White balance

[iCe]

What are you doing for white balance? Ie. What camera setting and what ACR (if you shoot raw) setting? I've been lazy for the last year or two and I have used AWB. If the target comes in in time I'm going to start shooting a WB target before each game and correct everything in ACR with the WB tool. I'm just curious what everyone else is doing.

[kenw]

when it comes to mixed lighting, especially with sodium vapor, custom is just about the only thing that works for me.

[iCe]

Made me look.... that's what ACR's white balance drop down ends up on when I use the eyedropper on a neutral gray target. In the studio the camera wb gets set to flash. I'm not sure what to set it to for sports. I guess if I am shooting a target the flash setting will work ???

[Roy]

I must be lazy. Just using AWB here.

[Ahh!]

[Threadjack] I remember AWB! They were a rockin' sound back in the 70's, right? [/Threadjack]
We return you now to your regularly scheduled thread.

I find my results the best if I custom WB using a expodisc, but it has its detractors as well, my new buddy Jerry, for example. It does have its place in the arsenal.

[iCe]

I went to a 3 day workshop over the weekend and the guy running the workshop made a good point about WB (I thought it was good). Since I shoot RAW it appears that shooting a target card, correcting the WB using the dropper WB tool in ACR, and then synchronizing all of the RAW files that I've opened, with the target file, in ACR to the target file WB setting, appears to cut way down on the amount of time spent on WB. In theory I can open a couple of hundred images and synch them up in a matter of minutes. I've got an expodisc. It doesn't fit on the end of my 300 f/2.8

[iCe]

here's an example of a target

[rph]

I was thinking about this a few weeks back, when I shot a game. The shots from the field had one exposure, with the best balance I could find. When I shot into the stands, I needed a slower shutter speed (clearly the field was better lit), but I also wound up with a warmer color cast, leading me to think that there might be two different light sources in play. The only solution I could think of that might work would be the expodisc, in that case, but I'm new to all this, so there are probably more.

I'll keep an eye on this one so maybe I'll learn something new!

[xseption]

I shoot most of my stuff recently on the cloudy setting and it really adds a lot to my photos. Why cloudy? I was at a photography seminar in Houston and one of the speakers illustrated the idea and I really liked it.

[loana0320]

I do AWB but I am trying to learn how to use my gray card for it

[Chimper]

For most gym and stadium lighting the frequency of the lights are slower than your shutter speeds and you will see color shifts. One frame in a motor drive burst will be too magenta, the next too yellow and the next too green. I don't believe any type of custom white balance will help. The only solution is to color correct each image or use strobes to overpower ambient lighting. If there is a better way I don't know and would love to hear it.

[iCe]

Originally Posted by Chimper

For most gym and stadium lighting the frequency of the lights are slower than your shutter speeds and you will see color shifts. One frame in a motor drive burst will be too magenta, the next too yellow and the next too green. I don't believe any type of custom white balance will help. The only solution is to color correct each image or use strobes to overpower ambient lighting. If there is a better way I don't know and would love to hear it.

Well sh..tuff... I didn't think about that but it makes sense. That explains a few things.

[iCe]

Originally Posted by loana0320

I do AWB but I am trying to learn how to use my gray card for it

Loana, if you can, get the subject to hold the card, otherwise just photograph it in the scene that you are shooting in the lighting conditions that you intend to shoot in. Remove it and then shoot like you normally would. Then open the images in ACR and use the little WB eyedropper tool to click on the gray card. That will set the WB of the image for you. If you have the images that you shot in the same lighting conditions opened with the gray card in ACR then you can correct the image that had the gray card in it and then hit Select All followed by Synchronize. That will pop a window with check boxes. Uncheck everything but White Balance and hit OK. The rest of the images will be corrected for you. I'm making the assumption that you are shooting RAW and using CS3. I don't think the technique will work in JPG (unless you set CS3 to open JPG's in ACR. That might work) and I don't know if CS2 or other software has the synchronize feature.

[ramblinray]

If you use your Expodisc on a lense that it will fit on for your base WB shot, then it shouldn't matter what lense you use after that.

[iCe]

True.. but... At football games, I have a Mkii and a 70-200 f/2.8 slung around my neck and a Mkiii and a 300 f/2.8 on a monopod. It's like stabbing marbles with an icepick just to switch between the two bodies... I don't have any spare neurons available for managing another widget hanging off of me. I imagine that a WB target is going to have the same issue for me. Neither work very well if you don't actually use them.