Setting White Balance

[pico]

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I use AWB and work it out later. No problem.

 

(AWB used to mean Average White Band to me. Too obscure?)

[bybrett]

Always Wrong Balance... I think the OP may have talking about me. I use 5800K.

[sblitz]

01af -- why do you shoot raw+jpeg? i find it takes too long for everything to sort itself out in the camera, seems faster shot to shot using dng only. but i think i am going to try keeping wb set to daylight and see if i like it. after all, it costs nothing to try.

[sblitz]

hey Brett -- unless you were in nyc yesterday and using a different name. but interesting you have same the perspective. i do very much enjoy hearing about reading these types of threads, always willing to learn and try something different.

[bybrett]

Hey Steve, I was the guest photographer last weekend on the NYC workshop with Justin, we shoot in a very similar style...

PS Note that I haven't got my UK body clock back yet!

[pico]

My digital camera is permanently set to cloudy white balance. It just seems obvious to me that you would want to start every shot from a known point.

 

IOW, the England setting.

[IkarusJohn]

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Anybody use a card like this to set the initial WB in a particular scene; then tweak in PP?

 

Jeff

 

Yes, I do. I'm not that experienced with LR or Aperture, so I prefer to set WB manually using a WhiBal card for each session or light condition. That way, my shots are consistent "As Shot". I then only make minimal adjustments in LR.

 

I may change to Andy's method, once I gain confidence.

 

I seriously dislike heavily processed images (unrealistic deep blue sea and surreal skies), so I prefer to change as little as I can. The WhiBal card gives a consistent starting point.

 

Cheers

John

[jaapv]

It is interesting that many posters here treat the color balance as an absolute value that has to be "correct". That may be the case for product shots under controlled light and the like, but in general photography this is not only untrue, it is very difficult to achieve.. The best color balance of your image is not when your grey card is grey, it is best when it looks best on your print. For instance with a portrait when you have a pleasing skin tone.

Color balance is an artistic choice!

The reason for this is that our brain has a built-in AWB facility which will ensure that the colors we see are not the colors that are objectively and measurably present. For instance if you have a shot of a person holding a book by a reading light, the light on the book must be shifted towards yellow and red to convey the intimate atmosphere. If you balance the book to the "correct" paper-white the shot will go dead and lifeless, albeit perfectly color-balanced.

For that you need a color-calibrated workflow and a calibrated monitor As an aside, a monitor that had a Color Spider on it last Christmas is not calibrated, it must be done at regular intervals.

[jaapv]

Yes, I do. I'm not that experienced with LR or Aperture, so I prefer to set WB manually using a WhiBal card for each session or light condition. That way, my shots are consistent "As Shot". I then only make minimal adjustments in LR.

 

I may change to Andy's method, once I gain confidence.

 

I seriously dislike heavily processed images (unrealistic deep blue sea and surreal skies), so I prefer to change as little as I can. The WhiBal card gives a consistent starting point.

 

Cheers

John

 

It is indeed a learning curve.

I think we must separate two things.

The first is setting the color balance in raw conversion, which this thread is about.

The second is working with color in postprocessing. if you really want to get into that subject you need a library of books, a knowledge of the way RGB handles luminosity and colors and a modicum of understanding of the headache-inducing world of LAB.

[Jeff S]

. The best color balance of your image is not when your grey card is grey, it is best when it looks best on your print.

 

Exactly...which is why I'm still deciding if the WB card is worth the effort, given that I inevitably adjust in LR anyway.

 

As a side point, I often find myself desaturating colors (and vibrance), finding much color work these days too bold for my tastes. I generally prefer more subtle tones, but each pic requires its own feel. Good to have choices.

 

Jeff

[sblitz]

hey Brett -- sorry i missed you as well. justin mentioned that you guys had a great time shooting. hope the clock is getting reset, if not you can always head back to ny;)

[zlatkob]

Color balance is an artistic choice!

 

That's true. Even so, I use AWB, thus letting the camera make the initial choice. I change it later if I disagree. I think the idea of a fixed white balance setting has merit. But I feel that for me it would ultimately add more work.

[nggalai]

Mornin’,

 

Anybody use a card like this to set the initial WB in a particular scene; then tweak in PP?

 

I do, but differently from what one might think. I leave the camera at 5500K all the time, but shoot the WB card once during a sequence, too. When developing the DNG files, I use the white-balance picker on the shot of the WB card, then copy/paste the corrected white balance onto the rest of the sequence’s shots.

 

I never measure white balance in-camera when using the WB card. It’s at 5500K, permanently. I don’t worry about a possibly wrongly calculated histogram on the M9 due to the fixed white balance setting as I use an incident light meter most of the time anyway.

 

Best,

-Sascha