Congratulations to Harry and Meghan on their wedding day, 19th May 2018. May God continue to bless you on the start of this journey of Love. Bishop Michael Curry said enough about love so no comment. Well done to The Kingdom Choir who sang Stand by Me and the remarkable Sheku Kanneh-Mason, the Cellist (stringed instrument).
This blog is about lighting and white balance. Outside was a lovely day with the Sun shining so bright, and inside the Chapel the mixture of natural and artificial light was wonderful. It was a good combination for taking pictures. I will capture images of Harry and Meghan at a future public event.
For the opening picture it shows sunlight coming through a living room window through a curtain and reflected back unto the table by a golden reflector. This was not Saturday. It became cloudy by the time I had finished eating so for the picture of the coffee and custard tart below I had to use the silver reflector. My last blog on food only used LED lighting in the kitchen.
The next picture of the aperitif and mint ball was taken in the kitchen. The light came from a window with white blinds which were open but not raised. These three pictures are the finished product. I had to chase the light, abandon one attempt when the light was not at a sufficient level AND prepare the food to be eaten before it got cold. Do not play with your food: eat it!
It was the wedding day and I planned to get up early and prepare a meal for the occasion. During the week the throat did not feel too good. By Saturday I got up late watched the wedding and decided to prepare the meal after the event. I had to take home remedy to keep me going. Ginger tea with a few additions.
The camera that I am using has the following white balance: Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Fluorescent Light (D: Daylight, N: Neutral White, W: White), Tungsten Light, Flash, Manual, Colour Temperature (3 types) with fine tuning. I tested all the white balances in my Photography course in 2016 so I am not doing it in this blog.
In the camera I decided to use the shade white balance and the result is below.
In the camera I changed the colour balance to average white balance. The result is below. The yellow cast on the corn which looked good is the only thing that has weakened.
For the kitchen the light is coming in by a blind open but not raised. The light was strong enough to reach the other side of the kitchen.
Using available lighting I fried onions, pepper, carrots, added garlic followed by the tomatoes.
Seasoning was added to the frying pan. Cumin was missing from the picture so I had to cut and paste it.
Beef stock was prepared, red wine added to corn flour and added to the stock.
It was left to simmer. Pasta was added to a multi-cooker and the cooking process started. The sunlight is now casting a strong beam to the left of the multi-cooker and the tiles are burnt out of the image.
Steam the vegetables. With no time to prepare meat heat up an already prepared fish. All is ready.
Add salad to the plate and add the hot food. The picture was taken under natural light with the LED light of the kitchen switched on.
Wash up and get some rest. LED lighting in kitchen is the source of light.
The next day I prepared the meal for presentation purposes but the light disappeared so quickly.
The only option was to eat everything.
For the finished product shown at the start I changed my cutlery. The issue with reheated food is that the greens look poorly.
Software was only used to crop images and paste one image into another because I missed it out. The camera determined all other settings for the final picture. Choosing the white balance in the camera depends on what mood you want to portray. When including natural light in your images you have to plan and act quickly. If you have a good eye for composition you will get some good results. Exploring different ways of presenting an image can open up new ideas. If you enjoy cooking you will enjoy displaying your food.