Taking photos in a arena Halogin lights

[monkeymartin]

Can you recommend some tips for taking photos in a arena and a gym. The haloing lights are causing problems.

[Beowulff]

This can be a tricky one!

My first suggestion would be to set your camera (Pentax K200D I think) on AUTO white balance, as you're never gonna get it right by guesstimating it, even with a grey card.

And, most importantly, only shoot in RAW mode. That way you can adjust for the colour temperature — and other stuff — after the event and from the comfort of your PC.

Halogen lightning used at sporting venues is always problematical. These lamps don't emit a continuous spectrum of light, but rather as a series of "emission lines", or concentrated bands, because of the nature of the lamp's gas (which uses iodine or bromine as the so-called "halogen").

Sporting venues often deliberately mix lamp types to improve visual colour rendition or normalise the light — which is well-known to be poor with only halogen lighting. This can result in completely unpredictable illumination that actually varies from venue to venue.

Good luck. :)