Custom White Balance

Pete Gl

Pete Gl

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Errr Pete?
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I'm intending to do some indoor, "available light" shooting, so I thought I'd read up what my manual says.

To set custom white balance, quote from manual : - "Photograph a white object"

Having read about this on other sources, I thought you had to use 18% (I think) grey card?

Any help much appreciated

Pete
 
I thought you could use either. The point for white balance is the Red/Green/Blue relationship. As long as they are even then you should be fine.
 
At £7 for a piece of "Jessops Grey Card 8 x 10in" I'll give "a white object" a go!

Thats the beauty of digital, one you've got your gear, it costs nothing.

Thanks who? :)

Pete
 
When you set white balance afterwards using a dropper in PP, you can just use an area of the image where all the colour values are equal.
 
Set camera to AWB, the 50d should get pretty close, shoot RAW and fix anything you need in your image editing software, is what I would do.
 
Pete Gl said:
To set custom white balance, quote from manual : - "Photograph a white object"

Having read about this on other sources, I thought you had to use 18% (I think) grey card?
Click to expand...

To set custom white balance, you just need a neutral colour subject. Can be white or grey so long as it's not a greeny-grey, or bluish or whatever. In practise, I find a piece of white paper best/easiest. Fold it up and keep it in your bag :)

The advantage of using an 18% grey card is that not only can you set white balance from it, you can also set an "incident light" exposure meter reading directly from it, which is very accurate - just make sure the card is receiving exactly the same brightness of light as your subject, take a reading, and that's your exposure sorted.

Taking this a step further, you can also take an incident light meter reading of a piece of white paper, if you then apply an exposure compensation factor. You do this by trial and error using the histogram for guidance, but once you've got that compensation factor (it will likely be around minus 3 stops) you can always use that same piece of paper or card for both white balance and exposure - can be handy when shooting indoors when normal exposure metering is often tricky.
 
amb3rsil said:
Set camera to AWB, the 50d should get pretty close, shoot RAW and fix anything you need in your image editing software, is what I would do.
Click to expand...

Crossed post ;)

Yes, it should be added that white balance only affects the JPEG from the camera. The Raw file is left untouched, so you can always go back to that and make any adjustments to colour that you like, regardless of what white balance setting was used. Perfect results guaranteed :)
 
Handy tip..... If you have a Lowepro bag, the insides are 18% grey so you have a WB/exposure card already....
 
Or another solution is to invest in an Expodisc, more expensive option but dead handy...

Some guys on here were raving about DIY Expodiscs on another thread. Can't find it at the moment...
 
MikeeB said:
When you set white balance afterwards using a dropper in PP, you can just use an area of the image where all the colour values are equal.
Click to expand...

Exactly, you don't need to shoot in RAW to have control over the white balance.

If you shoot in JPEG and the white balance is off, just open the levels tool, select the white point dropper and select something bright white in the image. Can also be done with the grey point and black point if theres nothing bright white. Easy.
 
HoppyUK said:
To set custom white balance, you just need a neutral colour subject. Can be white or grey so long as it's not a greeny-grey, or bluish or whatever. In practise, I find a piece of white paper best/easiest. Fold it up and keep it in your bag :)

The advantage of using an 18% grey card is that not only can you set white balance from it, you can also set an "incident light" exposure meter reading directly from it, which is very accurate - just make sure the card is receiving exactly the same brightness of light as your subject, take a reading, and that's your exposure sorted.

Taking this a step further, you can also take an incident light meter reading of a piece of white paper, if you then apply an exposure compensation factor. You do this by trial and error using the histogram for guidance, but once you've got that compensation factor (it will likely be around minus 3 stops) you can always use that same piece of paper or card for both white balance and exposure - can be handy when shooting indoors when normal exposure metering is often tricky.
Click to expand...

Thanks Hoppy, thats useful.

HoppyUK said:
Crossed post ;)

Yes, it should be added that white balance only affects the JPEG from the camera. The Raw file is left untouched, so you can always go back to that and make any adjustments to colour that you like, regardless of what white balance setting was used. Perfect results guaranteed :)
Click to expand...

Thanks again Hoppy, I didn't know that.

Pete
 
I've got a BalanceSmarter from www.shootsmarter.com (go to the shop), there are videos on how to use it. I've bought the 20" version and it comes with grey/white on each side!
 
Pete Gl said:
Thats the beauty of digital, one you've got your gear, it costs nothing.Pete
Click to expand...


Trouble is..................once you've got your gear - you want more gear!!!:lol:
 
Jim B said:
If you shoot in JPEG and the white balance is off, just open the levels tool, select the white point dropper and select something bright white in the image. Can also be done with the grey point and black point if theres nothing bright white. Easy.
Click to expand...

Cheers.. I didnt know that one :)

Grey cards are a bit useless when using long lens arn't they..
 
Forgot to mention, I've used the divider out of my Lowepro bag in the past as a grey card. Worked fine :thumbs:
 
I bought one of those WhiBal cards... yes, it was expensive for what is essentially a small piece of grey plastic, but it really does work very well. It is supposedly calibrated for 'correctness' and I'm happy with the results it produces with the Lightroom white balance tool 99% of the time.

Paul
 
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