White Balance...

[scottalanphoto]

I have a question about white balance... I was recently told how to set the white balance./.. If I am shooting with studio lighting and I set my white balance in the studio... Do I need to reset the white balance again when I go outside to do pictures under the sunlight?

[Dobick]

The short answer is maybe.

The longer answer is that it can depend on what time of day it is, and if you will be working in direct sunlight, with a reflector, or shade, etc.

For instance, I love the results that I get if I leave my color balance on 5400 from the studio, and go outside at 30-40 minutes before sundown. Same with bouncing in a gold reflector. I like the results that come from that. It is a really warm tone when shooting at a daylight white balance setting.

The flip side of that is, that if you want a really neutral reproduction of the scene, then you will always need to set your white balance.

[Angelo]

Scott, what do you use to set your white balance?

[rogerfsmith]

If you shoot RAW, which most serious digital photographers shoot due to the added control, then you can have the White Balance set to anything and it would work just fine since you can choose the WB you want in the RAW converter. Nevertheless, it is always wise to have proper white balance so that the LCD Preview and the embedded JPG will have a WB that is close. I usually set Custom WB for any location. It only takes a few seconds to set and gives you a consistent WB workflow. In the workflow, you can then choose to warm up the images or cool them down and you will have a wider range of control. I use one of the PhotoVision Targets for setting CWB, but I also use a Gray card from time to time.



Cheers,
Roger

[KdLaneJr]

Originally Posted by scottalanphoto

I have a question about white balance... I was recently told how to set the white balance./.. If I am shooting with studio lighting and I set my white balance in the studio... Do I need to reset the white balance again when I go outside to do pictures under the sunlight?

Yes, you should. When you do so you can go back to AWB which works best outdoors or set another CWB. Choice is yours.

I have not made it a point to take a CWB outdoors as your light changes throughout the day.

I like CWB for indoor shooting with and without flash.

For studio work I would expect it to be the norm.

[scottalanphoto]

thanks for the info folks.. big help :)