Anyone modified his Auto White balance?

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I am just curious if i should leave it on 0 to keep it all RAW or if this is something that should be changed.
 
Well, because i want to edit the pics in PS, i am trying to find out what would be the most appropriate setting.
 
What you want is consistency. If they are all wrong but all wrong the same then you can set them all in PS with out too much trouble. If they are all over the place, you will be there for hours. ;)

Do some reading on color temperature if you haven't already to get an understanding on where light changes color (where the light is a different color I should say). You can use a sheet of copy paper to set a WB if you have nothing else.

mike
 
Thats a great idea Mike. How do i know what white is the right one for me? I mean are there any guidelines or plain ol advice for me to try out?
 
Does it come with the girl too :lmao:

Yeah, I ordered a blonde. But I hear the brunette is a better deal. Doesn't talk as much. The restocking fee was too high so I just kept the blonde. :lmao::lmao::lmao::lmao:

P.S. Word has it that the redhead is a dangerous order. Be Ware.:lol::lol::lol:
 
What you want is consistency. If they are all wrong but all wrong the same then you can set them all in PS with out too much trouble. If they are all over the place, you will be there for hours. ;)

Do some reading on color temperature if you haven't already to get an understanding on where light changes color (where the light is a different color I should say). You can use a sheet of copy paper to set a WB if you have nothing else.

mike


That is where my system has helped me out. I do a custom white balance with the white side of the card. Once my white balance is set, I filp the card over to the 18% gray side. Both for white balance and the gray card I have it in the exact light I will be shooting in. I fill the viewfinder with the gray side and that is the first picture. You now have a standard 18% gray to use for your control in PS.

If you shoot for a long period, like I do at some sports events, I will shoot a new gray card every once in a while as the light changes. It always proceeds the photos it is for so I still have a standard reference for my shots following. Works for me. In a pinch for time you can skip the white balance, shoot in auto white balance mode and just shoot the gray card as the first shot and still have a standard reference.
 
What do you mean by card? I dont get the whole post really:(
 
Card means just that, like a note card or a get well card. It's just something to put a color on so that you can shoot it. (white or for the grey you can even use red, blue or green if it's the right shade- one that is the same 'brightness value' as 18% grey)

Photographers have been using them for almost as long as there has been photography so that they know what the light looked like at the time the photo was taken. A photo does not adjust like your eyes do so that is why when you take a photo of something it doesn't always look right color-wise. In digital format you adjust the white balance so that white is white. Your eyes/brain will make white look white in almost any light but a camera can only show what was really there.

The reason it's called white Balance is that the light you see in almost all cases is made up of a lot of different colors. For instance when a beam of sunlight shines through a prism it breaks down into a rainbow. When you get your light from a light bulb it has too much yellow in it- think of a rainbow with a big yellow band and the other colors have smaller bands. (this isn't exactly how it works but you can get the idea from it, it's really about how bright the different colors are) What you want is for all of the colors to have the same sized bands or to be balanced! All of the colors together make white so that is the reason they call it White Balance.

You should go and research why the sky is blue and which electric lights give off what color and so forth to help you understand how to better control how your photo's will turn out. Saves you a lot of time!

good luck

mike
 
I nearly always leave my camera set to daylight, unless I am specifically messing with tungsten or fluorescent lights. Mind you I also shoot in RAW so I can adjust any imbalances after.

I stopped using auto WB while I was overseas taking photos of a Castle on a heavily overcast day while the sun was shining through. The resulting images came out purple.
 
What do you mean by card? I dont get the whole post really:(

Ok let's try this again. First go to this site and read about the product. This is the one I use.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/375202-REG/Lastolite_LR2050_EZYBalance_Grey_White_Card_.html

That is the card I was talking about. It has a white side and the 18% gray side. (Pictured in the ad). First I put the white side in the light that I am shooting in a vertical position. I then set a custom white balance from that card in the light I am shooting in at the time. Since I do not know what camera you are shooting I can not tell you how set a custom white balance. Read your manual, it will tell you.

After I set the custom white balance I flip the card over to the 18% gray side, again in the same light that I will be shooting in. With the gray card in the same vertical positon, I get close enough that the gray side of the card fills the view finder, focus on the cross hairs printed on the card and take a photograph of the gray card.

I now have what should be a proper white balance set in the camera for what I am going to be shooting. When I process the photos on the computer, if I want to make a color correction adjustment I can first make my adjustment to all the photos at one time by using the photo of the 18% gray card as a reference. One batch conversion for all of them. I can also do a batch conversion of the color correction I want if I so choose to do so as I have a reference point to use.

You can also skip the white balance part if you choose and just set a referene point witht the gray side of the card. It saves time in post processiong.

This link is to the Lastolite site. Explains both processes.
http://www.lastolite.com/ezybalance.php
 
Thanks for all the info but why not just shoot RAW and later edit in PS or so?
 
Thanks for all the info but why not just shoot RAW and later edit in PS or so?

Because shooting a custom white balance can save A LOT of time.
 

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