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Hey guys...again

I own a craft lamp from Argos http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/2671231.htm - that one to be exact so I replaced my halogen £9.99 lamp I've had for years with it and I've found painting a lot easier even though it is kind of blinding being sat at the table no more than 10 inches away

Anyway I use this light to also shoot pictures, I take them from the other side of the desk to where the lamp is but when I snap shots without the flash on everything looks horrendous, the shine on the metallics, colours not looking like they do in the flesh - it kind of made me feel my painting was that bad so my question I guess is, is it something I'm doing wrong?

My current room has a light in the middle, this is a bog standard bulb, the room is a rectangle and I'm against one of the longest walls at my desk in roughly the centre, my craft light is on the left hand side of said desk and I put the model at the end of the right hand when taking a picture

Under a normal halogen bulb it was hard to paint but pictures didn't look like a$$ so is it me simply missing something with bulb types? Any advice welcome

I'd bet it's your white balance settings in camera.

Stick a quick picture up and i'll have a better idea

Had to dig out a model quick, my painting isn't the best -sigh-

Different phone modes below and Stokecity_m I didn't even notice the white setting until you mentioned it. Now I feel a right clown, not only for misspelling and badly painting but being blind to

Auto



Incandescent



Fluorescent

(Now I feel like a moron for spelling it wrong in the title)



I'm assuming the bottom one is "the best"

Edit: Example two different colours

Auto



Fluorescent

Top one imho. The bottom one has a weird orange haze. Not found of it personally.

the best pics are shot outside.

emmagine wrote:
the best pics are shot outside.

Depends on what you're photographing

If you're looking for something specifically for photography, grab a cheap desk lamp from Walmart or the like , and get yourself a Full Spectrum bulb. Typically referred to as a "Daylight" bulb. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-LAMP3BK-COM-Mainstays-Gooseneck-Organizer-Desk-Lamp-Black/21500122

They actually sell them in CFL now for power-saving!
http://reviews.walmart.com/1336/5839360/ge-energy-smart-cfl-daylight-light-bulb-26-watt-100w-equivalent-reviews/reviews.htm

Yes, you can just adjust the white balance on your camera, but it doesn't always do the trick. This is a cheap setup ($20-30 + tax) that will help to more readily re-mediate your issue. It's also helpful to have a background setup (typically an off white, a mid town grey, or similar), and some type of light dispersion (to prevent shadows). I'm not the 1 to give you a good run down, but that's the basic gist of it.

What software do you own? Anything that let's you set the grey point (e.g. Photoshop Elements or GIMP) in the color balance will autocorrect perfectly if you use a 19% grey or "Kodak" grey card in your photos. Old photographers trick made very, very useful with software. Place the card so it is just in-frame in your photo, and once you have imported the picture set the grey point with the eyedropper tool to a point on the card. You can then marvel at your perfect color balance! Well, as perfect as your un-calibrated monitor is going to get ;-> Within reason, this trick works regardless of lighting.

I have GIMP and Photoshop CS5 which I use regularly I just typically upload straight from my phone to social media websites and link from there

Will have to pick up some of that card and try

It's not like I'm at a point where my models are excellent anyway, it was just in the flesh they were clearly not what they appeared in the pictures

When the first comment I had was why did you paint Winterguard blue I knew I had a problem! It was basecoated the fang and someone assumed it was a citadel base blue

Thank you all for the advice - it's greatly appreciated

There are a number of factors.. Mainly your problem is white balance and reflected color if there is other lights on around you.. The big thing most people do not realize is there is two different fluorescence bulb settings for there cameras.. One is a green tint and the other a purple tint, depending on the bulbs your using it will be one or the other.. Also make sure to turn off all other lights around you just the one your shooting..

Pics are fine, you just need to make a simple light box to shoot the models in.