Michael Benveniste
Veteran Member
Does the base of my copystand count? If so then yes to perform preset white balance and account for ambient lighting.
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grey cards or not
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john isaacs
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The only time I take a test shot is when I'm fine tuning studio lights, and those have been pre-set using a flash meter. Otherwise, I get all the information I need in the live view image.
I use a WB card any time I am concerned about color balance, especially when shooting indoors or with artificial lighting. Always when taking pictures of artwork, food, people.
A white target is not a good target for white balance. White, gray, and black targets are for setting exposure, and are not generally color balanced. An actual, calibrated, white balance card is what I use for white balance. Or an ExpoDisc, which is useful if there are a lot of reflected colors.
a_c_skinner
Forum Pro
I've used a white pocket tissue with good results when the illuminant of a small plant was obvious oddly coloured. White is basically white, though many white items have "whiteners" in them to increase slightly blue reflectance for a more pleasing white. Even so they are a lot, lot better than a guess.
I'd be interested in a proper evaluation of commercial white tissue/card/paper and a proper white target - I believe the difference would be modest.
Reckett that became Reckitt and Colman of mustard fame started out not in condiments but in laundry blue - blue dye added to white laundry to counter the yellowing of cotton items over time.
I'd be interested in a proper evaluation of commercial white tissue/card/paper and a proper white target - I believe the difference would be modest.
Reckett that became Reckitt and Colman of mustard fame started out not in condiments but in laundry blue - blue dye added to white laundry to counter the yellowing of cotton items over time.
Schrodingers cat
Leading Member
Coffee filters. Waltrose is my favorite
a_c_skinner
Forum Pro
My coffee filters seem slightly yellow, just a bit. It may reflect (ha!) the fact they hang around in our house for ages. I've got some white card in my camera bag. It is so light it is easy to carry and the theoretical drawback of the whiteners doesn't matter as I forget to use it.
My solution is to set the WB to 5700K so I know my starting point and not at the whim of auto WB.
My solution is to set the WB to 5700K so I know my starting point and not at the whim of auto WB.
Howard V
Veteran Member
Decades ago, when shooting film. Unnecessary, now.
I find AWB incredibly good. It is a great starting point. If you do not use it, and use, say LR for conversion, you lose that point.
Probably ok if you some white in the image, if the nearest colour to white has a cast then good luck.
l use RAW so not bothered, can adjust in seconds if needed.
I seem to have a lot of it.
I shoot RAW, too. Why should I discard the AWB point the camera computes before I even see it?
You don't need to discard it, just adjust it if required.
l set mine on cloudy, it is usually ok unless doing blue hour or artificial lighting.
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As I understood it:
When taking a lot of pictures in a session, you want to have the same white balance look, to prevent a lot of postprocessing.
By using the expo disk regularly during the session , (and it's user balance) you should be able to get the same look.
Measuring and setting only takes about two seconds. So it is much easier than using a grey card, I think.
When taking a lot of pictures in a session, you want to have the same white balance look, to prevent a lot of postprocessing.
By using the expo disk regularly during the session , (and it's user balance) you should be able to get the same look.
Measuring and setting only takes about two seconds. So it is much easier than using a grey card, I think.
When I was selling my own glass art online, I went to extra lengths to get the color as accurate as I reasonably could. I wanted to represent the work well, and minimize returns. Even with my WhiBal card & Passport ColorChecker RAW profile, every once in a while I had to go in & tweak to get something to look right. (Usually one of those pesky orange or red hues.)
After all that effort on my end, I was well aware that I had no control over what might happen on other people's phones & monitors. So I didn't get too carried away.
I'm happy to report that returns were very few, and were usually because the size wasn't what they expected – or they just changed their minds. (I did provide measurements and try to convey the scale in photos. But some people just won't get it, no matter how hard you try...)
I relax a lot more for EDC & travel. I usually shoot daylight WB in RAW (sometimes Auto WB) then adjust at home as needed. Usually to compensate for artificial light but sometimes just to adjust the mood.
No grey card reference, here.
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After all that effort on my end, I was well aware that I had no control over what might happen on other people's phones & monitors. So I didn't get too carried away.
I'm happy to report that returns were very few, and were usually because the size wasn't what they expected – or they just changed their minds. (I did provide measurements and try to convey the scale in photos. But some people just won't get it, no matter how hard you try...)
I relax a lot more for EDC & travel. I usually shoot daylight WB in RAW (sometimes Auto WB) then adjust at home as needed. Usually to compensate for artificial light but sometimes just to adjust the mood.
No grey card reference, here.
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Attachments
Outside of shooting the studio scene, not really. I keep a set of white, grey, and black cards in my camera bag for video, but rarely ever use them for photos for the reasons most of y'all have said; auto white balance is almost always good enough and I can reprocess the Raws if it misses. I can think of a few photos that may have benefited from a manual white balance since I generally share straight-out-of-camera JPEGs, but it's not enough to go through the trouble every time.
I still carry a compact gray card in the form of the ColorChecker Passport, which is designed for both photo and video use. That said, I don’t use it all that often for still photography anymore. When I do, it’s mainly for controlled situations like studio shoots where I want to ensure consistent and accurate white balance.
For everyday photography, I shoot Raw and let auto white balance get me close enough that I usually only need to make minor WB corrections.
These days, I mainly keep the ColorChecker Passport in my bag for video work. It only takes a few seconds to hold it up for a quick white balance calibration, and it makes a noticeable difference in maintaining consistency between shots, which makes color correction easier when editing.
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Dale Baskin
Managing Editor, DPReview
For everyday photography, I shoot Raw and let auto white balance get me close enough that I usually only need to make minor WB corrections.
These days, I mainly keep the ColorChecker Passport in my bag for video work. It only takes a few seconds to hold it up for a quick white balance calibration, and it makes a noticeable difference in maintaining consistency between shots, which makes color correction easier when editing.
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Dale Baskin
Managing Editor, DPReview
a_c_skinner
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I've only used a white sample (a tissue in my pocket) for wild flowers with obvious oddly coloured illuminant when it was worth the effort as flower colour is important.
The Botanical Society news this month has a short piece on reproduction of flower colour, but more speculative than instructive.
The Botanical Society news this month has a short piece on reproduction of flower colour, but more speculative than instructive.
Overrank
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I use a grey card for white balance. I take photos of cultivated flowers and use the grey card to remove (as much as possible) any light temperature effects for comparison purposes.
Ideally I’d use a Macbeth chart but it’s too much trouble !
Ideally I’d use a Macbeth chart but it’s too much trouble !
Why cloudy WB and not some other setting or the Kelvin Number?
Leonard Migliore
Forum Pro
I use a gray card for art copy. The rest of the time, exact correction doesn't matter as long as I like the way it looks.
Schrodingers cat
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- Now that’s funny
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