white balance?

[dream rider]

hello,

just curios as to what white balance is, and what it does? i here a few people talking about it and i dont understand. is it only for digital or do us film people need to worry about it as well? I'm still new so im still learning. if examples can be shown that'd be greatly appreciated, thanks!!


Jeff

 

[hobbes28]

In other words, it's what your camera figures out to make your whites look white, and not yellow or blue because of the environmental influence.

 

[dream rider]

ohh thats awsome! thanks a lot for the help!


Jeff

 

[jocose]

Wait, so I have a question. Is this something that needs to be reset for each picture? Or do you do it for each setting; that is, if I'm gonna be taking pics at my friend's halloween party, just set it when I get there and have at it?

 

[hobbes28]

Most of the time, you'll be fine just using the AWB setting or Auto White Balance. It lets the camera figure out what's best for your situation.

 

[jocose]

yea, that's what I've been doing, but I want to learn how to do it all

What is a gray card? If the white balance is set off of white, why would you use gray (or am I reading this literally--like a Green Card that isn't actually green (at least that's what I've heard--I've never actually seen one))

 

[hobbes28]

If you have customizable white balance, you can use the grey card to adjust the white balance for your lighting. Your camera manual will let you know if you can do this or not.

 

[jocose]

Yea, I have a bunch of settings: indoors, sunny, cloudy, tungsten (SP), something else, and custom. I just have always left it on AWB. Just curious about the card itself though...is it just like a playing card that is "true" white or gray or whatever the camera needs to adjust?

Oh, you know what? I lied...I did try it one day, and set it off the white on the back of my driver's license. The colors were way f'ed up, and I went back to AWB...actually I think that the pic I took looked like it had jaundice

 

[hobbes28]

A grey card is a big (usually 8x10) card that's sometimes made from foam and is 18% grey. If you used the white from your license, it probably made everything look reaaaaaaly antique?-ish... When you do custom, it's trying to find what you consider to be that 18% grey.

 

[jocose]

so it's really gray balance and not "white" balance?

Is 18% gray something akin to perfect neutral? I'll find the pic and post it...but first I must go the grocery store and pick me up some red potatoes....mmmmm red potatoes.

I'll be back online in a few hours.

 

[jocose]

as promised:

with the AWB

and with custom white balance based on the white on my driver's license

 

[hobbes28]

So, yeah, "white" balance is based off the way the light looks on grey so it probably is more of a "grey" balance...talk about your gray areas.. :lmao:

 

[jocose]

so, dumb question ahead:

Why does the gray card have to be so big? Why can't it be the size of a credit card and fit nicely in your wallet?

I suppose though, if you were to focus on something blue or pink or anything besides gray, you could do some funky things with color, eh? Like my pics above? Is that what the color switching feature in my camera does?

 

[hobbes28]

They make it that big so you can get a more accurate reading from it without shading the card by your shadow. I imagine you could put one in your wallet to see how it works out but the smallest I've ever used is 4x5.

You could abolutely use another color for an alternative technique. I'd like to see what it would look like if you got your reading off of a red object... hmmmm..

 

[jocose]

I go to lunch in 10 minutes. I shall go on the roof and take yet another pic of the Capitol...this time focusing first on my backpack (which is a bright red--Marlboro Red to be exact )...