Coffee Filter Custom White Balance - CC

[tertius]

I tried the coffee filter custom white balance trick today and I like the results. Getting the entire shot right in camera was quite nice. I was also working with high ISO and a circular polarizer. Tell me what you think (mainly the WB but all CC is welcome). File was sharpened from RAW.

D90
18-105 @ 105mm
1/2000 at ISO 2000
Custom WB
Circular Polarizer

Thanks.

[danchez]

looks good to me.

[rockin-photos]

Well, the grass looks green and the dog looks brown & white. I guess if that's the colors they're supposed to be, it good. A flesh tone might have been better for me to judge with, but even then, there are so many different flesh tones. :)
How does it do indoors? Incandescent or tungsten lighting?
How do you use a coffee filter for white balance? I guess I'll have to Google it.

[Dobick]

I am not sure I understand the point -- my guess is that the custom WB comes really close to output of the same as using the sunlight selection on the WB dial. So what would you do if the dog moved into the shade? Would you take the time to do another custom WB shot, or just switch the dial over to the shade WB?

I guess my point is that if you are using a light source that is constant, it is pretty easy to guess the correct color temperature of the source, and if you are going to be shooting in a scenario where the light source is constantly changing, then a custom WB through a filter (coffee filter or one of the ones like an expodisk) seems a bit cumbersome.

Also -- one of the great things about natural light (in my opinion) is the color cast that it gives off as the sun sets, and a custom white balance would remove most of that wonderful natural color cast (as opposed to using daylight WB or 5600)

[rockin-photos]

Kyle, what I have done in the past is to photograph a white sheet of paper or foam so that it fills the image, and use that as my custom white balance image.

Kent, you would have to change it each time you changed lighting. I've only played with it a little, but the one time I think I really could have used it (but didn't), was a wedding that was lit with very cool lights, and a wall of glass that was letting in the afternoon sun. I used awb, and the camera was picking up the sunlight reflecting in through the "window", but the bride, groom and preacher all had a blue tint to them.