How do you know what white balance

magicpic

I know if I shoot raw I can control the white balance. How can I tell if the white balance I am using outside is right? Is there a device or gray/white card I can use that is useful?...thanks janis

Shay Stephens

You can use many things as a white balance target, from a piece of paper, a plastic pringles can lid, white styrofoam, white t-shirts, etc. Basically anything with a neutral gray to white color.

I carry a plastic gray card with me for reference. This one I just found at B&H has both a white and gray side. White would be handy in lower light.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/sitem/sku=379038&is=REG

I don't know if that link is going to work, so go to B&H and search on this item number:
NOZC

magicpic

Shay Stephens wrote:

You can use many things as a white balance target, from a piece of paper, a plastic pringles can lid, white styrofoam, white t-shirts, etc. Basically anything with a neutral gray to white color.

I carry a plastic gray card with me for reference. This one I just found at B&H has both a white and gray side. White would be handy in lower light.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/sitem/sku=379038&is=REG

I don't know if that link is going to work, so go to B&H and search on this item number:
NOZC

how do you use it...what white balance do you set the camera on? please tell me thanks..janis

Shay Stephens

magicpic wrote:

how do you use it...what white balance do you set the camera on? please tell me thanks..janis

It is different with different cameras. Which camera do you have?

Usually there is a mode for setting custom white balance. Once in that mode, you either push a button with the card filling the screen, or you take picture of the card and specify that photo as the custom wb setting.

Andy

magicpic wrote:

how do you use it...what white balance do you set the camera on? please tell me thanks..janis

On a Canon 20D - you have choices. Auto (which is PERFECT and DEAD ON 90+ % of the time with Canon), cloudy, daylight, shade, tungsten, flourescent, flash, and custom. You choose the pre-set if you want to override the AWB. If you want to set a custom white balance, use a grey card, or other device like Shay said. Read your manual, Janice, it's your good friend. There are two pages in the 20D manual that will help you with this. It's pages 50-53 in the 20D manual. Here's a start with page 50.

claudermilk

Your 20D does a very good job with the Auto WB outdoors. Indoors with artifical lighting is where you will want to use a gray card. The one Shay linked to will work fine, though is a bit large for field use IMHO; I prefer my Pocket WhiBal card. Same end effect though. Read the pages Andy pointed you to--it's really a very easy process once you've done it a couple of times.

Bassett1976

Andy wrote:

On a Canon 20D - you have choices. Auto (which is PERFECT and DEAD ON 90+ % of the time with Canon), cloudy, daylight, shade, tungsten, flourescent, flash, and custom. You choose the pre-set if you want to override the AWB. If you want to set a custom white balance, use a grey card, or other device like Shay said. Read your manual, Janice, it's your good friend. There are two pages in the 20D manual that will help you with this. It's pages 50-53 in the 20D manual. Here's a start with page 50.

For sunrise/sunset pictures which choice should you chose? Daylight?

Shay Stephens

claudermilk wrote:

The one Shay linked to will work fine, though is a bit large for field use IMHO

The card I have was originally an 8x10. I cut it down to 4x6 size so it fits in the camera bag.

Shay Stephens

Bassett1976 wrote:

For sunrise/sunset pictures which choice should you chose? Daylight?

That is my first choice.

ziggy53

Bassett1976 wrote:

For sunrise/sunset pictures which choice should you chose? Daylight?

It entirely depends on the effect you are after.

If you want to record the rich colors of the "magic light" of the "Golden Hour", then you need something close to a daylight WB setting.

If you want to correct the light to more accurately depict "normal" colors, you need to either choose "Auto WB" or use the Custom White Balance feature.

If you choose RAW mode, you can select WB after the fact, and this can be a considerable advantage in changing or difficult light. When in doubt, RAW is almost always the way to go, if you can afford the extra time in post-processing.

ziggy53

rutt

I hate to say this, but I guess I'm going to anyway. You don't have to shoot raw or get your color balance right at shoot time if you know how to blend, curve and/or filter (I'm just saying that for Shay. I don't know how to filter, but he seems to get competitive results that way compared to what I get by curving and blending.)

I've corrected lots of jpegs shot with improper white balance. I know it's easier if you can get it right at shoot time, but if you don't you don't have to throw away the shots, at least most of the time.

Shay Stephens

rutt wrote:

I hate to say this, but I guess I'm going to anyway.

Yes, I am glad you did, you are right. Post can correct a world of trouble or dial in the intent to a much finer degree, regardless of how it was captured.

maverick

Aloha folks been trawling through threads also looking for info using Grey Cards to get the correct white balance.

Last week I received my grey card through the post and after reading the instructions went out the evening to take a few shots of the Millenium Wheel in London.

Camera - Canon 40D with a 2.8L 24-70mm

Looking from across the river at the Millenium Wheel I took a snap holding the grey card a few feet away from the camera. Went through the settings to select this as the white balance custom setting. Took the first couple of pictures and realised something is not right. This is the results...




I then used one the auto WB setting on the camera with the following result..



Now is this what is to be expected or am I being thick Is there a specific way to use a grey card at night? Thinking about it the light reflecting from the wheel would of hit the back of the grey card thus should not affect the surface I took the picture off

Any comments and suggestions very welcome

Thanks

pathfinder

When using a gray card to set a white balance, the gray card must be lit by the same light that is shining on the subject.

As you alluded to, when shooting neon or colored lights, there is no light to illuminate a gray card and the subject, since the light is the subject.

Generally, I leave the color balance on the camera to AWB and this works pretty well. If you have a known neutral tone in the image, you can use the white balance wand in your RAW converter to help find a correct color temperature. Or you can just adjust the color temp slider to preference. Color temps at night can vary quite a bit and look okay, as long as you do not have people's faces or skin tones in the same image.

Looking at your two images, AWB is usually pretty darn close at night lights as long as you don't blow them out with over exposure.

maverick

Thanks for the info pathfinder. I did some digging as well and according to the "books" that is a clear example of over correction on the white balance.

So my quest now is to experiment more with the grey card and think about where the light actually comes from before I randomly start shooting stuff

Scott_Quier

maverick wrote:

think about where the light actually comes from before I randomly start shooting stuff

ALWAYS a good plan of action!