White balance

Lrftie

Lrftie

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Can someone explained setting up white balance, in simple terms please. Eg I would like to take some photos in a church and have been advised to use a grey board to set up white balance, how do I do that?
 
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Hmmm, don't know anything about that camera so can't help you set a custom white balance. Do you have a manual for the camera, or search for one online?

Completely off topic.... try not to triplicate your posts each time.
 
If you shoot in RAW then changing the white balance at the point of conversion is a non damaging process.

Get a grey board and take 1 photo at the start of EACH change of lighting (with WB set at a fixed level).

Once you get to the conversion stage simply select all the pictures which are in that set of lighting and with them all selected change the white balance of the control picture (the one of the board) by clicking on the board and telling the software that that location is grey. This should change the picture of the grey board so that the white balance is correct and will change all the others with it.

I've removed the duplicate posts too.
 
1) Set auto white balance on camera
2) Adjust colour temperature as necessary in Photoshop RAW dialogue (you can do this even if you shoot jpeg)
3) There is no 3)
 
jon ryan said:
1) Set auto white balance on camera
2) Adjust colour temperature as necessary in Photoshop RAW dialogue (you can do this even if you shoot jpeg)
3) There is no 3)
Click to expand...

This is ok BUT if you take 500 shots in a day in maybe 6 locations you will have 500 shots to mess with. If you use the method I said then you have 6 groups of shots to deal with AND the white balance will be accurate too. If you are only taking a few shots then the auto method is fine.

EDIT:

Also if you adjust WB on a jpeg then you lose quality because the image WB had already been fixed. RAW files contain all the information and just an integer value for WB. When you load the image into the RAW processor all it does is create the image from the raw data using this number. If you use the first method it creates the image from the raw data using your alternative WB number hence this method does not reduce the IQ.
 
I find AWB is fine for most situations, and rarely need much adjustment - perhaps a nudge to the right to warm up landscapes in hot places. AWB is getting close to being as reliable as auto focus for pretty much anything that doesn't need museum or product-shot accuracy. Anyway, it takes seconds to batch-alter WB in Photoshop or Lightroom.
 
jon ryan said:
I find AWB is fine for most situations, and rarely need much adjustment - perhaps a nudge to the right to warm up landscapes in hot places. AWB is getting close to being as reliable as auto focus for pretty much anything that doesn't need museum or product-shot accuracy. Anyway, it takes seconds to batch-alter WB in Photoshop or Lightroom.
Click to expand...

Your comment fits in with the first method more than your own!

For example you do a wedding......

1st group in a house
2nd group outside of the church
3rd group inside the church
4th group outside the church (but with more light as the sun had come out)
5th group in the restaurant
6th group in the night do

You take 6 pictures against a white/grey background and all the images in RAW at a fixed WB level which might be say "daylight" or a number such as 5000K

In the RAW processor you simply select each of the 6 groups separately and apply the alternative WB number which is derived from the grey card.

IF you can't be bothered with a grey card then STILL leave the WB on 5000K and just select the group whilst adjusting one image till it is right. The other images should also be right because they were taken in the same setting.
 
The OP wanted to know about WB. This is the right way to do it. You could just do it your way but that is not the best method. If we wanted the easiest way then we could just use a P&S.
 
Fair enough. I stopped doing weddings some years back. AWB was not as accurate and I was shooting jpeg - I used pretty much your method. But my cameras have been set to AWB for the last couple of years without any problems arising. For someone starting out, I reckon it's easier to use AWB and then do any tweaking in post when there is less panic going on.
 
jon ryan said:
Fair enough. I stopped doing weddings some years back. AWB was not as accurate and I was shooting jpeg - I used pretty much your method. But my cameras have been set to AWB for the last couple of years without any problems arising. For someone starting out, I reckon it's easier to use AWB and then do any tweaking in post when there is less panic going on.
Click to expand...

I agree, your method is easier and for most people it is fine but the OP wanted to know how to do it properly :D

I don't shoot weddings either I was just choosing a situation that had a number of distinct lighting situations.

jpg files are the finished image whereas raw files are the data plus information about WB, flash, exposure etc etc. Some things can be changed whilst processing raw images without ANY loss of IQ some things can't.
 
Hmmm. Well, there we have to agree to differ. If you open a jpeg in the RAW dialogue (in Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom or any of the others as far as I know), I'd contend that you can alter the white balance without any significant loss of info - or quality. With a RAW shot of course you can make as many WB changes as you like with no loss whatsoever.
 
jon ryan said:
Hmmm. Well, there we have to agree to differ. If you open a jpeg in the RAW dialogue (in Photoshop, Elements, Lightroom or any of the others as far as I know), I'd contend that you can alter the white balance without any significant loss of info - or quality. With a RAW shot of course you can make as many WB changes as you like with no loss whatsoever.
Click to expand...

We are not disagreeing !!

"I'd contend that you can alter the white balance without any significant loss of info"

I didn't say the loss was massive just that there is a loss. If the change is made in the RAW conversion there is NO loss of IQ at all.
 
Lrftie said:
Can someone explained setting up white balance, in simple terms please. Eg I would like to take some photos in a church and have been advised to use a grey board to set up white balance, how do I do that?
Click to expand...

It will be in your handbook under custom white balance.

You don't need a grey card, use a piece of plain white paper and take a picture of it in the church with the ambient light falling on it. Use this as your reference image to set a custom white balance for that particular scene.
 
Thanks to all advice and comments made. Sorry about multi posts,
Lrftie.
 
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