Custom White Balance?

[phild2k]

Is there any point in constantly setting a custom white balance situationally if you intend to adjust temperature post-editing in Lightroom anyway?

 

[JoeW]

Is there any point in constantly setting a custom white balance situationally if you intend to adjust temperature post-editing in Lightroom anyway?

Yes there is. If you look at the photo you've just taken and the WB more accurately reflects/captures what you're trying to shoot, you have a better idea of whether or not you need to "do-over" or continue to work the concept b/c there is something there....versus looking at it and going "blah...no much going on there, time to move on."

Think of it this way: is there any reason to play with aperture? Or should we just set everything at f16/f22 and shoot away (and then in post, use PS tools to create bokeh)?

I'm clear that post production offers a lot more options than when I first started shooting seriously. But a lot of times I've looked at a photo I took on my camera screen and noted stuff I didn't realize was there (lines, shadow, forms...stuff that my eye would unconsciously censor out when looking at the scene). If you get the WB right, you have a better chance of assessing what you've got and if you want to keep playing with the concept/scene.

 

[snowbear116 47]

If you set it right in the camera, you don't have to adjust it later.

 

[phild2k]

Thanks JoeW, that's a very good point indeed.

Snowbear - I was under the impression that White Balance needed to be calibrated every time you shoot in different light conditions?

 

[phild2k]

An additional question - I do mostly landscape and city photography (day and night) and also astro-photography. Under what conditions should I set a custom white balance?

 

[snowbear116 47]

I just use the built in adjustments, but I'm not that particular about it - I'm only shooting for me.

 

[snowbear116 47]

I would guess the night time shots won't matter too much. For example, in a nighttime cityscape, you're might have a combination of lights, anyway - incandescent, fluorescent, sodium vapor, neon, etc. In that case, just pick what appears to be the predominant one and go with it. These you might have to do in post. I don't have a clue for astrophotography.

 

[TCampbell]

In-camera white balance only applies to JPEG images. You can set white balance for a RAW (for many cameras) but it will only record your white balance choice in the image meta-data but will _not_ actually apply the adjustment to the image itself.

I only shoot RAW. When I need accurate white balance, I pull out my gray card. For most shooting situations I don't necessarily intend to use accurate white balance.

There are occasions when you deliberately would not want accurate white balance. If, for example, you're shooting during the "golden hour" (near sunrise or sunset) the whole point of that is to capture the golden or bronze color cast of the light. If you white balance that it's going to remove the gold tones and you'll lose all the warmth. The same would be true of candle-light shots. There's a certain "warmth" that you get from that color. Accurate white balance would remove it.

You can gel a flash with "CTO" gels (CTO = color temperature orange). Part of the purpose of these is to allow for use of flash in "warm" lighting situations (e.g. sunsets would be just one example) and the flash won't wash out the warmth of the lighting.

I do use a gray card when I need accurate color matching.

 

[phild2k]

Thanks TCampbell, can you give me a few examples of when you would use your gray card to get accurate white balance? I'm guess the majority of the time this would be for if you're shooting indoors?

I have now purchased a WhiBal gray card.

 

[JoeW]

Thanks JoeW, that's a very good point indeed.

Snowbear - I was under the impression that White Balance needed to be calibrated every time you shoot in different light conditions?

A lot of prosumer DSLRs allow you to set multiple WB settings. Or you can have a general setting for ambient lighting (say...shade) that works for most of your photos during the shoot but then a couple where you use some unique lighting that requires some tweaking.

 

[TCampbell]

Thanks TCampbell, can you give me a few examples of when you would use your gray card to get accurate white balance? I'm guess the majority of the time this would be for if you're shooting indoors?

I have now purchased a WhiBal gray card.

It's almost easier to give examples when I don't use the white balance... but here goes on when I "do".

I do this with a thought to "truth in advertising". I correctly white balance my food photography. I don't do other types of product photography but I have had to send photos of items where I needed colors matched and when I do that, I set the white balance accurately (and in those cases I'll even use the color tiles. (e.g. X-Rite ColorChecker.)) It's actually possible for "white balance" to be accurate, but discover that the camera sensitivity to one color isn't the same as another and a color checker will help you detect when that happens.

When I set up for types of "product" photography, I always use the gray card. I do this for food, clothing, fabrics, etc. I needed to get some custom embroidery done for a logo and wanted to make sure the embroidery company was using correct color threads to match the logo colors... those images where both white balanced and color-checked for accuracy and I had to warn the embroidery company that while my photos are representing perfect color... their computer monitors may not be and to please verify the images on a color-calibrated display (I expect someone in the clothing industry to go out of their way to know how to do this and if they don't, then I don't want to deal with them.)

But a bit about where I don't use a gray card and more importantly... why.

Part of what you can convey with an image is emotion. Imagine you're trying to photograph something intended to be happy and joyful... vs. sadness or despair. ... or peaceful vs. energetic? Your lighting and your lighting color can help bring this out. The lighting and lighting color can help bring this out.

I like to shoot outdoor subjects on slightly overcast days to avoid the harsh lighting. But this also steals some of the warmth out of the lighting and you can get "cold" looking images. I find that by injecting just a TINY nudge to the "warm" direction when I post process will remove the "cold" look without making the image look obviously tinted. Think of this like seasoning food... a little bit helps... but too much will ruin it.

And sometimes... I do both.

If I have odd lighting, I might use a gray card to help me get rid of whatever wonky color cast I have -- bringing the image back to neutral -- but then just *slightly* warm it.

If you're being paid for a shoot, then you should probably make sure that you CAN correctly white balance (e.g. have a gray card with you and take some reference shots when you change lighting) ... even if you ultimately decide to adjust the lighting to something other than technically neutral white balance.

 

[greybeard34 7]

I just use the built in adjustments, but I'm not that particular about it - I'm only shooting for me.

What he said ^^^^^^