bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

What's the best way to set White Balance on a Nikon D3100 in different light conditions. Trial and error and looking at the screen after shooting? I took some night pictures of the front of a house with just the porch light and light coming through the windows and the exterior was all blue.

philphotog Loc: Perth, Scotland

Hi Bobburk3.
Why not try setting your whitebalance to automatic in the menu and compare results. Not always the answer but your ca\mera will get pretty close. Cheers.

bobburk3 Loc: Maryland

Automatic is what produced the blue image.

Rongnongno Loc: FL

Shoot RAW and you do not care as you set it afterward.

tusketwedge Loc: Nova Scotia Canada

go to Menu> white balance click OK and try on of the settings. for the shot that you took you say it had a porch light .I would start with Incandescent. If still blue try a different setting.Without knowing the full scenario it's going to be trial and error.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

That's because the temp of the porch light, and the ambient light were different.

You will never get them to be accurate in one shot...it can't happen. You can get "close-ish" or "acceptable-ish" by using Auto WB but if you really want accurate...you gotta take steps to gell lights or turn off lights or provide your own lights...etc.

If you don't like that, then shoot something white at each lighting situation and then adjust after words in post processing using that white thing as your standard.

OR

Just set the camera on auto WB and shoot away.


The camera (or anyone else for that matter) cannot fix or adjust for several different light temp sources in one shot...it's not possible, you can just get "reasonably acceptable"

Larrie Loc: NE Ohio

In mixed or special (stadium/gymnasium)lighting just take a shot at a grey card or a sheet of printer paper then use the shot to set a custom WB

MtnMan Loc: ID

Get out your manual and look up white balance. It should give you a way to use a white or gray card, or any of a number of exposure aids such as a coffee filter, to manually set the white balance to the available light. (I think my Nikon (D800) works differently that the D3100 or would share what it says.)

Or, as noted above, shoot in RAW and fix it later.

John Lawrence

Look up Expodisc. You set your white balance to preset, snap the Expodisc onto the front of your lens and take one picture. Your white balance is now preset for the lighting situation you have before you. Remove the Expodisc and you're good to go. Repeat the process whenever your lighting changes.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

This is the most accurate method but the OP should know, it won't fix the "mixed" lighting situation they described...nothing will fix that short of post process surgery.

Db7423 Loc: Pittsburgh, PA

Rpavich, once again to the rescue. :lol: :thumbup:

BHC Loc: Strawberry Valley, JF, USA

If all else fails, buy a Gossen Sixticolor color temperature meter; for sale on eBay for $25 up.

LoneRangeFinder Loc: Left field

rpavich is correct. None of the other white balance solutions will "fix" a scenario where there is a mix of two or more lighting situations-- they can only suggest a setting for one of the settings--not both.

Way before digital, I used to do lighting for video-- we would solve this by doing a white balance for the interior lighting and then covering the window(s) with a gel to balance the outdoor color temperature to that of the indoor tungsten (or fluorescent) lighting. I think these gels are still available but I can't imagine that it would be worth doing.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

Nope...not these days...now we put a "digital gel" over the windows ala Photoshop.

nekon Loc: Carterton, New Zealand

White balance

Where, with film you either shot print film in daylight or with flash indoors, and with slide film, you used daylight or tungsten film, or used compensating filters with these. White balance is Digital’s version-you select a white balance based on the condition of the light you are using, so the camera’s meter allows for white to photograph as white
Auto white balance does a reasonable job most of the time, but it cannot cope in some situations-especially when subject is in deep shadow. You need to know when to use the white balance settings for all situations, and this table will help you understand: ( degrees Kelvin is a means of determining colour temperature)

Sunrise/sunset 2400-3000 Kelvin……………………Use Auto white balance
Tungsten lighting 3200-3500 Kelvin Note…( these settings are for studio white balance for tungsten-Use tungsten/Incandescent white balance) For Domestic tungsten lighting-2500 - 3200-you will generally get better results using auto white balance
Fluorescent lighting 4000 Kelvin …………… Use fluorescent White balance
Early morning/afternoon sun 4000 Kelvin…….Use auto white balance/ --fluorescent white balance
(Magenta filter) to counter greenish cast on skin from foliage if under trees or on really green grass
Noon sun/Sun overhead…5000-6500 Kelvin…………………….use Cloudy White balance
Flash photography in daylight 5500 Kelvin ………………………Use Flash White balance
Deep shade………………….6500 Kelvin…………………………Use cloudy/shade white balance
Shade in daylight 7500 Kelvin ………………………………......Use shade white balance
Heavy overcast, very dark shade 8000 to 10000 Kelvin………Use shade white balance plus 81a-85c glass filter

To set custom White balance: (Nikon)

Select a neutral coloured object to set your white balance
It’s best to avoid using a white target. The camera prefers grey.( Print yourself a grey card: In photoshop- File> New
Click on background square in toolbox
select: red 127; green 127; blue 127 from color chart- Print)


In white balance menu select "Custom"> "Preset"
select "measure"
Press shutter release halfway to return to shooting mode
press wb button until a blinking "Pre" appears in control panel and viewfinder
frame reference (grey card) so it fills the frame
and press shutter release all the way down (Camera won't take picture)
If camera was able to register a value for white balance "Good" will flash in control panel and GD will flash in viewfinder
If lighting is too dark or bright "no g d" will flash in viewfinder and control panel


If you use white in direct sunlight you'll always get a "No Gd" response from the camera because the Matrix meter is rendering it white instead of grey. Thus the trick is to select the centre-weighted meter when using a white reference in bright light and you'll get "Good" from a camera. Remember to set back to Matrix metering as soon as you're done.