Energy Saving White Balance

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bluebird14

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Edward
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Im having trouble taking pictures around the house. There either really blue or really yellow. Ive been trying to fix this with the white balance with no luck! I have just been around the house looking at all the bulbs and there all energy saving light bulbs and Im convinced this is why im having such trouble!

Im pretty new to photography and Im still trying to understand white balance. So Ive been setting my camera's white balance setting to Auto and they come out yellow and if i set it to tungsten light (closest I can get) they look blue.

What can I do to fix this and can someone also explain why these bulbs seem to be so different?
 
In camera white balance is notoriously bad under lights, custom white balance is the answer or you can shoot in raw and adjust the white balance afterwards.
 
Like I im new to this. Where do I start setting custom white balance? By that I mean how do I know which settings do what? Any useful tutorials about?

If i choose to shoot in raw do I need special software to edit it?
 
Sorry, I don't know how to use Canons, it'll be in the manual somewhere.

The software that came with your camera should be all you need or if you use Mac then iPhoto reads and edits raw fine (not too clued up on Windows nowadays but last time I checked you needed the additional programs, such as came with the camera, to use raw).
 
Not a huge fan of iphoto tbh always trying to do funny stuff with my iphone! Thanks though Ill check it out.

If I ever chose to get aperture I assume that would edit raw fine?

I think I have quite a bit to learn! lol
 
You could try shooting an A4 sheet in absence of anything better, under the given lighting conditions for custom WB.

The go into the Main Menus and select that actual image as the reference. (its easier than it sounds)

It is covered in the manual page 99-100 http://gdlp01.c-wss.com/gds/9/0300003169/01/eosrt2i-eos550d-im-en.pdf

Remember once done, you still need to select Custom WB on the rear menu....in other words don't leave it it Auto, Tungsten....ensure its CUSTOM.
 
Ive just tried that real quick and its worked beautifully! Thanks

Do you know if theres anyways of setting multiple custom balances?
 
hmmm...I guess you take as many as you wanted. When you need to set it...you basically can scroll through the memory card images looking for the 'A4' shot corresponding to the lighting conditions. It would be difficult to remember what shot was under what lighting and the lighting could change possibly?

It would be easier to just take it at the time, or buy a white balance card and carry that with you.

These ones are credit card sized, you can get other variants
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Opteka-Prem...4VJO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1324755540&sr=8-1
 
Some of the Energy Efficient Light Bulbs have the Kelvin value on the box they came in, which you can set in your camera if you have the facility to set a Kelvin value in camera, or if shooting RAW, the ability to set the Kelvin value during processing.

Again, if shooting RAW, you could take a WB reading from each room, if they have different lights, and make a note of the WB setting when opening the images to process, and then apply the WB setting to each image should you not have the time to set the WB in future.
 
Generally multiple custom WB settings are reserved for high end cameras.

iPhoto is great as a front end for you photo viewing and it's editing is not too bad although I edit photos in Lightroom and then export the keepers to iPhoto from where I can share to flickr, facebook etc.
 
redhed17 said:
Some of the Energy Efficient Light Bulbs have the Kelvin value on the box they came in, which you can set in your camera if you have the facility to set a Kelvin value in camera, or if shooting RAW, the ability to set the Kelvin value during processing.
Click to expand...

But bear in mind that the colour temperature of a lamp is not stable until it's warmed up, and it may drift as the lamp ages.
 
Alastair said:
But bear in mind that the colour temperature of a lamp is not stable until it's warmed up, and it may drift as the lamp ages.
Click to expand...

And it will be coloured further by any lamp shade, and light bounced around the room off coloured walls and furnishings. A custom white balance takes all these things into account.

One thing to be wary of with fluorscents is that they usually flicker, and the colour changes during each pulse. In other words, if you shoot at a high shutter speed, like 1/250sec maybe, you could get frames with both different exposures and different colours.

If you notice that happening, keep the shutter speed longer than 1/30sec and you will be okay.
 
Alastair said:
But bear in mind that the colour temperature of a lamp is not stable until it's warmed up, and it may drift as the lamp ages.
Click to expand...

I meant to say about the lamps needing to warm up but forgot. :bonk: Having the Kelvin value it at least a good place to start if you haven't got the time to set a Custom WB and your camera's Auto WB isn't that accurate. ;)

The most accurate WB may not be the most pleasing WB for the image after all, but it is the best place to start from. ;)
 
Go on eBay and look for a white balance lens cap ( about £3.50 ) first of all.

Then using the camera take a shot.

Go into camera settings for white balance and set it to custom. It looks like a volume down volume up symbol with a ball in the middle.

You should then get the correct white balance for any kind of light if you follow the same steps for taking a white picture then setting to cwb
 
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