Trying to set "White Balance" on T3i

[Keedo]

soo i have been trying to set my white balance on my camera but every time i do the pictures come out green and its really annoying =/

does anyone know what i am doing wrong? below i posted pictures of the picture i am using to set white balance and the picture i took after i attempted to use that setting.

thank you in advance - Keith
Below is the auto function of the white balance

_MG_0390 by Keeedo, on Flickr

Below is the picture i took of a white piece of paper to set my white balance

_MG_0389 by Keeedo, on Flickr

Below is the result of setting the white balance to the picture i took above.

_MG_0391 by Keeedo, on Flickr

 

[paigew]

I saw a tutorial too that said to use a white sheet of paper to set the wb. I get the same results as you though. I think we need to get greycards...they are something like 18% grey.

 

[pharmakon]

Grey card would be correct.

Also if there is more than one light source (with different color temperatures) you might still have issues even when using a grey card.

 

[480sparky]

Having access to the exif data would help.

 

[Crollo]

You are in fact taking a picture of the white card under the same light that is lighting your scene, yes?
Not saying you're stupid, but there are lots of people out there that do stuff like that.

 

[paigew]

You are in fact taking a picture of the white card under the same light that is lighting your scene, yes?
Not saying you're stupid, but there are lots of people out there that do stuff like that.

not the op, but when I tried it I did take the photo under the same light. Mine were done outside and turned out green/blue too.

 

[Crollo]

What I think perhaps is that auto white balance is working on the picture you're taking to set the white balance. Therefore it's turning what would normally be a yellow paper into a white paper. Might be it?

 

[MTVision]

What I think perhaps is that auto white balance is working on the picture you're taking to set the white balance. Therefore it's turning what would normally be a yellow paper into a white paper. Might be it?

That's what I was thinking also. When I preset my WB with a white piece of paper - it usually isn't pure white like that.

 

[paigew]

this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do

take photo of all white
go in to 'set custom white balance'
select photo (of white paper aka white screen)
then switch wb mode to 'custom'.

 

[MTVision]

this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do

take photo of all white
go in to 'set custom white balance'
select photo (of white paper aka white screen)
then switch wb mode to 'custom'.

What was your white balance set to when you took the picture?

My camera has a pre option. I go to that and choose to take a picture vs use one already taken. Then I snap a picture of the white card and then the camera says information saved (or something like that.). The white card does not look white when I take the picture. Inside it looked yellow. If it was white wouldn't that mean WB was already correct??

 

[paigew]

this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do

take photo of all white
go in to 'set custom white balance'
select photo (of white paper aka white screen)
then switch wb mode to 'custom'.

What was your white balance set to when you took the picture?

My camera has a pre option. I go to that and choose to take a picture vs use one already taken. Then I snap a picture of the white card and then the camera says information saved (or something like that.). The white card does not look white when I take the picture. Inside it looked yellow. If it was white wouldn't that mean WB was already correct??

hmmm....my wb was most likely on auto when I took the photo of the white paper. But yes, the photo did 'look' white on the lcd screen, though I suppose it could have been off and I just didn't notice it on screen.

 

[MTVision]

I just looked up custom WB t3i and I found a couple sites that said that the custom function didn't seem to work very well.

Not sure if that's completely accurate but......

 

[paigew]

I just looked up custom WB t3i and I found a couple sites that said that the custom function didn't seem to work very well.

Not sure if that's completely accurate but......

hmmm...well I hope not! I plan on getting an actual grey card to see if it helps.

 

[paigew]

I found this info here, but I still don't understand why a natural (sunshine) light would make it off colored...

[

] (Custom White Balance) enables you to manually set the white balance for a specific light source for better accuracy. Do this procedure under the actual light source to be used. For more information on registering custom white balance, please refer to the instruction manual that came with your camera.
NOTE
The composition ratio of three primary colors (red, green, and blue) differs depending on the color temperature.

At higher color temperatures, the color becomes bluish, and at lower temperatures, the color becomes reddish. As the color temperature becomes higher, the color changes from red, orange, yellow, white, to blue-white.

For example, if you shoot a white subject under a tungsten lamp, the image becomes reddish; and under fluorescent light, it becomes greenish.

 

[MTVision]

I found this info here, but I still don't understand why a natural (sunshine) light would make it off colored...

Light coming through clouds is also natural light but may have a different temperature then direct sunlight. A white piece of paper looks white to me under sunlight, incandescent, fluorescent, etc. the camera just doesn't register it as white like the human eye.