White Balance on my new T1i

[jeff g]

I recenty purchased my first DSLR, a Canon T1i. I've taken some beautiful pictures, but some have not turned out as well as I expected. I'm prettycomfortable with the fundamentals of photography, but white balance is one I'm not comfortable with yet. The picture below is an example of one in which the colors don't seem to be correct on. There is a bluish tint to it. I took this one with the White Balance in Auto. I've been researching white balance for a while now, and I'm getting the impression that Auto White Balance often is not good enough.


To get optimum color in my pictures, am I going to have to do a custom white balance when taking pictures, use a gray card,and/or modify them when I put them on my PC? I was able to get more accurate (or more appealing) by adjusting them in Digital PhotoPro (tone curve adjustment), but I'm arookie at that, too. Ipushed the B (blue) button and pulled it down until the blue decreased enough to look normal.


I've also tried using the preset White Balance modes with different levels of success. For example, if the scene contains sunlit areas and shady areas, I'm not sure which one to use.


If you can point me in the right direction for a strategy on getting the White Balance correct when taking the picture and/or how to start learning a the correct way to post process them, I would appreciate it very much.





Thanks,


Jeff


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[iND]

White balance is one of those things that we skip over early on in our learning process because we don't really understand it. Then we get less than optimal results and we turn to our software and try all the adjustments curves, we even take on RAW images because White balance can be applied there more readily.


But if you want truely great results you have to take the time to understand white balance or at least how to set a custom white balance.


The answer you want is best found in an EXPO disc. Photography is a lot like golf there is a club for everything that goes wrong, but honestly you are going to have to learn to set a CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE. the best product is NOT a gray card, but an expo disc. Get one to fit your largest lens and simply use it and set a custom white balance. Really it is not that hard. And your results will be much better.


But looking at the above photo your problem my be your light meter and not a white balance. Your camera reads reflected light for its meter, and here you are wearing a red shirt that reflects light much different than skin tones. You may have to use your spot meter function in this case or an external light meter. Your main problem above is overexposed skin tones.

[HiFiGuy1]

iND,


Where does one acquire an EXPO disc?





Jeff,


Welcome! Are you an Alabama fan, or resident, or both? I live on the Eastern Shore. If you are nearby we could shoot some together. It would be fun!

[iND]

You might start with Amazon. The expo disc is much easier to use than a gray card.


Make sure you know how to set a custom white balance in your menu.


You will see instant results.

[Rodger]

Until I have obtained a lens and a low end strobe kit, I have no problem with shooting in RAW and using PP to change white balance. (being a student = small budget)


But I do have a gray card, so perhaps I will break that out soon.


iND, those EXPO discs do look nice though!

[jeff g]

Hello HiFiGuy1,


I'm definitely an Alabama fan and I live in Saraland (Western shore. I would definitely like to get together sometime, after I get my feet under me. I've got a lot to learn. I look forward to talking to you.





Jeff

[jeff g]

Thanks for all of your comments. It was obvious before I even posted (although I hoped not) that getting the best picture is going to take some work. It's just a little frustrating that getting the right color seems a little harder than it was with a film SLR (or so it seems after only two weeks of having my first DSLR). I'll continue to try to learn and watch this forum. I've already learned a lot.


Thanks.

[Colin]

I'm a big fan of the 'click white balance'


Assuming you've got something white. I might spend a lot of time clicking all over, as the same white might be different depending on the light that's shining on it (in the same picture).


But, if you can take a picture of something that fills the screen which is white or gray, then look at the histogram, the peakson the right side should be pretty even. Or, you can adjust the peaks to even out in the RGB individual settings...


But, certainly, if you're going to get the colors right, you need to get the white balance first. Aside from the color cast, if the white balance is off, you just tossed the dynamic range possible for each color channel. I'm probably not saying that correctly, but hopefully I'm understood anyway []

[Jayson]

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Gray-Card-Review.aspx


Bryan answers a ton of questions here. At least he did for me.

[HiFiGuy1]

Jayson,


Actually I had read that article a good while back and had forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder. Sounds like a gray card pack will certainly fit my budget better, too.