White Balance on my new T1i

[Johnny Rasmussen]

Hi, Jeff!


If you want optimum colors you need to get the white balance correct and there are several ways to do that. Many like gray cards because they are cheap and easy to use. You can also use an Expodisk which is popular and accurate. I bought a Zerocs White Balance Filter that can be used on lenses up to 82mm in diameter. However I must say that is has not been used very often. I only use it when I am shooting indoors and when the lightning can be very tricky. Most of the time I use the presets and it works fine for me. When I use the presets I set the white balance during postprosessing.


If you are going to invest in a tool like an Expodisk, a grey card or another solution I think it is difficult to say that one is better than the other. Take some time to read and make your desicion based upon what suits your needs or type of photography. If you are taking large amouns of images it can be timeconsuming to correct the colors during postprosessing, then a WB solution will come in handy.


If you want to get the "colors right", you will probably spend some time to learn about color management as well. Do you want to process your images in the sRGB colorspace or Adobe1998 color space? Or maybe ProPhoto which is even wider? But that is another story.


About white balance and workflow, here is how I do it:


More than 95% of the time I use the White Balance presets. When the lightning gets really tricky I use the WB filter. I always shoot in RAW of course. I use the white balance picker tool in Canon´s Digital Photo Professional or Photoshop to find a neutral area and then set the whitebalance. If several images are shot under the same lightning conditions I apply the same whitebalance using copy and paste.


How can I tell if the lightning gets tricky and the white balance presets can´t handle the situation? I always check the histogram. If you shoot indoor and you have several types of light which have several types of color temperature you can sometimes see that one or more of the colorchannels "blows out" (burns out) or "jump out" of the histogram. Then it´s time to set a manual white balance using the WB filter. Another situation where I prefer to set a manual WB is when I am going to shoot hundres of images under the same lightning situation. I then save a lot of time when I process the images as I can use the "reference" shot and apply the WB to all the images with just one click.


There are of course many other aspects regarding white balance but this is a simple way to get started. Have fun with your new camera.


PS! You should also consider to invest in a tool to calibrate your monitor. It is not possible to get the colors right if your monitor is not properly calibrated. I use Spyder3 Elite but there are other tools of course.





Kind regards,


Johnny

[peety3]

White balance is certainly a challenging topic, and I'm still trying to figure out how to gain the knowledge and experience that'll suit me best. That said, I've settled on a fairly robust method that works quite well for me. Unfortunately, it's a little tougher than just doing a custom white balance, but it makes all of the difference when shooting flash.


Step 1: Set white balance to Kelvin (K), using a random guess (or just 5000) to start.


Step 2: Shoot a picture of the gray card (preferably ONLY the gray card) in the light that you're subject's in.


Step 3: Review the shot, and bring up the RGB histogram.


Step 4: If the Red channel is brighter (further right) than the Blue channel, choose a lower Kelvin temp. Choose a higher temp if Red is darker (further left) than the Blue channel.


Step 5: Return to step 2 and repeat 2-4 until Red is as close to Blue as you can get it.


Step 6: While still reviewing your most recent image, if the Green channel is brighter than the Red/Blue channels, you'll need to dial in some minus Green in the White Balance shift menu. If Green is darker than Red/Blue, you'll need to add some Green in the WB Shift menu.


Step 7: Repeat your cycle a few more times to get green balanced with red/blue.


Now you have a neutral white balance and you know what temperature you're shooting in. Since flashes fire at daylight (5000? 5600?) color temp and you've identified what color temp your ambient is, you'll now know exactly what gel to put on your flash to make it match (or warmer than) ambient light.

[markcoons]

Hi Jeff! Setting a custom white balance is important tomy workflowbecause a lot of the things I photograph are done under mixed light. I use a mixture of WB tools from the ExpoDisc, to a Whibal, to a refective target (Photovision Calibration Target is my favorite right now). It just depends on where I am and the situation as to which one I use.


Here is an older article that talks about the differences between some of these various tools. There are a number of articles that can be found on the web by searching for 'custom white balance'. You just need to determine which tool will work best for the way that you want to work.