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White Balance

  • Thread starter Thread starter Clive Blair
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Clive Blair

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I'm confused about white balance. Could someone tell me how is it measured in a camera?. Am I to assume that, like metering a scene with a bright background that will fool average metering, a strong coloured object in the background scene could fool the white balance? Or am I way off target?

I'd appreciate some info as white balance baffles me and understanding it would help me achieve consistent results as with my my metering.

Many Thanks

(p.s. sorry if this is in the wrong forum)--Clive
 
Digital Cameras record light in Red, Green, and Blue. In order to get the color "white" these 3 colors have to be balanced properly. White balance tells your camera how the 3 colors will interpret white under varying light conditions.
 
Thanks for your replys. But because of using the camera for weddings I don't have time to use the "card method" but have to rely on auto balance or one of the other preset settings, for speed sake. So, when using for e.g. auto white balance, what types of scenes would fool the metering system into giving a false reading, as I know that light meters are fooled by a non average scene, so I guess the same would be for the white balance!?

(p.s. I'm using the S1 Pro, so I don't have the luxury of shooting RAW and then testing various settings after)
--Clive
 
Yes a strong color background can through the white balance off if you are using auto white balance. To avoid this you can use the standard color balancees the camera offers or set a custom color balance using a white object in the scene or something white you take with you for setting white balance under the lighting conditions you are working with. I seldom use auto white balance.

martin Greeson
chi said:
Digital Cameras record light in Red, Green, and Blue. In order to
get the color "white" these 3 colors have to be balanced properly.
White balance tells your camera how the 3 colors will interpret
white under varying light conditions.
Click to expand...
 
Clive Blair said:
I'm confused about white balance. Could someone tell me how is it
measured in a camera?. Am I to assume that, like metering a scene
with a bright background that will fool average metering, a strong
coloured object in the background scene could fool the white
balance? Or am I way off target?
Click to expand...
YES.

One needs to tune or select the WB for any particular situation - A-WB will be so fooled and will not be consistent from shot to shot - it does have its uses - but if you are asking the question you’ve outlived them.
 
You are asking for a PRINTING NIGHTMARE.

Get a grip on yourself - deal with this problem - you now know the way to do this correctly.

But I can appreciate the problem – I tend to use 6,500 or 5,500K for all my shots – this is the basic “daylight” balance and is also the basic “flash” balance. I let the indoor ambient light go warm – unless it is very red – but experience in various churches will guide you in this.
 
Get a camera that allows easy changes to wb after shooting (e.g. Canon D30 or D60) !!
Clive Blair said:
Thanks for your replys. But because of using the camera for
weddings I don't have time to use the "card method" but have to
rely on auto balance or one of the other preset settings, for speed
sake. So, when using for e.g. auto white balance, what types of
scenes would fool the metering system into giving a false reading,
as I know that light meters are fooled by a non average scene, so I
guess the same would be for the white balance!?

(p.s. I'm using the S1 Pro, so I don't have the luxury of shooting
RAW and then testing various settings after)

--
Clive
Click to expand...
 
Aloha

your grey card only has to be big enough in the picture to get your little eye dropper on it in Photoshop
you would then use the middle eyedropper select it to balance your photo

I am playing with taking my grey card and cutting sizes to put in with a bit of sticky on the back to stick on a wall then clone it out when done ;)
hope that makes sense ???
Simon-Ph said:
Günter Pichler said:
Simon-Ph said:
Gunter
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
--
Simon-Ph
Click to expand...
--Chad Dwww.panotools.comwww.happyfish.com
 
sort of a tangential question to the main question here:

studio work using strobes: what physical 'set-up' (where to hold card) to set white balance for strobes?
this is my first time attempting to do custom WB for this kind of work.

humbly,

thank you--robertNative Eye Photographymitakuye oyasin('we are all related'. Lakota language)www.pbase.com/nativeeye
 
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