Goliathus goliatus apicalis

Gérard-64 · Post by **Gérard-64** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 12:52 am

19 images with Zerene
60mm Micro Nikkor

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 8:55 am

Lovely beetle!

The color balance on this shot seems to be perfect. Have you changed your procedures?

--Rik

Gérard-64 · Post by **Gérard-64** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:10 am

Thanks Rik.
Nothing changed:day light,large plexiglasss tunnel,withe balance on Auto,black cardboard at the end.
Depending at what time the picture is done the sun enters the window with different angles,this is the reason why(I suppose)the cardboard apears sometime black or grey or bleue....
However it seems that with day light the colors of the bugs are very close to the original colors.

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat Sep 05, 2009 9:31 am

Color balance can also be affected by the dominant color of the bug.

I don't know how auto-balance is implemented on your particular camera.

The ones that just take an average will mess up if the picture really should not average to gray.

For example an orange butterfly in front of a gray board should average to a shade of orange. If the camera tries to make it gray, then the board goes to blue and the orange of the butterfly gets muted. If the board really were black then it would stay black, but the orange would get pushed even farther toward gray.

That's why it is more reliable to lock in a color balance, either "daylight" or "shade" if that's what the illumination is, or some custom balance determined from a gray or white card.

But in any case, this one came out great. Nice picture.

--Rik