Fail to custom white balancing with 5D Mark II help?

[foogirl]

Hi

I have been trying IR shooting for over 2 weeks now and i still can not get the custom white balance right.

I see people getting white leafs straight out of camera before going into photoshop.

I have tried taking picture of the grass with the IR filter on (with every settings possible)
from iso 100 to 2500, from 1 sec to 15 seconds exposure, from F2.8 to F8.
Could anyone point me what im doing wrong ?

First i took picture of a normal green grass with direct sun on top, as a result i get a pink photo. Then i set the custom white-balance using that pink photo.

It doesn't matter what setting i use for the green grass(pink photo), in the end the photo are brown and all the leafs are still green and sometime dark green. See the two pictures bellow

The first picture is a pink White-balance that i get from the green patch of grass which i use for custom white balance. It turns out pink alright. That pink photo becomes the Custom white balance. Then i shot any trees. As you can see in the next photo i get a brown picture with green leaf (no white leaf) See second picture



The picture bellow is what came out of the camera when using the pink photo above as custom white balance. As you can see, i get green leaf instead of white.



I can't get the white leaf on the 5D mark II. Any idea what im doing wrong ? I'm trying to get the white leaf .

btw,
I do no shoot in raw, just jpg.

Also i have read every tutorials on this forum and i still can't figure how to get the white leaf.

[tomcat]

Can still see green colour of the foliage in the second shot.
Looked like something you get from using a Cokin P007 IR filter on a Canon DSLR.

[geekbrains]

Looks like it's either the WB settings are not applied or the Filter's passing too much of light. If the Custom White balance picture shows white grass, I suggest you to take a picture of the grass patch again but fill the whole frame so that you don't see anything pink at all (The whole field should be covered with grass and you should get a complete white image).

[foogirl]

well i have tried that.

i have tested with a complete white image from a green grass.

I took a picture (filled the frame) with green grass With the filter on.

I took several photos ...every exposures possible


I.E: i have a dark red, dark pink, pink, light pink, white custom white balance.

If i choose a red or a darkpink white balance, i get a red photo
If i choose a pink white balance, i get a brown photo with green foliage
If i choose a white white-balance, i get a red photo again.

Could somebody post picture showing the correct balance (not the IR photo) i'd like to see the white-balance photo (the one you use to set the custom white balance)

Thnx

[tomcat]

You still haven't told us what IR filter you were using. It is not possible to produce the kind of coloured IR images that you are getting with a Hoya R72 IR filter.

[CrackerChicken]

I get pink skies and green trees as well with my Hoya R72 and my Canon Rebel XSi. I read on a different forum that the lens I was using (Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) was bad for IR photography and I wonder if this is the reason why? I have set the custom white on evenly lit green grass and I still end up with the same thing.

[tomcat]

So far, I have had no problem with Hoya R72 filters on my Canon DSLRs. With proper custom white balance, the IR output would look something like this.


Canon 5D, 1s, f/3.5 at 50.0mm, ISO 400

I do notice that many users do not actually know how to carry out a proper custom white balance on their Canon DSLRs though.

[rizraz]

Originally Posted by CrackerChicken I get pink skies and green trees as well with my Hoya R72 and my Canon Rebel XSi. I read on a different forum that the lens I was using (Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS) was bad for IR photography and I wonder if this is the reason why? I have set the custom white on evenly lit green grass and I still end up with the same thing.

I don't think it is the lens fault, when they say a lens is bad it usually mean that the possibility of your shots will have hotspots is very high.

What steps did you take to do the CWB?

[CrackerChicken]

I put my camera on AWB, put the filter on and shot an unfocused picture of evenly lit grass (I couldn't get my camera to accept it for CWB if I focused it). I then changed the setting from AWB to CWB went in to view the picture and chose it through the menu and set as my CWB.

I can post the CWB pic and the resulting pic, but I am hopelessly new at this and cannot figure out how to do that. When I click "Insert Image" it asks me for the URL. Where would I get a URL for my picture? Do I need to post it to an external site?

[night86mare]

are foogirl and crackerchicken the same person?

[CrackerChicken]

Not the same person, just the same problem.

I may be getting browner skies and whiter foliage, but I'm still not happy with the results.

[CrackerChicken]

Here is something I shot the other day that has the kind of pinkish sky and greenish foliage I was talking about. This one isn't as bad as some of the other ones I've taken, though.

[rizraz]

Originally Posted by CrackerChicken I put my camera on AWB, put the filter on and shot an unfocused picture of evenly lit grass (I couldn't get my camera to accept it for CWB if I focused it). I then changed the setting from AWB to CWB went in to view the picture and chose it through the menu and set as my CWB. I can post the CWB pic and the resulting pic, but I am hopelessly new at this and cannot figure out how to do that. When I click "Insert Image" it asks me for the URL. Where would I get a URL for my picture? Do I need to post it to an external site?

Yes you need an external site, maybe flickr or something similar.

Foogirl's CWB pic also looks off focus, that might be the reason.

[CrackerChicken]

Originally Posted by rizraz Yes you need an external site, maybe flickr or something similar. Foogirl's CWB pic also looks off focus, that might be the reason.

Thanks! I figured out how to use flickr to post the picture right before you posted letting me know that

Do you think I need to make sure my photo is in focus for the CWB? Should I be shooting darker green foliage instead of grass? I checked several different places, including one of the forums here, to see how to set my CWB. Am I doing it wrong, though? How do you set yours?

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by CrackerChicken Here is something I shot the other day that has the kind of pinkish sky and greenish foliage I was talking about. This one isn't as bad as some of the other ones I've taken, though.

Your IR image looked OK though somewhat under-exposed... almost as if it was taken in the shade or near shade. It is normal to have a tinge of colour in the foliage of coloured IR images, be it bluish, greenish or pinkish. Most of the time, for a particular IR filter, the colour tinge produced is peculiar to the sensor and hence camera brand/model used.

The white foliage in IR images posted by many IR shooters here is because the colour tinge in the foliage had been post-processed away.

[tomcat]

Originally Posted by CrackerChicken Thanks! I figured out how to use flickr to post the picture right before you posted letting me know that Do you think I need to make sure my photo is in focus for the CWB? Should I be shooting darker green foliage instead of grass? I checked several different places, including one of the forums here, to see how to set my CWB. Am I doing it wrong, though? How do you set yours?

For the setting of CWB, it is not necessary for the image to be in focus, in fact it is recommended that the image be defocussed.

The best and most convenient but unfortunately most expensive way I know of to carry out CWB for IR photography is to shoot through an ExpoDisc. But if you already have an ExpoDisc, then it does not cost anything. If you don't have one, then a translucent potato chip canister lid or even a coffee filter paper could be used as a workaround.

I simply set the camera to manual focus and shoot through the ExpoDisk at anything. The ExpoDisk will ensure that what the camera sensor sees is a generic murky frame that is good for CWB.

If not using an ExpoDisc, I would usually point the camera to the cloudy sky to set the CWB.

[rizraz]

Thanks Tomcat, learn something today

CrackerChicken, I guess I will have to agree with Tomcat on your IR shot....

[CrackerChicken]

Originally Posted by tomcat Your IR image looked OK though somewhat under-exposed... almost as if it was taken in the shade or near shade. It is normal to have a tinge of colour in the foliage of coloured IR images, be it bluish, greenish or pinkish. Most of the time, for a particular IR filter, the colour tinge produced is peculiar to the sensor and hence camera brand/model used. The white foliage in IR images posted by many IR shooters here is because the colour tinge in the foliage had been post-processed away.

Thanks, tomcat! That's reassuring. Now I just need to figure out how to process the tint away in GIMP

[silvr]

Originally Posted by tomcat Can still see green colour of the foliage in the second shot. Looked like something you get from using a Cokin P007 IR filter on a Canon DSLR.

I'm having the same problem. Exactly that setup - cokin filter on canon DSLR. Is there anything I should know? :|

[JeffryZ]

Originally Posted by CrackerChicken Thanks, tomcat! That's reassuring. Now I just need to figure out how to process the tint away in GIMP

You just have to desaturate whatever the color of the plants is.