city streest/night shots

I want to get some good shots of city streets at night using an
OlympusC5000z.

I've got the streets, regular nightimes and the camera however it seems that
whatever settings I use the image is getting flooded with yellow from the
sodium lighting. When I try to correct them afterwards (PS7) there is simply
not enough blue channel content to get a balanced image

any advice would be very welcome

as you've probably guessed...newbie!

thanks

B

Have you tried shooting with the Tungsten white balance mode? I've
found this gives the most "natural" looking lighting off street lights.
Failing that, maybe you could simply experiment manually set the
custom white balance of your camera.

hth,
Terence

I've got the streets, regular nightimes and the camera however it seems that
whatever settings I use the image is getting flooded with yellow from the
sodium lighting. When I try to correct them afterwards (PS7) there is simply
not enough blue channel content to get a balanced image

Try setting a custom white balance. But no matter what you do, if
there's no blue light shining on the scene, you'll have to add blue
later if you don't want a yellow image.

-Joel

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Dr. Joel M. Hoffman wrote:
I've got the streets, regular nightimes and the camera however it
seems that
whatever settings I use the image is getting flooded with yellow
from the
sodium lighting. When I try to correct them afterwards (PS7) there
is simply
not enough blue channel content to get a balanced image

Try setting a custom white balance. But no matter what you do, if
there's no blue light shining on the scene, you'll have to add blue
later if you don't want a yellow image.

Is it possible that "flooded with yellow" actually reflects reality?

I've got the streets, regular nightimes and the camera however it
seems that whatever settings I use the image is getting flooded
with yellow from the sodium lighting. When I try to correct them
afterwards (PS7) there is simply not enough blue channel content
to get a balanced image

Try setting a custom white balance. But no matter what you do, if
there's no blue light shining on the scene, you'll have to add blue
later if you don't want a yellow image.

Is it possible that "flooded with yellow" actually reflects reality?

It probably does reflect reality, but the that's the catch. The human
mind is extraordinarily good at compensating for different lighting
conditions, and, in this case, sees the yellow scene as though it's
white. In order to look "real," though, the photograph has to be more
balanced.

This is just an extreme case of why WB is necessary to begin with.

-Joel

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Free 35mm lens/digicam reviews: http://www.exc.com/photography
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