Which is better to set a custom WB? White or gray?
canon Lee wrote:
Which is better to set a custom WB? White or gray?
18% neutral gray is the universally accepted color.
If they are both truly white or gray then there is no difference except that the white gives more light for meter in low light condition. However, I am not sure which surface is easier to get closer to true neutral that is reflecting all wavelength the same.
Shoot in RAW -- Then you can set the WB anyway you think looks right in postprocessing
I believe some camera manuals specify either white or gray. Whichever one you use, be sure it is truly color neutral. Some older gray cards from the film era weren't necessarily color neutral, they are just 18% gray. I have a folding WB target from Lastolite which has a white and a gray side and hashmarks to focus on. Even shooting RAW, I like to do a custom WB when convenient. Then I know it is right and don't have to fool with it, unless I want to tweak it, like warming skin tones.
JohnSwanda wrote:
.... I like to do a custom WB when convenient. Then I know it is right and don't have to fool with it, unless I want to tweak it, like warming skin tones.
This way you’e Very close out of the camera, rounding third base and part-way home. For accurate color, an X-Rite Color Checker is indispensable. It goes beyond white balance. Probably more than most people need though.
Gray card is for exposure, white card is for white balance, you can use either for WB but to be the most accurate should be the white card.
I have the Plastic circular 5" diameter, white one side, grey on the other. Both sides have etch marks to assist TTL focus (if required). The grey side serves a double purpose, in giving (Grey-Card) exposure reading, as well as WB reading. Good for mixed lighting in sports halls, theatres, etc.. Even for Estate Agent shots.
That's what I do. But in Photoshop Creative Cloud, I prefer to set the mid-gray tone. See this tutorial:
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/neutral-gray/You do not need to employ a grey card in the shoot because you can set the mid-gray tone later in PCC.
In PCC, I can also tweak the black point and the white point to eye.
Note that doing a Color Balance adjustment can bring the whole image into a truer color rendition of the photograph.
In PCC, Press the Ctrl key and the "B" key to bring up the Color Balance panel -- simple to use and most powerful for getting colors the way you want them
ken_stern wrote:
Shoot in RAW -- Then you can set the WB anyway you think looks right in postprocessing
https://digital-photography-school.com/setting-your-white-balance-with-a-gray-card-a-tip-from-phil-steele/Check out the link above This is an easy way to do a custom WB using the 18% gray card. It is very easy to use and it does save time if I just want to color balance jpegs from my Canon 5DS-R insteade of creating them from the RAW files.
As someone pointed out in this forum, there is also the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport. You shoot a couple of frames of the color squares and subsequently generate a DNG profile that you use in Adobe Camera Raw in place of "Adobe Standard" in the ACR "Camera Calibration" tab. This is useful for RAW files ONLY though. If you travel across the country you will find this very useful when you compare west coast, east coast on southwest locations, each one has a unique color cast.
If you want to know more about X-Rite and ColorChecker Passport search "Joe Brady" in YouTube, he has some very useful training videos. He is the reason I bought the X-Rite Color Munki and Passport combo to color balance my monitors and create DNG profiles for Camera Raw. Looking back I wonder why I never thought of color balancing my monitors before.
Generally, I find it easier to set to white, as it is fairly easy to find a white object one knows to be neutral (a white piece of paper, a white street sign, etc.) than it is to tell if some grey object is truly neutral or not.
canon Lee wrote:
Which is better to set a custom WB? White or gray?
Off-white, plus gray, plus near-black (One Shot Digital Calibration Target or Lastolite Ezyflex...).
These striped targets provide three neutral values for shadows, highlights, and mid tones. When three “spikes” are centered in the histogram, JPEG exposure is normal. When RGB spikes are aligned, white balance is accurate.
The only thing that’s better is the X-Rite ColorChecker Passport.
BebuLamar wrote:
If they are both truly white or gray then there is no difference except that the white gives more light for meter in low light condition. However, I am not sure which surface is easier to get closer to true neutral that is reflecting all wavelength the same.
yes I use a calibrated white/gray target.. Astrolite.... I was just wondering if the white is for WB as well as brightness?? Where the gray would be for the camera 18%?
In a fix, a plain white piece of paper will work (it did for me). I'm sure a gray card is the optimum way to go.
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