I use my camera mainly in auto mode, and i really dont like to use the flash indoors for obvious reasons.. whenever i take pics indoors, it has a very yellowish tint. any recommendations on things i can do to rectify this.. i have three lenses, kit lens, pan 20mm, and ultra wide olympus micro 4/3 lens.. all have same issue.. thanks. (i'll post some images when i'm home, but right now i'm at work..)
It would be best to post a sample photo The solution could be as simple as setting a different white balance or diving deeper into the menus to adjust all the white balances as a whole...
Yes, it is most likely the white balance is being thrown off by your indoor lights. This should be very easy to fix - with a little slide in temperature. I use my post processing software to correct the white balance, but I do know that quite a few folks use their in camera settings.
does anyone know how to change this setting on the camera? i too get really yellow tint images as well, probably because i am so enviromentally sound and buy those 15 year bulbs Ha ha. thanks in advance!
Um, go to "White Balance" and try the different settings. This is pretty basic digital photography stuff here people. I would suggest you sound some time with the manual or the EPL1 for Dummies book. If none of those get you close enough, you might need to set a custom white balance, and that can be a bit more complicated on how to do. White card vs grey card, etc
The easiest, and my favourite, way to get accurate white balance is to use the "One Touch White Balance" mode. With this you use a white piece of paper to accurately set the correct white balance for your lighting condition. It only takes a couple of seconds and I'm assured of accurate skin tones under most lighting situations. The instructions on how to do this is on page 43 of the manual: http://www.olympusamerica.com/files/oima_cckb/E-PL1_Instruction_Manual_EN.pdf
The colour of light is measured in Kelvin. Outdoor light generally falls around 5500K give or take a bit during the day. Indoor lighting of the Tungsten kind is around 3200K give or take a little. The human mind can adjust for this but sensor and film can't, hence the yellow appearance. Try selecting the "Light Bulb" under Light Balance. You can also do the correction using software.
Thank you so much Grant for taking the time to explain how it all works. It certainly helps to have a factual understanding. Although I do know this stuff, I'm not so great at putting it into words. Many thanks! I also think it is important for us all to remind ourselves that we don't all share the same background in photography. broncophil, I hope this helps. Please let us know how things work out!
A little more background that may be helpful, this is more or less what's happening: White balance is applied when the raw sensor data is turned into an image (jpg). If you shoot JPG's, this happens in your camera and it is more or less "hard coded" into the JPG image data. Therefore, when shooting JPG's it's best to be mindful of your white balance setting on the camera. If you shoot raw, the camera simply stores the white balance setting as data along with the raw sensor data. When you import the raw photo into Lightroom or whatever raw capable software you might be using, it will display the raw photo with the white balance that was stored in the camera, however since you are working with the raw sensor data and haven't yet processed it into a final image / JPG you have the opportunity to select a different white balance (as well as numerous other settings that your camera would be doing automatically if you shot JPG's). This is generally how I work and it's nice because it's one less thing you have to remember to set on the camera before taking a photo since you can tweak it after the fact. It's also nice because sometimes none of the camera's preset white balances are quite right, and it gives you an opportunity to fine tune on your nice big monitor when you have all the time in the world versus when you're trying to get a shot off. I have found that on the Panasonics at least, the "Auto" white balance only works decent on straight sunlight. If it's cloudy, shady, or artificially lit, it's pretty much always off. The vast majority of point and shoot users never mess with their white balance and that's why you see all different shades of strange colored images that most people have just come to accept as normal. However, once you start tinkering with the white balance, you realize how far off the cameras usually are, and how much more natural your photos can look if you just take a few sec to set it before or after shooting.
Thanks everyone who took the time to respond to this thread, i will definitely be using the WHITE PAPER "Trick".. Wish me luck
@Lingho and Grant - thanks so much for taking the time to explain and help us "beginners" i really appreciate the insight.
