Imre Z. Balint, BSc, MPM, MBA

Overall, I think that my video covered white balance (WB) quite well, and I don't have a whole lot more to add other than a couple of comments. First up are the flamingo photos toward the end of the video (starting around 6:12). Now if you look at the values below the photos and then examine the color casts, you might be thinking that something is wrong. The photo of the first flamingo at 3,500 K has a blue cast, but earlier in the video I showed that lower temperatures have a red to yellowish hue. Sames goes for the third pic at 9,000 K, where the image has a stronger red to yellowish hue, yet higher temperatures usually have a blue color cast. What's going on? The answer is that when I load my RAW file into Photoshop and adjust the WB setting, I'm TELLING the program that the scene has a particular color temperature, thus Photoshop accordingly tires to balance the colors. In other words, if I set the WB on a photo to 9,000 K then the program will assume that the ima

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to All! Well now that I'm done having a little fun gaming, I thought I'd quickly create this post to let y'all know that Episode 7 on White Balance has been uploaded to YouTube. Thanks to a few extra days off work, I've been able to create this a bit sooner. But alas, it's a tad late as usual, so the supplemental post will come tomorrow. And if you haven't already, please subscribe to my YouTube Channel so you can stay up-to-date with this series, as well as other videos I come up with.

Well I have to admit that I didn't think Episode 6 was going to be this long! And I tried to keep to the basics as much as possible too. Perhaps this is perfectly normal though, as indeed getting your exposure just right (or the way you want it) is really not that simple. In the video I covered five different methods of controlling exposure: 1) Metering modes, 2) Locking the exposure, 3) Using filters, 4) Using a light meter, and 5) Using the exposure compensation button (that one with the +/- sign on it). By the way, EV = exposure value. Before moving on to further details, I would like to add that I could have mentioned exposure bracketing, which most dSLRs support. What exposure bracketing does in general is that your camera will take 3 to 5 photos (depending on the setting) in rapid succession using various exposure compensation values; those values can be set to your liking on most cameras. So for example, if your camera is set to take 3 photos from -1 EV to +1 EV, then y

Well it's been a long day of video shooting, editing, and uploading, but Episode 6 is live. As it's a tad late now, I'll finish my usual supplemental blog post tomorrow evening after work. And yes, I plugged my new album, Just Listen, at the end of the video. Currently, I know it's live on iTunes, but in a matter of a week or two, it should be popping up in other digital locations.

A few years ago I created 14 songs and for a number of years I did nothing with them; they were merely stored on a backup drive, almost long forgotten and very silent. So a few weeks ago I decided I might as well at least get them out there somehow, so after a little research I came upon a wonderful label called CD Baby . So I signed up, sent them my CD, and that was about it! Simple... I like simple! And just today I checked iTunes to see if by change my songs were available, and indeed they were! It's kind of freaky to see my music up there... and I actually sing on a couple... scary, I know. :P But iTunes is not just the only place my album will be available. CD Baby is partnered with about a dozen other places like Napster and Amazon, so I expect my album will pop up in those places a week or two from now. Anyway, check it out. Currently if you do a search in iTunes for the artist "I Z B" or the album "Just Listen", then you shall find it. As it crops

Woot! I've made it all the way to five whole episodes in my photography series, and still more to come. Either scroll down below to watch episode five, or check it out in HD by clicking here . Next week I'll be discussing exposure value (EV) and how your camera determines the right (or sometimes wrong) exposure. Now in regard to episode five, I don't have a whole lot more to add unless I start getting into specific lenses and camera manufacturers. Simply said, too many factors are dependent on the makers, and this doesn't even begin to scratch the surface of what a photographer might need/want in terms of lenses. Bottom line is, by now you probably have a particular camera that came with a couple of average lenses, and you may be at the point where you want to explore other possibilities (e.g. super-telephoto or macro photography). The goal of the first section of my video was to get novice photographers acquainted with some lens terminology, so that when they'r

Well I'm a day late with episode four's release, but better late than never! I'm quite pleased with how it turned out too. There are two additional things I would like to add though. The first is really simple; to become "good" at composing your photographs, it takes practice and usually a lot of it. For some people it may come naturally, for others, it might take some getting used to. Once you get the hang of it and you become more critical of your own work (being able to pick it apart, what makes it good/bad) it'll become a cakewalk. But until then, I would recommend joining various photography forums where you can post your work for critique. Here are a few I visit: http://www.dpreview.com/forums/ http://forums.steves-digicams.com/ http://forums.popphoto.com/ Keep in mind too the old saying, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder", as some people may love your photo, other's not so much. You'll also likely get many good critiques, al

The topic of sensitivity in itself is quite simple to understand and demonstrate, but gets much more involved when tying it together with aperture and shutter speed to achieve the image you want. With a little practice though, it’s not that hard to master... or at the least, become proficient at getting the right settings. When I was editing my video , I wish I would have left a section in that discussed some ISO settings for varying lighting conditions and how I generally evaluate a scene when I take photos. So at the least here is the written version (although I may just make a video addendum to episode 3 later). General ISO Setting Guidelines In regard to setting the sensitivity of my camera, I usually base it on the amount of available light and use the smallest ISO value I can for that situation: ISO 100 – For lots of light, usually outdoor shooting on sunny days ISO 200 – For outdoor shooting on cloudy days ISO 400 – Bright indoor conditions ISO 800 and up – Dark indoo

You guessed it! The next installment of my photography series - Episode 3: Sensitivity - has been uploaded to YouTube . Look below to view it now or visit my channel to watch it in HD. This was a shorter episode as it quickly discusses what the sensitivity of a camera is (those ISO settings), and what affect it has on image quality when you turn the setting higher. As I'm pooped for the day, I shall write my supplemental blog post to accompany this video tomorrow, so keep your eyes peeled! Till then, please rate my video (5 stars!) and remember to subscribe to keep up-to-date with my uploads.

Around 5:15pm yesterday I stepped outside to capture this female Merlin perched high atop a neighbor's tree. To get "close" enough, I grabbed one of my scopes and set it to about 1000mm (its focal length range is 650mm to 1300mm), which translates into about 2000mm as I'm using a four-thirds camera (Olympus E-3). As the sun had just set, there wasn't much available light, but I'm still pretty happy with the pics. Some of my camera settings were: ISO 800, shutter speed around 1/30-1/60, spot-metering, mirror lock-up set to 2 seconds; scope is manual focus. If you're new to photography or just enjoy it in general, then I recommend you check out my YouTube Channel , as I have created a photography series where I explain and demonstrate many of these topics.

As promised, here is the supplemental post to accompany my video on YouTube . One of the major topics I'd like to address here is the interplay between the aperture and shutter, as the two go very much hand in hand. But first, something that I didn't mention in my video is that shutter speed is measured in seconds or fractions of a second (for "usual" everyday type photography and not specialized work). For example, the majority of cameras (although this may depend on your specific model) will show a number like 60 to represent a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. For long shutter speeds getting into whole seconds, this is usually shown as 2", which in this example means two seconds. If you watched episode 1 , then you learned that the aperture of a camera controls the amount of light that may pass through a lens by restricting it using an iris diaphragm. As for the shutter, it controls the duration of time that light may strike the sensor (or film). The co

Well in record time I managed to finish episode two of my photography series and it has been uploaded to my YouTube Channel . I've embedded the video here, but if you'd like to see the more impressive HD version, then check out my channel directly. Since it's a bit late now, I'll be adding my supplemental post tomorrow morning. I have a bunch of interesting links and thoughts to share, including connecting the use of aperture together with the shutter. Enjoy, please rate (5 stars!), and subscribe!

Yeay! I finally finished my first webisode of a series I’ve always wanted to do about various topics in photography. The first subject I discuss is aperture, a very important aspect of taking great pictures. In my video I show what an iris diaphragm looks like, which is the mechanical part in a lens that controls the aperture that either restricts or permits additional light to penetrate the lens (thus light that hits the film or sensor). In a (tiny) nutshell, here’s a summary of aperture: The aperture of a lens controls the amount of light that can pass through it to the film or sensor Larger aperture = more light passing through, smaller aperture = less light passing through This sounds odd, but: larger aperture = smaller f-number, smaller aperture = larger f-numbers (inverse relationship) Depth-of-field (DOF) is how much of an image is in focus Large apertures (smaller f-numbers) means smaller DOF; small apertures (larger f-numbers) means larger DOF Different lenses behave