface of the tower does not have such prominent shadows.
• Furthermore, the contrasting light inside the window frames on both faces of the tower make these features stand out in the morning light. In the evening light on the other hand, the windows on the shaded surface are barely visible as there is no similar contrast.

I would choose the photograph taken at 8 am as the foreground flower beds are in shadow and the castle tower dominates the scene. (Also in the 8.30 am photo the stone colour is slightly blown out on the sunny face of the tower.)

Conclusions

The main things I learnt from this exercise were:-

• I must not forget to apply the techniques regarding exposure and white balance from the earlier exercises.
• It was useful to compare the sequence of photographs taken throughout the day. It reinforced my experience that the lighting of edges can significantly enhance the visual quality of a photograph.

Judging colour temperature 2

White balance adjustment of statue photographs

The first part of this exercise is to consider whether the above three photographs taken under different types of natural light would be improved if the blue or yellow casts in images 2 and 3 were adjusted to a more neutral tone.

It is relatively straightforward in Lightroom to make copies of these photographs and to adjust the white balance to reduce the colour casts. Image 1 is copied below together with the white balance adjusted versions of images 2 and 3.

I think that this adjusted version of image 2 is preferable to the original photograph taken in shade. The main reason is that the warmer colours are more visually attractive and seem more natural than the cooler colours for this stone statue.

For image 3, both the original orange tinged version and this adjusted version seem slightly unnatural. The strong shadows in the face and body shown from this viewpoint give the figure a more aggressive and unsettling appearance than the other two pictures.

I rather like the adjusted version as it seems visually stronger. The statue looks more vigorous and the bluish tinge makes the background seem slightly spooky. On the other hand, the relatively bright orange colour of the statue in the unadjusted version emphasizes its artificial nature, and this seems to weaken the visual impact despite the brighter colour.

Use and selection of white balance settings

I chose a modern sundial with the figures of King Edward 1st and his first wife Eleanor as the subject for comparing the camera's white balance settings. The sundial is an pale unsaturated greeny-blue colour, with letters and other details picked out in pale gold. This is located high up on a brick wall which has mottled colours of medium saturation red-orange, brown and grey.

Images in sunlight

Nikon 18-70mm at 56mm: Iso 200 f8 for 1/400th second

The camera's white balance was set at Automatic, Sunlight and Shade settings for the above three photos respectively. The time of day at 8 am in the morning was earlier than suggested in the instructions for the neutral sunlight. This was about two hours after sunrise. Unfortunately, there was no direct sunlight on my other visits to this location in the middle of the day.

I feel that the Shade white balance setting adds too much warm yellow to the scene. The pale gold lettering becomes rather lost against the body of the sundial. Furthermore, the brickwork becomes too bright relative to the muted colours of the sundial.

The camera's automatic white balance setting was very similar to the daylight setting in this case. The pale blue and gold tones of the sundial are in a better balance at this setting, and the colours of the brick wall are more muted.

Images in overcast light

Nikon 18-70mm at 55mm: Iso 100 at f5.6 for 1/60th

The above photographs were taken at 11.30 am with the white balance set to Automatic, Sunlight and Shade as before. The light levels are roughly 2 stops less than for the sunlight photographs above.

In this case, the Automatic white balance setting results in a distinctly blue cast relative to the Sunlight setting in the second photo. The Sunlight setting was the one closest to my visual perception.

I envisaged that the Shade setting may have been the most appropriate in these conditions. However, the shade setting is again rather too yellow for my taste. The delicate blue colour of the sundial is washed out to little more than grey. For these reasons, I would again select the photograph taken with Sunlight setting.

Images in the evening light

Nikon 18-70mm at 55mm: Iso 100 f5.6 for 1/60th second

These last three photographs were taken at 5 pm, just over two hours before sunset. After this the sunlight no longer falls upon the sundial, so I did not take any photos later than this. The light level is virtually the same as in the sequence taken in overcast light in the middle of the day.

The Automatic white balance setting has a blue cast which makes the colour of the main body of the sundial appear to be a mid-tone blue, rather than the pale blue that it is in neutral light.

The Sunlight setting is similar but the blue cast is slightly less. In this case, I consider that the Shade white balance setting provides the closest to the lighting conditions that I observed when taking the photographs.

Conclusions

It is interesting to compare the three photographs with the preferred white balance settings side by side for their other visual qualities.

• The photograph taken in direct morning sunlight (with Sunlight white balance setting) reveals the forms and textures of the figures, as well as the shadow of the bar giving the time of day that the photograph was taken. It is however quite difficult to make out the markings on the face of the sundial and other gold details.
• The photograph taken in overcast conditions (with Sunlight white balance setting) on the contrary, shows the markings on the face of the sundial and the other gold details as these shiny surfaces are reflecting the light. However the form and texture of the figures is barely distinguishable in the flat light.
• It is the photograph taken in the evening light which achieves a balance, as the shadows reveal the form and texture of the figures, whilst at the same time the reflections of the shiny gold surfaces are still quite clear. Unfortunately, at this angle of light the face of the sundial is in shade and it is not possible to read the time.

I also noted that the colour tones of these three photographs are reasonably consistent one with another.

I have found it a useful exercise to explore the effect of the white balance settings in different light conditions, and I realize that I should probably experiment more often with these, even with natural lighting situations.

It was also useful to see how the camera white balance settings come through into Lightroom software. I almost always take photographs in Raw with this Nikon camera, and the camera handbook contains a table of the colour temperatures for the white balance settings other than Automatic.

In Lightroom, where the camera white balance is set to Sunlight, Cloudy or Shady, the colour temperature and tint sliders in the Develop module in Lightroom are fixed for each of these settings e.g 4950K for Sunlight, 5550K for Cloudy and 7100K for Shady with similar fixed settings for tint. When set to Automatic, however, the colour temperature and tint sliders differ for each photograph.