Quote Originally Posted by canoli


So as long as you shoot RAW then it's not so important to get the WB "right" (closer than Auto at least) at capture?



Correct, you can essentially shoot with your camera's white balance at any setting when shooting RAW (the image can look pretty bad on the LCD, so best to set the WB to the best preset possible (avoid Auto) so it at least looks passable on the LCD) - in post-processing you can define the correct white balance/colour temperature for your shots (with no impact on the image quality, when shooting RAW). But here's the catch; while you can correct the WB in post, you need some sort of reference for what would have been the correct white balance at the time you shot, in the lighting condition that you shot (or rather the light condition of the subject you shot). I know some people who attempt to do this by eye, or by sampling colour in a photo that they believe should be neutral, but I certainly don't trust my eye that much (as I've seen proof that my eye isn't that clever).


A white balance card(e.g. WhiBal or X-Rite Passport)is a quick and very useful way of getting this reference - take a reference shot with your white balance card in the scene for a given lighting condition (either before, after or in between your series of shots), and then use that image as your reference for correct WB for all images shot in that same lighting condition when you process your images through software (e.g. Lightroom, Adobe Camera Raw, DPP, Apple Aperture 2, etc...). The white balance card can be handy for dealing with situations where lighting conditions are changing while shooting - as you can typically shoot a quick reference shot much quicker than trying to set or change a custom white balance in camera. If I'm shooting in a condition where I know the lighting isn't going to change (much) throughout my shoot, I prefer to set the custom white balance in camera (using either a WhiBal or Expodisc, and save one step in post). This is an essential step if you're going to shoot Jpeg (still a useful format for certain kinds of shoots or if you have no desire to spend time in post) - while most photo editing software will allow you to change the white balance of even Jpeg images you're not necessarily getting true white balance across the entire light/channel spectrum - rather it's basically just overlaying a colour correcting layer filter to tint the image.


Note a while a traditional grey card may give you passible white balance, many of them are not actually neutral grey (their main use is for defining correct exposure by giving an 18% reference) and as such might not give you the best/most accurate white balance. If achieving the best possible authentic white balance is important to you, then best to invest in a product that is actually manufactured for providing white balance and verified by testing (I know each WhiBal and Expodisc are actually tested to ensure that they are as neutral as possible and those values are given).