White Balance - Auto vs. Manual
May 28, 2014 14:46:33 #
twowindsbear wrote:
How do you measure the color temp to set the Kelvin on your camera?
I use a Kelvin cheat sheet - and a Red card.
The Red card is a side of a Kleenex box.
I have read that the colors Red and Purple are the hardest for a DSLR to reproduce, so I set the Kelvin, capture something Red (card or auto tail light) and if the image in the LCD marches the red color I'm set. I only use the red card if I can't find something red in area/light I'm shooting in.
The Red card came out pretty good in the image I made but not copied here.
The Kevin's I got from a Nikon manual and another book - copied the page but not the name.
May 28, 2014 15:24:39 #
Coker wrote:
For my taste, the AWB is the best you can use.. however, if you do a lot of flash, the 'lightning bolt' for flash white balance does add a little more skin tones and nice color. Try them all in a controlled setting. Studio always needs a custom WB.
I agree with you most of the time. But there is the occasional lighting situation that confuses the camera.
I usually use AWB, unless I'm trying for a specific effect, but I save everything as CR2+JPG, among other reasons, in case I or the camera guessed wrong.
May 28, 2014 15:56:55 #
If the lighting is tricky or mixed from different sources, I use a custom WB. I only shoot in raw & pp in photoshopped takes care of any mistake in regards to WB. I still like to get it right without pp. Bab
May 28, 2014 17:54:56 #
This is what I do, but sometimes there is nothing white or gray in the photo, then it becomes interesting.
May 28, 2014 21:55:18 #
I recently attended a Nikon seminar and white balance was one of the things they talked about. Their recommendation was to set your own WB for better color saturation. I would have to agree after playing around with it myself.
May 28, 2014 22:34:59 #
CA_CanonUser
Loc: Friendswood, TX
Most professional landscape photographers will say never never shoot auto white balance for landscapes. Shoot whatever the condition warrants, i.e. daylight for most cases, shade for a few others. The camera can not pick up many of the color variations you see in many landscapes.
Auto should do well in other cases, however; especially if you are shooting in RAW (highly recommended in all but those cases where you have to shoot a lot of shots in a short period of time, such as many weddings.)
Auto should do well in other cases, however; especially if you are shooting in RAW (highly recommended in all but those cases where you have to shoot a lot of shots in a short period of time, such as many weddings.)
May 29, 2014 01:25:23 #
lighthouse
Loc: No Fixed Abode
I use AWB quite often under "standard" conditions.
If I don't like the result of my "chimping" I will go to manual.
I rarely use WB for special effects/art but have seen others use it effectively.
I sometimes set it the opposite of what it should be to keep the histogram under control - especially on the red channel.Not totally sure this is necessary but it makes me feel interactive with the shot.
If I don't like the result of my "chimping" I will go to manual.
I rarely use WB for special effects/art but have seen others use it effectively.
I sometimes set it the opposite of what it should be to keep the histogram under control - especially on the red channel.Not totally sure this is necessary but it makes me feel interactive with the shot.
May 29, 2014 01:41:06 #
Bram boy
Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada
the two cameras. I'm using now are six years old . they both have never
been in any mode of white balance except auto . and it works well enough
for me
been in any mode of white balance except auto . and it works well enough
for me
May 29, 2014 02:15:55 #
Bram boy wrote:
the two cameras. I'm using now are six years old . they both have never
been in any mode of white balance except auto . and it works well enough
for me
been in any mode of white balance except auto . and it works well enough
for me
Of course! It never rains where you are and fog is a violation of Provincial Law!
May 29, 2014 19:36:17 #
Shoot with WB in Auto typically. IF something fools the camera and colors are off you can typically correct it easily (using Canon's DPP) or other post processing program.
May 29, 2014 20:03:05 #
OonlyBonly wrote:
Shoot with WB in Auto typically. IF something fools the camera and colors are off you can typically correct it easily (using Canon's DPP) or other post processing program.
I reckon Preset Manual white balance is much, much, much, more accurate than post process WB.
But, if near enough is good enough use AWB and post process :thumbup:
May 30, 2014 04:11:44 #
Shutter Bugger wrote:
I reckon Preset Manual white balance is much, much, much, more accurate than post process WB.
But, if near enough is good enough use AWB and post process :thumbup:
But, if near enough is good enough use AWB and post process :thumbup:
It's the other way around - for dead-on color accuracy the best all-around solution is to capture as raw and assign a camera profile in post processing -
Creating a custom white balance in the field with cards, expodisks etc is ok, but it is less reliable. Better to assign a color profile to a file that has all the colors recorded by the camera.
http://www.xritephoto.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=224&gclid=CjgKEAjw2KCcBRCQ_6mztcunhEgSJABPxOF1uTaHIlNLsBIJEELAbG2s2EE9QotqIV2DefLSRkLzbfD_BwE
May 30, 2014 10:34:42 #
I think the reason people use AWB is because they are both in a hurry to get the shot AND intimidated by the custom WB process.
For quick, spur of the moment or on the fly pictures, AWB is useful.
But if you are taking the time to set up a good shot, then custom or manual WB is the way to go. It's the BEST way to accurately represent the full color gamut of a given subject... the ONLY way. :thumbup:
Most custom WB features on modern DSLRs are pretty easy to set and can be done in seconds. Some cameras (like my Sony A77) are as little as two button presses only. Additionally, the Sony A77 and A99 allow you to FINE TUNE WB in terms of Y-G-M-B after it's set for TRUELY accurate representation of the actual color present.
Setting the WB manually is just another powerful tool to help you, the photographer, record an image and realize your vision. ;)
For quick, spur of the moment or on the fly pictures, AWB is useful.
But if you are taking the time to set up a good shot, then custom or manual WB is the way to go. It's the BEST way to accurately represent the full color gamut of a given subject... the ONLY way. :thumbup:
Most custom WB features on modern DSLRs are pretty easy to set and can be done in seconds. Some cameras (like my Sony A77) are as little as two button presses only. Additionally, the Sony A77 and A99 allow you to FINE TUNE WB in terms of Y-G-M-B after it's set for TRUELY accurate representation of the actual color present.
Setting the WB manually is just another powerful tool to help you, the photographer, record an image and realize your vision. ;)
May 30, 2014 10:46:18 #
CHOLLY wrote:
I think the reason people use AWB is because they ... (show quote)
I get consistently better results with the XRite ColorChecker Pro and assigning an accurate color profile to a raw file, compared to custom white balance. It has proven to be far more accurate than any other method deployed in the field. Nothing compares to being able to take a 14 bit file and assign an accurate color profile and a wide gamut color space like ProPhoto as a working color space. (Actually you would work in a 16bit file - PSD or TIF). For color critical work it is a necessity. If color accuracy is not important, then assigning a custom white balance to a jpg will work, I suppose. But every time the light changes you will need to update the CWB. In a production workflow, once again, it is far more accurate and convenient to shoot a target, and create a custom profile, as often as needed, and simply add the color profile to the image(s) in post.
The only downside is that the CCP has an expiration date, after which the color patches begin to fade out of specification. Then you just buy a new one. Just put $70 into the annual budget.
May 30, 2014 15:36:30 #
Bram boy
Loc: Vancouver Island B.C. Canada
Mogul wrote:
Of course! It never rains where you are and fog is a violation of Provincial Law!
if the whites look after the shot as to what you saw in real life . I just presume that the other colours are right . if white is right , the rest equals
white . as white is the colour of all the other colours combined . when you look at a white sheet hanging on the line what, you see is all the colours in the rain bow being reflected by the sheet . by the same token if it's black it's
absorbing all the colours except what makes black ,and that's being reflected
back to your eye. the same goes for any colour you can see . but this is common knowledge . so excuse my babbling on .
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