Hi all..

My first long exposure shot with K100D Super... I like the outcome but it just not as I expected. Could someone help me to set it right?

Rgds




EXIF :

Exposure: 30 sec (30)
Aperture: f/3.5
Focal Length: 18 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/10 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
YCbCr Positioning: Co-Sited
Exposure Program: Manual
Metering Mode: Pattern
Color Space: sRGB
Sensing Method: One-chip colour area sensor
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Manual

[Peter Zack]

Welcome to the forums.

First what software do you have available to you?
Second I see you did the white balance in manual. This is a case where having a proper white balance adjustment tool would help. Either the type that you cover the lens with and point it at the scene and do a manual WB adjustment. Or a corrected white card where you'd turn 180 degrees away from the scene to get the same reflected light the sensor would see.

I PP I just went to colour and hue adjustments (I use Paint.net) and got this:


You could simply use the WB adjustment pen (many types of software have this as well as the Pentax Photo lab) and try to find a grey spot somewhere in the picture to get the software to do a grey point adjustment.

What camera was this shot with and was it RAW or Jpeg. If RAW you have much more latitude to correct WB.

[vievetrick]

Maybe a White Balance tweak would help a little

[vievetrick]

Peter typed faster then me

[silverelantra]

@ Peter Zack :

Wowww... thanks. You know exactly what was on my mind. I'll keep in mind about the white paper thing. I tried every WB from auto to presets and none satisfying so in my desperation I use manual WB (though I don't know how to set it right )
I don't have any picture editing software yet.. but I will consider to buy one.

Thanks again Zack.. you're very helpful


@ vievetrick : Thanks.. I'll try it


Rgds

[Peter Zack]

Silver, There is another thing you can do as well. If you know in advance that WB is going to be an issue. Put a true 18% photo grey card in the corner of the frame (to be cropped out later) to adjust the WB later. But if that's not possible then ALWAYS shoot RAW. Open the picture in the Pentax Photo lab, and then do the WB adjustment there.

The program I use Paint.net (PN) Paint.NET - Free Software for Digital Photo Editing. The program is very similar to PS CC3 because many of the users write open source plugins from PS adapted for PN. I find it much easier than GIMP to navigate and make adjustments. If you downlaod it make sure you register for the forums and search for the extra plugins available. The shell of the program is fairly basic without those add ons. There are some very cool things you can do with it.
Plus the forums have tutorials and a Q&A section that is using the same forums profile as Pentax forums to get answers. I wanted CS3 but I haven't seen the need after using PN for about a year now. I've even bought a couple of CS3 how to books and used the techniques in PN.

If you have questions about it, don't hesitate to ask.