"Waves" in Digital Pics

[benos]

I've been experimenting shooting pics of the new T's. (I shot for a couple hours last night and this didn't happen once.) Today, the majority of pics have this wavy action in them. And it's weird because I'll shoot 3 shots in Auto Mode w/o changing anything at all, and 2 pics had the waves and one had no waves at all.

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[Nik Habicht]

I've been experimenting shooting pics of the new T's. (I shot for a couple hours last night and this didn't happen once.) Today, the majority of pics have this wavy action in them. And it's weird because I'll shoot 3 shots in Auto Mode w/o changing anything at all, and 2 pics had the waves and one had no waves at all.

be

That's called "Moire." The early DSLRs had that a lot, then they slapped better anti-aliasing filters and software in the cameras and most of the problem went away. When you see it, usually the only fix is to significantly alter the level and direction of light falling on the shirt in relation to the lens angle.....

That's if I remember this correctly......

John? Dave? Yamil?

[benos]

Thanks Nik.

There is some ambient light coming into the room from a couple different angles that wasn't there last night. (Obviously, because it was 9 at night.) So it will probably go away when it's dark outside. But it does seem weird that the flash wouldn't cover up the moire. Or maybe the flash has nothing to do with it.

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[benos]

It probably was ambient light, as I just took this shot and not much light was present, just flash.

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[benos]

Another weird thing about the last pic is that it looks pretty much like "Dillon blue." But the actual color has more gray in it than it appears to in the pic. Here what the shirt actually looks like:

http://www.brianenos.com/store/t-shirts.html

(I snagged that pic from a T-shirt website.)

I was wondering if the black background might have something to do with that?

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[Nik Habicht]

Thanks Nik.

There is some ambient light coming into the room from a couple different angles that wasn't there last night. (Obviously, because it was 9 at night.) So it will probably go away when it's dark outside. But it does seem weird that the flash wouldn't cover up the moire. Or maybe the flash has nothing to do with it.

be

Compared to the sun, flash is pretty wimpy, especially if it's built into the camera, so it probably couldn't overpower/render insignificant the ambient light coming into the room......

I used to see Moire a lot more with one of my cameras (1999/2000 technology) than I did with anything newer, but it can still happen. I also occasionally see it in TV shows and movies --- usually with patterned suits or similar fabrics.....

[Nik Habicht]

Another weird thing about the last pic is that it looks pretty much like "Dillon blue." But the actual color has more gray in it than it appears to in the pic. Here what the shirt actually looks like:

http://www.brianenos.com/store/t-shirts.html

(I snagged that pic from a T-shirt website.)

I was wondering if the black background might have something to do with that?

be

That's a color balance issue --- to fix that, read the section on setting a custom white balance in your user manual. Then shoot a picture of a white sheet of paper or a (18%) photo grey card IN THE EXACT SAME Light and Angle of Light as your desired product. Set the white balance to that image, photograph your T-shirt, and you should be close to right on....

Essentially that procedure tells the camera what white looks like under those lights, and the camera's software is then able to let the other colors click into place....

....or you can fix it in photoshop, perhaps by including a small white piece of paper in the frame, in the same light, and then clicking that with the white tool in curves. Once you've got the color where you want it, crop out the piece of paper....

[JKSNIPER]

And stop tie-dyeing your shirts

[XRe]

Looks like it was moire to me, too. Why it went away with different lighting, though, I have no idea. Usually moire is a frequency related effect... Maybe the ambient light was causing a shadow that was effectively a high frequency subject or something...

[benos]

....or you can fix it in photoshop, perhaps by including a small white piece of paper in the frame, in the same light, and then clicking that with the white tool in curves. Once you've got the color where you want it, crop out the piece of paper....

That's a nifty trick - thanks.

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[Patrick Sweeney]

Learning to do a custom white balance in your camera is beyond cool, it can save a messy-light situation. And, the best part, it is in just about every camera made. Good thing, too, as light meters that tell you the temperature of your lighting color start at $1,000.