Take it off auto
1 of 17 from Holiday photo tips and tricks
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Automatic mode has its uses, but it rarely makes the right decisions--your brain is much better for that.
November 30, 2011 3:07 PM PST
Photo by: Lori Grunin/CNET
But I think that maybe there's something wrong in the slideshow sequence (in the first slide): I can view a different photo sometimes (a guy cooking :-), with a complete caption (below).
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Automatic mode has its uses, but it rarely makes the right decisions--your brain is much better for that. I ended up taking these photos as a sequence because the white balance looked wrong in every one and I wanted to try a bunch of different settings. The inset photo, which was shot using Panasonic's Intelligent Auto, had a lot of problems; the white balance was way too red and the camera chose to shoot at ISO 1250 because its algorithm dictated that the lowest shutter speed be 1/125 sec. I got the best results by setting it to ISO 400, 1/50 sec, with one of the preset white balances for a more manageable noise profile. The EXIF information doesn't record which preset white-balance setting is used. Grrrr.
A note about white balance: this photo is a nightmare for a camera's white-balance system. If you squint at the inset photo, you can see there are several different light sources: overhead halogen lights and daylight, plus a lot of light reflected off the shiny surfaces. It's almost impossible to get the white balance right on every part of the scene. If you adjust for the faces, the daylight turns blue, for example. The easiest way to solve the problem is to make it go away; in this case, I reframed the shot to exclude the windows, thereby significantly reducing the impact of one of the confusing light sources.
(Thanksgiving 2011, 1/50 sec, f3.5, ISO 400, manual white balance, spot metering, Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX1, 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 PZ lens)
Here's an interesting holiday photo for you. Frame a shot of your tree (like your last one) that fills the frame. Set a longer shutter and then whilst the picture is being taken, zoom out. Creates an interesting motion blur. Obviously only works with an SLR, and a tripod is preferable!