Getting away from AWB

[BLD_007]

Ok, I have somewhat mastered ISO, Shutter, and Aperture. I own a cannon 50D and I want to start to get away from AWB. I think this will make my pictures much more Sharpe.

I would like to start to use kelvin temperatures. Is this something you have to learn on the way, or is there as set temp for every thing?

 

[Samanax]

Tutorial: White Balance

White Balance

White Balance: What Is It? And Why Does It Mattter?

Understanding White Balance

WhiBal Certified Neutral Gray Card for White Balance

Digital Image Flow DigitalGreyKard

I shoot in RAW and use a WhiBal gray card to make white balance adjustments in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW).

 

[UUilliam]

Honestly, You dont need to know the temperatures, You dont change your camera's settings using the temperature, you change your camera's white balance using the Reflected light on the subject (or if you have a Light meter, you meter the direct light?)
Buy an 18% Greycard and take a shot of that every 5 - 6 pictures your in the same location, if you move, re-shoot the card and set Custom WB.
Maybe someone else will describe in more detail but im a little busy to describe it in full atm

 

[BLD_007]

Tutorial: White Balance

White Balance

White Balance: What Is It? And Why Does It Mattter?

Understanding White Balance

WhiBal Certified Neutral Gray Card for White Balance

Digital Image Flow DigitalGreyKard

I shoot in RAW and use a WhiBal gray card to make white balance adjustments in ACR (Adobe Camera RAW).

Always in RAW? RAW is such are large file size. But I guess you can do alot with raw.

 

[BLD_007]

Honestly, You dont need to know the temperatures, You dont change your camera's settings using the temperature, you change your camera's white balance using the Reflected light on the subject (or if you have a Light meter, you meter the direct light?)
Buy an 18% Greycard and take a shot of that every 5 - 6 pictures your in the same location, if you move, re-shoot the card and set Custom WB.
Maybe someone else will describe in more detail but im a little busy to describe it in full atm

I do need to change my settings on my camera. The cannon 50d has a kelvin setting. This allows me to set the cameras temp setting based on the subject color.
I might be confused with what you might be saying

 

[PhotoXopher]

I don't know... I shoot RAW so I can mess with it later if it's bad, most of the time it's great however so I have no desire to constantly mess with another setting.

Shooting RAW = Cheap Insurance

 

[BLD_007]

I don't know... I shoot RAW so I can mess with it later if it's bad, most of the time it's great however so I have no desire to constantly mess with another setting.

Shooting RAW = Cheap Insurance

I know, but I take alot of sport pictures. Such as base ball for my schools team.

My favorite spot it 3rd base because everyone slides in. I get some nice shots, or of them going to home plate.

Sometimes the green is not a true green of the grass.

Its hard to explain

 

[PhotoXopher]

Yeah, I understand... One option might be if you have a particular need and the setting rarely changes you may be able to dial it in and save that white balance preset (depending on your camera).

If you really want to get out of auto WB completely you'll need a white balance card at a minimum. I've used white balance lens caps in the past with good results, it's a quick/easy/low cost method worth trying.

 

[benlonghair]

If you shoot in RAW it's super easy to change the WB once it's downloaded. I went from using auto to selecting it on the fly and now I'm back to auto because it's one less thing to think about.

And yes, RAWs are large files (mine are 8-10mb) but storage space is cheap.

 

[ann]

to use the Kevin temperature, you need to know the temperature of the light you using. There are some basic guide lines, however, many who use this method use a color temperature meter which gives the specific K temperature which is then put into the camera, or added to ACR.

These are very expensive little tools.

You might be better served to learn to "read" the light conditions your working with and adjust accordingly, or shoot in raw and correct when converting.

 

[UUilliam]

Honestly, You dont need to know the temperatures, You dont change your camera's settings using the temperature, you change your camera's white balance using the Reflected light on the subject (or if you have a Light meter, you meter the direct light?)
Buy an 18% Greycard and take a shot of that every 5 - 6 pictures your in the same location, if you move, re-shoot the card and set Custom WB.
Maybe someone else will describe in more detail but im a little busy to describe it in full atm

I do need to change my settings on my camera. The cannon 50d has a kelvin setting. This allows me to set the cameras temp setting based on the subject color.
I might be confused with what you might be saying

Oh sorry, Disregard my comment then
I didn't know there was ones you could dial it in yourself.
Learn something new everyday?

 

[musicaleCA]

It's a custom white balance preset. Your 450D can hold one. Shoot a grey card so it fills the frame, and then view it in the playback thingamajig, then tell the camera to collect white balance data from that image.

 

[JayClark79]

It's a custom white balance preset. Your 450D can hold one. Shoot a grey card so it fills the frame, and then view it in the playback thingamajig, then tell the camera to collect white balance data from that image.

And you'll use the custom white balance option for all of your shots? Sorry im new and dont know much at all about the whole shooting a grey card?

Do you have to shoot the grey card in every different lighting situation or once its shot is it good forever?

 

[PhotoXopher]

Every time the conditions change.

 

[inTempus]

I shoot RAW and in AWB with the occasional gray card thrown in to set things in Lightroom later. I see absolutely no point to trying to guess the kelvin value of the light. Your AWB is going to be more accurate than you are guessing.