Interior expodisc?

russellsnr

russellsnr

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Russell
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Hi, OK I no how to use an expo-disc but my question is this "Inside a room with say for example lime green walls with two windows one facing east and the other south for sunlight and a white ceiling and say mid afternoon, to set the correct manual W/B where would you take the reading from?" The window/s, the ceiling?
Thanks
Russ
 
I'm no expert, but I'd guess the answer is, from the subject position facing the camera.
 
Hi, Thank you for your reply Phil but there is no subject, just the room overall.
Thanks again
Russ
 
If its for the room overall, just set the WB to whatever is the primary light source.
 
The answer is that a single WB setting won't be appropriate for such mixed lighting. Just shoot RAW & fix it all in Lightroom.
 
russellsnr said:
Hi, OK I no how to use an expo-disc but my question is this "Inside a room with say for example lime green walls with two windows one facing east and the other south for sunlight and a white ceiling and say mid afternoon, to set the correct manual W/B where would you take the reading from?" The window/s, the ceiling? Russ
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Use the expo-disk. Much more than the colour temperature is involvrd - there are two sets of tints.

Use the expodisc in the standard way.

Test by taking a standard image for comparison.

Then, place it on the lens, and go to the centre of the subject - in this case a room. Take a reference shot towards the expected camera position. Use the shot to set a custom white balance, which will include adjustment for tints. (Nikon is much easier to do than Canon.)

Then return to desired camera position and take another shot. You may be surprised at the difference, and realise that adjusting in LR or PS requires an expert level of competence to correct both colour temp and tints.
 
On my ancient Canon 50D, there is this adjustment to WB, which the Expodisc routine will set automatically.

50D_WB_Correction.jpg
 
The Expodisc is still going to give you an average which would be OK if there were a subject that you were shooting close up but as it's the whole room there will be a need for localised correction which is where Lightroom is required. You literally cannot get this right in camera so need to fix it in post and when you shoot RAW the white balance setting doesn't affect the actual image data in the RAW file anyway.
 
Thank you for ALL the replies, looks like I will have to sit in front of Lightroom.
Russ
 
Further question.
What are you wanting to achieve?

Because if the room's daylit, then showing the daylit room with subtle colour variations where the daylight has reflected off the walls is a valid photograph.

If there are mixed light sources, then showing the different colour temperatures, is a valid photograph.

Switching all the lightbulbs for daylight bulbs, is a valid photograph.

Shooting in warm evening light to balance better with the interior lighting, is a valid photograph.

Using software to balance the lighting temperature in post, is a valid photograph.

It's not so much about how to measure the white balance as what effect are we wanting to create.
 
As Phil says. Colour balance is often a subjective thing and 'correct' can look wrong. Classic examples - a sunset, or candle light or light from a bonfire.

Another example might be a snooker player about to take a shot. Easy job to balance for the main light in the room, but as the player gets closer to the baize, their face gets greener, but it looks entirely natural and if corrected the background would go red and look very odd.

One of those suck it and see type shots, and when it looks right, it is right.
 
I shot some awards last week where the stage lights made Jimmy Carr look like he'd fallen asleep in an Essex sun tan parlour.

I would usually adjust for this in camera, but the clients logo - very colour specific and required in the shots - was lit with a balanced light.

So.. you either globally correct the speaker and b****r up the logo, vice versa, or spend an age in PP.
 
Hi, Yep that is what I was wanting not to do "spend an age in PP"
But if it's got to be, it's got to be.
Just a side note on the OP. I live on a small island and love outdoors trouble is on a small island outdoors is same O same O so i wanted to try something different like inside hotel lobbies etc etc.
Thanks again for ALL the input.
Russ
 
You could light the room at midday with speedlites, aren't they temprature balanced for mid day sun? That way the window light would roughly match the room lighting.
 
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