White Balance?

[Reef Pilot]

I just got a new Olympus TG-2 camera and still learning how to use it. It can take underwater shots and has many different settings, incl Macro and Super Macro. I managed to get some half decent coral pics, and get the focus pretty close. But am trying to figure out the White Balance. I have LEDs, and they seem to show more purple in some pics. But with flash on, the pics come out differently, too. Here are a few examples. And am wondering what White Balance setting I need to choose to improve the pics with either flash on, or flash off.

Flash on. Colours are a little washed out.


Same coral, but with flash off. Colour is too blue/purple.


But with a naturally purple coral, colour is pretty accurate with flash off.

[Reef Supplies]

Great shot!

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by Reef Supplies

Great shot!

Thanks. Yes, that one turned out OK. But as you can see the first two with the same coral need a white balance adjustment.

For White Balance adjustments, the camera allows several different settings incl Auto, Sunny, Cloudy, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Underwater, and then some manual settings.

Since I was shooting underwater, I used the Underwater setting. But as you can see, it did not work so well with the flash off.

So what White Balance setting is recommended for LED tank shots?

[sphelps]

Manual is the best if available, usually you set WB to manual mode then a picture of something white or grey under the lighting to set it to the right WB setting. All cameras are different so check the manual.

[Reef Pilot]

Yes, it has 2 manual WB settings that I can register by shooting a white paper or object under the light I will be using. Does that mean I have to put something in the tank under my LEDs and shoot it to register the WB manual settings? And then choose them for the coral shots?

Was hoping there was a simpler method or maybe using one of the given WB settings.

[sphelps]

Yes you have to shoot something white under the LEDs in the tank but most people have success using the sand bed for this. It's a pretty simple method and usually the only one for tank lighting if it's on the bluer side.

[Reef Pilot]

OK, thanks for the tip on how to set the manual WB. I did some more research, and will definitely have to give that a try.

I also tried playing with the exposure settings a bit, and that seemed to alleviate the LED effect to some extent as well. There are just so many options and combinations to try, so will probably just have to keep experimenting.

Good news, though, is I am very happy with the image quality and detail, when I do get it right. Being able to shoot underwater is a huge advantage.

[Reef Pilot]

Well, I tried the manual WB capture using the sand bed. Definitely making progress here now...

The below pic was taken with the new manual WB and the flash off. The LED purple/blue effect is now gone. If you compare this pic with the ones above, it is actually closer to the one with the flash on, and not at all like the flash off one. And I would say it is pretty close to the true colour of the coral now. It is an Ice Fields Tenuis, and the ice colour is now showing much better as are the blue tips.

There are more things I want to try to improve the image quality with ISO and aperture settings. But I think I have this WB issue fixed now.

Thanks again, sphelps, for your help. I definitely learned something...

[sphelps]

NP

With LEDs, provided you have dimmable channels, you can also tune the color temp to what works best for your camera. While we might prefer more blue for our eyes, pictures usually come out better with whiter light.

[Reef Pilot]

Originally Posted by sphelps

NP

With LEDs, provided you have dimmable channels, you can also tune the color temp to what works best for your camera. While we might prefer more blue for our eyes, pictures usually come out better with whiter light.

I have the Radion LEDs, and yes, could do that as well. I could dial the blues down all the way for pic taking. I was surprised how well the sand bed worked, though. I didn't have anything else white handy, that was suitable for underwater.

But am satisfied with this for now, and will keep experimenting. I am starting to like the new camera more and more.