White Balance: I am still (and always trying) to take better images. What is recommended for a WB setting for a normally lit interior setting. I use a bounce flash and often have...

520 Loc: Tucson

I am still (and always trying) to take better images. What is recommended for a WB setting for a normally lit interior setting. I use a bounce flash and often have artificial light coupled with natural light. Just getting mixed results. Thanks in advance.

oldpsych Loc: Indianapolis

Do you have live view on your camera? If so, you can use it to scroll through WB settings to see which one fits best.

rjaywallace Loc: Wisconsin

As you have already noted, you are getting mixed results because you have a mixed bag of light sources. There is no single answer to your question. Experiment, experiment.

lloydl2 Loc: Gilbert, AZ

shoot in raw adjust the WB in post processing

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

Filter your flash to match the ambient light then you can adjust without pulling your hair out, assuming the ambient is not a mix.
Shooting in raw will then help.
You could also do a custom white balance- that will get you in the ball park rather than guessing.

520 Loc: Tucson

Thanks. When I first got going I used auto WB. Does that do any good with various light sources?

Marionsho Loc: Kansas

520 wrote:

Thanks. When I first got going I used auto WB. Does that do any good with various light sources?

Welcome to the Hog 520.
I'd like to know the answer to this also.
I shoot in RAW, so it's immaterial to me, but I aways wondered about AWB with lots of different light sources.
Hope you enjoy the forum as much as I do. Lots to learn here. Don't overlook the search button at the top of the page.
Marion

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

520 wrote:

I am still (and always trying) to take better images. What is recommended for a WB setting for a normally lit interior setting. I use a bounce flash and often have artificial light coupled with natural light. Just getting mixed results. Thanks in advance.

You might want to shoot a grey card and create a custom w/b. What I have is an X-rite Color checker pro which is a grey card, and a checker board of colored squares that you can take a picture of in light intended for the shoot. Then you just color correct and w/b correct one image in Lightroom, and then sync all of them to it. Then they all have the correct w/b and colors are correct and accurate.

CO

My Nikon SB-700 flash comes with color correction filters for incandescent and fluorescent light. It will bath the entire scene with the colored light initially. The filters have tangs that depress switches on the flash. The flash reads the position of the switches and sends that information to the camera. When the camera is set to auto or flash white balance it will do the color correction automatically to .jpeg files. I've tried it when there was an incandescent bulb in the scene. It neutralized the golden light from the bulb.

I think many flashes come with the color correction filters.

520 Loc: Tucson

Good idea on the grey card. I have used it before and got away from it. It might be that I could use it for every room since the lighting is always different.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

jeep_daddy wrote:

You might want to shoot a grey card and create a custom w/b. What I have is an X-rite Color checker pro which is a grey card, and a checker board of colored squares that you can take a picture of in light intended for the shoot. Then you just color correct and w/b correct one image in Lightroom, and then sync all of them to it. Then they all have the correct w/b and colors are correct and accurate.

The Color Checker Passport does one better - it has a "dual illuminant" mode that will calculate and resolve two different light sources each with it's own color characteristic. When you generate the dng based profile that you sync to the other images taken in the same light, it will look very natural most of the time. I don't waste my time with just using a gray card when the colors have to be correct. The CCP/DNG profile does a much better job.

This is a great video that explains how to best utilize the CCP:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDtebpvATzc

520 Loc: Tucson

Thanks

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Gene51 wrote:

The Color Checker Passport does one better - it ha... (show quote)

I recently took both of my bodies, which were fairly new, and each lens and created a profile for outdoor lighting conditions for all. Next time I see a really dull day or cloudy day, I'll do the same. But when it comes to using custom lights such as my speedlite, I'll have to remember to shoot at least one picture at the beginning of the Passport so that I can create a profile for that. I don't do much indoor shooting nor do I use my speedlite very often, but it's important to make a profile each time I do.

I found that it's really important to get the exposure correct or the plugin will fail when it tries to create the profile. So I use a light meter instead of the camera's built in light meter, so that I get the exposure correct. The light meter is better because it uses incidental light instead of reflected light that the camera meters.

I have never done a "dual illuminant" profile. I think it would probably do a fine job.

photon56 Loc: North America

As mentioned, shoot in RAW and WB in post processing. You'll have full control of the outcome.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

jeep_daddy wrote:

I recently took both of my bodies, which were fair... (show quote)

I shoot the color checker for correct exposure using the camera's light meter set to spot mode - the key is to not overexpose the highlights. I target the second brightest tile in the gray scale sequence and add 1 stop exposure, or I use the larger middle gray target on the flipside, and use the reading as is. It will be the same as using an incident meter, and possibly more accurate, since you are taking into account light transmission characteristics of different lenses, which the incident meter won't do, unless you are using a Sekonic L-478 or L-758D which have the ability to create a camera specific profile.