Something regarding white balance

[ordinaryless]

Hi all,

I have this question i wanna ask. I've learnt from the previous threads that it's advisable to always use the Auto White Balance during shooting regardless of the weather. But i found that when i use AWB during sunny days, the photos will tend to have a orangey/yellow cast because of the sunlight. Is it possible to eliminate that yellow cast if i use the switch to the 'sunny/daylight' White balance?

Rgds,
Ordinaryless

 

[Amfibius]

The answer is yes.

How to eliminate white balance problems:

1. Shoot in RAW.
2. Set manual white balance using an expodisc or (cheaper alternative) pringles lid or coffee filter.

 

[adamadam]

or you could try using custom white balance?

 

[ordinaryless]

Thank you all who replied.

Am: That expodisc u reccomended is too expensive for me, i'll give it a miss

adam: i just read the manual on how to use custom white balance. Am i correct to say that the manual first needed us to take a pic of a white paper using one of the preset WB. If it turns out under or over, then we choose Custom WB, select the image that has wrong WB and press SET. The info of the 'incorrect' WB will be imported to the camera and corrected after we press the custom white balance button?

In another words, custom white balance is a tool used to correct the preset white balance, not an option(etc..AWB/Daylight...) which u can choose when shooting.

am i right?

Another question. Does using of Grey Card helps to correct the WB too?

 

[voodoo]

ordinaryless, pardon me for hitching a free ride on ur thread.

I like to try on custom white balance with coffee filtor etc, but under what type of lighting must i be in order to get the correct whiteness? ie under hot sun, daytime under shade,nite time under flouresent light? or there is no different at all. Help pls, thanks.

 

[dkw]

Wow,
lots of confusion. Basically, colour has temperature. To quote DPReview, "Normally our eyes compensate for lighting conditions with different color temperatures. A digital camera needs to find a reference point which represents white. It will then calculate all the other colors based on this white point. For instance, if a halogen light illuminates a white wall, the wall will have a yellow cast, while in fact it should be white. So if the camera knows the wall is supposed to be white, it will then compensate all the other colors in the scene accordingly.


Most digital cameras feature automatic white balance whereby the camera looks at the overall color of the image and calculates the best-fit white balance. However these systems are often fooled especially if the scene is dominated by one color, say green, or if there is no natural white present in the scene."

The custom WB feature allows you to 'manually' set the white point for the camera. You can use anything that you know is white (piece of paper, back of someone's t-shirt), and shoot that white object under the ambient lighting conditions. The camera will then then use that shot as reference for determining how the rest of the scene should look under those lighting conditions. So, no, there is no 'correct whiteness'. Don't shoot CWB under sunlight, and then proceed to shoot your scenes indoors under fluorescent lights, totally defeats the purpose of CWB. Plenty of info on the web, and much more detailed than what I can write here. 2 links below, please do a serach for the rest.

http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/tips/white_balance_tips_and_tutorials.php

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Digital_Imaging/White_Balance_01.htm

 

[ordinaryless]

Wow,
lots of confusion. Basically, colour has temperature. To quote DPReview, "Normally our eyes compensate for lighting conditions with different color temperatures. A digital camera needs to find a reference point which represents white. It will then calculate all the other colors based on this white point. For instance, if a halogen light illuminates a white wall, the wall will have a yellow cast, while in fact it should be white. So if the camera knows the wall is supposed to be white, it will then compensate all the other colors in the scene accordingly.


Most digital cameras feature automatic white balance whereby the camera looks at the overall color of the image and calculates the best-fit white balance. However these systems are often fooled especially if the scene is dominated by one color, say green, or if there is no natural white present in the scene."

The custom WB feature allows you to 'manually' set the white point for the camera. You can use anything that you know is white (piece of paper, back of someone's t-shirt), and shoot that white object under the ambient lighting conditions. The camera will then then use that shot as reference for determining how the rest of the scene should look under those lighting conditions. So, no, there is no 'correct whiteness'. Don't shoot CWB under sunlight, and then proceed to shoot your scenes indoors under fluorescent lights, totally defeats the purpose of CWB. Plenty of info on the web, and much more detailed than what I can write here. 2 links below, please do a serach for the rest.

http://www.livingroom.org.au/photolog/tips/white_balance_tips_and_tutorials.php

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Digital_Imaging/White_Balance_01.htm

i appreciate the info you provided...
thank you dkw

 

[Tzuen]

ordinaryless, pardon me for hitching a free ride on ur thread.

I like to try on custom white balance with coffee filtor etc, but under what type of lighting must i be in order to get the correct whiteness? ie under hot sun, daytime under shade,nite time under flouresent light? or there is no different at all. Help pls, thanks.

The point of using the coffee filter is so you can shoot under any light. Cover the front of your lens with the coffee filter, switch focus to manual and shoot the image towards where you will be shooting. So this is what you know is white under the current light conditions. Then tell the camera to use that image as the settings for the white balance. The WHOLE image should be 1 color.

Some ppl will say you need to use a 18% grey card (like the expodisc) etc but that is not needed. Here's why: When you use the cameras lightmeter to determine exposure it will automatically try to meter the scene at a midtone, i.e 18% grey. So using a grey card or white paper or coffee filter has no difference.

 

[AntZ]

The answer is yes.

How to eliminate white balance problems:

1. Shoot in RAW.
2. Set manual white balance using an expodisc or (cheaper alternative) pringles lid or coffee filter.

Does it have to be RAW? :think: