Tuesday, January 27, 2009

colour and light

We all talk about the lack of light during the winter, and how it affects pictures. I tend not to put a lot of effort into pictures of my knitting - sad but true. I'm actually not a bad photographer - I had a little side business eons ago, back in the day of film and negatives. I have my eye on a new Digital SLR, and would have got one already, but I used my air miles on gifts for others (A GPS for Hubby and the camcorder for Son).

My little point and shoot digital has been great - doing far better than I ever expected of it. I love it, and it hangs out in my purse all the time. But it is a point and shoot, which has inherent limitations. Add to that the fact that I just don't take the time to digitally fix them the way I should. But there are only so many hours in the day, and I'm not willing to give up sleeping, eating or knitting time. And my boss would get a tad upset if I carved it out of working time. (Since that time allows me the freedom (and money) to pay for all the other times, well, you see my problem.)

So I take pictures - sometimes blurry, sometimes out of focus, sometimes with colour so off it's ridiculous. But the difference hit home this weekend when I was taking pictures of the Swiffer cover.

First, I took one inside - middle of the day, near a window, albeit with the blinds closed: Then outside, against snow in indirect sunlight:
Yeah, there's a difference, all right.

What I want to know is - if the indoor light makes this so yellow - just how bad do I look at home?

8 comments:

CatBookMom said...

Snort! Yeah, I struggle with the color problems too. Not right with flash, not right w/o flash. Not right in indirect light, not right in full sun. Arrggh! Just remember that even the blog stars have yellowish photos sometimes too (reflections in bathroom mirrors, anyone?).

I miss my old film Kodak - never got a red eye, not even the cats.

Saren Johnson said...

It's amazing how colors can be faded. We use the "sunlight" bulbs in the house which really, really help.

Unknown said...

It all depends on what we've been drinking. After a few beers, who cares anyway.

TracyKM said...

This is why all inside lights should be on dimmers, and candles used in abundance.
Remember the old Clairol make up mirrors that had different light settings? Green for flourescent, yellow for inside, blue for outside, and orange for 'evening'? LOL. I actually miss mine, despite hardly ever wearing makeup now!

Carol said...

Yup, my point and shoot has a setting for incandescent bulbs and it gets rid of a lot of the yellowness. It's amazing the difference light makes.

Carol said...

Yup, my point and shoot has a setting for incandescent bulbs and it gets rid of a lot of the yellowness. It's amazing the difference light makes.

Philosophical Karen said...

The colour problems are in the camera, not our eyes. No need to worry how you look -- our brains do not see the yellow that the camera does. (That being said, however, fluorescent green light is not flattering to anyone. Ever.)

TracyKM said...

I'm just going through your archives looking for something you made, and saw this, and I'm wondering how the swiffer cover has held up. Is it worth making?