White Balance

[Brocks mother]

Can someone please explain white balance to me and maybe give me some examples or point me in the right direction?

Thank you

[carrbowl]

Here are three photos taken to show the difference with white balance. (do not critique anything else please!!) The whitest photo was taken with an expo disc, the next whitest photo was taken either on the flourensent setting or the auto, and I don't remember the last setting. Sorry, I was trying to prove to myself how well the expo disc worked. My suggestion is to play with it. Pick something that has some white in it and take a photo on auto and then change the white balance to the setting it should be on and see which works better. Hope this helps...maybe you are looking for more technical info??/

[Brocks mother]

Nope that gives me a better idea of it. So you kept all the same setting on the camera and just change the white balance in them?

[carrbowl]

Yes...it will show you which setting gives you the best true color

[RandySmith]

Hi Erica, I'll throw out my 2 cents, although there may be some others here that can provide more insight and direction for you ... there's been countless discussions on this topic so here's a few thoughts for you ....

Human eyes (and our brain) do automatic conversions with light. If you take a white piece of paper and hold it in front of a 60w light bulb, it will look white. Take the same piece of paper and hold it under flourescent lights, or outdoors it will still look white. However, digital cameras, and film will not see the same "white" as your eyes under the same conditions without doing some adjustments either to the software, a filter on a lens, or using different kinds of film. So the "white balance" is to fine tune and compensate if necessary to the light source.

Are you wanting to know how to create a "custom white balance" ? For your specific camera ? If so, it might be helpful to know what kind of camera so folks with that model might give you the correct steps to do so.

Hope this helps.
Randy

[Brocks mother]

Thank yall both. I'm looking for any and all info on white balance. I have a Canon XTi with sigma lenses. Last night I was at the Ranger Game and I was playing around with the white balance and I didn't notice that big of a difference. But I was using the ones arleady set in my camera. Is there something else in addition to WB that I need to play around with on my camera to notice a color change. My colors didn't look that good last night to be honest with you. I'll have to post some tonight when I get home.

[RandySmith]

Hi Erica,

There are various ways to set a "custom" white balance, but what I do is to take a photo of a white piece of paper .... then when I select "custom white" balance from the menu, the software prompts me to ask what "image" do I want to use, to set the white balance. I then choose the image of the white piece of paper. Then of course I have to choose the menu item "custom" from the white balance menu for it to use those settings.

I'm not sure if this is your camera, but here's a link to a review of the XT camera, and some explanations on settings and other things.

The white balance information is on Page 8.

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canoneos400d/page8.asp

Randy

[Brocks mother]

Thanks

[laawaaris]

try to take the next batch of pictures with your canon rebel in RAW format ... open them up in Photoshop and you will be in the RAW image converter

if your pictures are varied enough, you will probably have one that is not exactly the same color as what your remembered

you can play with the white balance setting in the RAW converter to see what another WB setting would have offered

not exactly a definition i know, but that's how i experiment with what WB to try to figure it out..

[MRCPix]

does the XTi allow you to select the K temp? if so play with that and see what kind of differences you see.

[newton]

Use RAW and never have to worry about WB again. :)

[kelley_french]

ok I have a dumb question. How do you shoot in RAW? I have heard this many times and was afraid to ask.

Hey I just pulled out my Rebel and found out how to shoot in RAW. Sorry. I now know !

[AndrewCCM]

Originally Posted by newton

Use RAW and never have to worry about WB again. :)

Still a bit easier (Faster) to get it right in camera though. That being said, I use AWB and RAW a lot of the time with good results. Something worth noting...Different camera bodies handle auto WB differently from one another. My 5D and MkIIn AWB is quite different in some situations.

[kelley_french]

Thanks for the reply but I am trying to get away from shooting auto mode.

[NoLight]

AWB is not auto mode it just lets the camera try and figure out the light temp on its own. It does not effect exposure what so ever. As stated above its better to get it right in camera you can do this different ways. I personally use a expodisk and a whibal. I also shoot mainly RAW so it can be adjusted if need be. Having the above tools is great but worthless if not used and used correctly. Raw is real handy when your just taking a snap or a shot that you just dont have the time to set a custom WB.