Tuesday, February 5, 2008

As Promised . . .




Lydia is learning to smile. These photos are of the earlier smiles. She's beginning to master them now and doesn't look quite so awkward getting those facial muscles to do what she wants them to do.

Now onto business. . . some of you may be wondering why several of my photos have a putrid-greenish cast to them. I am a photographer, I do understand white balance. It's driving me crazy, too!

Here's the deal. Some well-meaning person invented a fluorescent light bulb that fits into a regular bulb spot. You know the ones. They look like a twisty kind of thing, and people think they're great because they save money.
I loath them.
I have never been a fan of fluorescent light in general. I've never met a person who looks good in fluorescent light. Remember what trying on swimsuits in a store looks like -- fluorescent light!

Fluorescent lights can give off many different hues. Pink, blue, yellow, green. It's really annoying if you're in a room with lots of them and someone put in different bulbs. Digital cameras have white balance settings with which you can compensate and adjust for different types of light. However, these new-fangled fluorescents are tricky because they made them to resemble hallegen light--but it doesn't work in giving off the same kind of light. So neither setting the camera for hallegen or fluorescent gives a natural feel. (Someone out there more into the science of light than I am, may comment to their hearts' content to explain this better.)

Yes, I know I could do a an individual white balance setting each time I'm in a room with those lights. But by the time I run and get a solid white piece of paper, my dear baby girl will be all done smiling, or the tea party will be over, or the dress up party will have decomposed into a pile of costumes on the floor.

So hang in there with me. Enjoy the photos because of the beautiful sign of intelligent life inside my 4th born and ignore the haunting greenish cast behind her.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

She is beautiful. I miss you guys so much.