Custom White Balance

[Rosy]

Hey there - been having trouble with my white balance. By the way, I shoot in raw and even though I PP in Cs5 I'm not loving the after-effects

What do you guys recommend?
Do you use the Custom white balance and set your camaera to the PRE mode?

Expo Disk
Grey Card

OR just PP in LR3 or Cs5

 

[Judobreaker]

I have yet to use the custom white balance, I always use presets.
Then again, I'm not the best around and I usually tweak the white balance afterwards in CS5.
The results come out fine though, white balance is easily edited when shooting raw.

 

[2WheelPhoto]

I use custom when in the studio, any time else its on auto.

 

[KmH]

Use a gray card. http://www.bing.com/search?q=How+to...ZGAIDF&install_date=20110901&iesrc=IE-Address

Then in Camera Raw you use Camera Raw's White Balance tool to click on the gray card in the image. Then you can use Camera Raw to set that same white balance on all the photos made in that lighting with just one more mouse click. if the lighting changes, Just make another photo with the gray card in it for the new lighting.

If you want to learn how to use Camera Raw and CS5 effectively and efficiently you'll need some instruction materials:

Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS5

Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)

Adobe Photoshop CS5 for Photographers: A professional image editor's guide to the creative use of Photoshop for the Macintosh and PC

http://tv.adobe.com/

 

[MReid]

White balance is so easily fixed in PP using the eyedropper on white. I always shoot Auto outside and very rarely needs any correction....just don't shoot in a green setting in the shade using natural light.

Inside it may be better to use one of the WB presets...doesn't matter which one...so you get a consistent WB. Sometimes AWB will vary depending on what type of inside light you are shooting in.
Then in Lightroom you group photos by lighting and click on something white, instant white balance correction.

 

[Rosy]

Thank you

 

[KmH]

White balance is so easily fixed in PP using the eyedropper on white.

You have to make sure what you think is white, is actually white - R = 255, G = 255, B = 255. You use the Color Sampler tool to check that.
R = 250, G = 255, B = 255 isn't white.

Not all scenes have white in them. You can also use any neutral gray. Any time the R, G, and B are equal amounts, like 203, 203, 203, or 172, 172, 172 - that is a neutral gray. You can't effectively use to dark a neutral gray though.

 

[480sparky]

]You have to make sure what you think is white, is actually white - R = 255, G = 255, B = 255. You use the Color Sampler tool to check that.
R = 250, G = 255, B = 255 isn't white.

Not all scenes have white in them. You can also use any neutral gray. Any time the R, G, and B are equal amounts, like 203, 203, 203, or 172, 172, 172 - that is a neutral gray. You can't effectively use to dark a neutral gray though.

The object you're using need to be neutral, not the rendition of it in an image with an incorrect white balance. If an object would be rendered 100,10,100 with a correct white balance, but ends up being 115,83,127 because the white balance is messed up, then that object is what needs to be used for the eyedropper, not something and is rendered as three equal parts of R:G:B.

 

[Crollo]

White balance is so easily fixed in PP using the eyedropper on white.

You have to make sure what you think is white, is actually white - R = 255, G = 255, B = 255.

No, because if it's white then selecting it as the white point would be pointless because it's already white, it wouldn't do any correcting to the rest of the image.