what do you use for white balance correction?

[elsaspet]

I use Capture One from Phase One. Absolutely the best, but not for the feight of heart at $499.00

 

[Hertz van Rental]

I do my white balance by setting the colour temp in the camera when I shoot. It's similar to what I've been used to doing and I see no reason to change. I never seem to have to adjust in pp working this way.
I shoot digital like it was film and it works fine for me.

 

[elsaspet]

Yes Hertz, but that's for you film dudes who get it right the first time. This is the digial age when we can just shoot. Hehe.

 

[burtharrris]

i usually leave it on daylight, unless i'm inside somewhere, then I change it to tungsten or fluorescent. It really doesn't matter, I always tweak the color temp when converting them into tiffs. Lately I've been taking outdoor shots in the snow that require taking away the blue tint.

 

[rlouis]

Just get a Kodak color balance card, or white card a pro camera shop and use it to set your white balance. You can also use a white piece of paper, but some whites are more yellow and some are more blue. Alternatively, if you shoot in RAW you can do a test shot with your white card in it, and use Adobe RAW to set the white point in the test, then apply that color balance to all the other images.

 

[rlouis]

Just get a Kodak color balance card, or white card a pro camera shop and use it to set your white balance. You can also use a white piece of paper, but some whites are more yellow and some are more blue. Alternatively, if you shoot in RAW you can do a test shot with your white card in it, and use Adobe RAW to set the white point in the test, then apply that color balance to all the other images. If you do the adjusting by eye make sure your monitor in color calibrated with a device.

 

[table1349]

Yes Hertz, but that's for you film dudes who get it right the first time. This is the digial age when we can just shoot. Hehe.

You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. A perfect exposure the first time lends itself to much better post processing for individual preferences.

 

[w.pasman]

First, of course make sure your monitor is properly calibrated. Also realize that if you have natural daylight near your monitor then your perception of white changes along with the daylight. Best is to edit with controlled light and have the monitor set accordingly. Finally, I use some white window (e.g. an empty MS word window) to calibrate my eyes to monitor white.
Then, for outdoors the clouds or street are usually good grey-reference, or some grey part in the image. Sometimes, I take two photos, one with my business card at some distance and one with the actual scene. Make sure the reference is somewhere gray, you can't use very light parts for white balance.
Indoors is tricky, I'm not aware of the "proper light balance". Just setting white "correctly" in a candle-light scene will give a cold picture. I think getting the white balance right in such cases is more art than science.

 

[Hertz van Rental]

Yes Hertz, but that's for you film dudes who get it right the first time. This is the digial age when we can just shoot. Hehe.

Learn the colour temp of your main light sources and go with that. It's not rocket science
And for digital, it's pointless adjusting colour temp in post pro if your monitor hasn't been calibrated properly.

 

[Peanuts]

And for digital, it's pointless adjusting colour temp in post pro if your monitor hasn't been calibrated properly.

Truest statement of the year.

I use a grey card - if I remember to bring it. The few times I have shot studio that is easy, as you just set the colour temperature to that of the lights (which from what I remember is synonymous with daylight. Someone correct me if I am wrong)

If I haven't brought my grey card, it is the stab in the air for whatever looks best. Unfortunately I always lean towards too warm.

 

[burtharrris]

So can I take the first shot of the grey card, and later in photoshop take this as a baseline? I don't need to use a white card? I'm just guessing, but would I use the gray dropper in the levels menu? Thanks!

 

[Peanuts]

That is what I do. I know their are also this 'cards' with black, white, and grey, which would probably give the most accurate results, but the grey card has worked like a charm this far.