wow if you set the right WB it helps :)

[felix21685]

last night i was bored out of my mind and i played with my XT a little and
wow
white balance is so important for a shot !

seems like i always forget to change it to the appropriate setting.

do you guys have a routine ..actually somehting that reminds you before you turn the camera on to remember to set ISO WB and all that stuff..

you guys probably do it out of instinct but..its still difficult to remember for a newbie like me to DSLR's

[gasrocks]

If the lighting is tricky, if you think you won't set the WB correctly - shoot RAW + jpeg. Then you can "make it right" after the fact. I leave the camera in AWB, ISO at 100, 200, 400 depending.... No problems "remembering" anything before I shoot and great results.

[badrotation]

I always set a custom white balance, using my white card.....

However, I do have a problem forgetting to set the white balance to use the said custom one :lol:

[felix21685]

lol what do you use as a white card? home made?

man i just got word..looks like theres a 50-50 chance im going or not going to the F1 race next weekend..man i hope i get to go..

[badrotation]

yeah, just a peice of thin cardboard, with white paper glued to it...


I am sure it isnt the best thing to use for a white card, but it seems to work great, and the photos always look much better when using it.

[MTalley]

I usually use a big white foamboard when doing outside portraits, to set the WB. I have the model hold it up in front of the face after positioning, shoot an out-of-focus shot, set the WB, then turn the WB setting to custom.

My problem is forgetting that it is still set to custom the next time I turn the camera on in a different setting. :D

[felix21685]

how come its important that it is out of focus?

[markubig]

how come its important that it is out of focus?i don't think you need to shoot out of focus. you need to switch your lens to manual focus because you're shooting a white (or grey) card that has no contrast and your camera/lens will just search if it is still on autofucus.

[felix21685]

and is it true that you dont have to cover the entire frame just the middle portion of it..80percent and distributed around the middle. correct? or fullframe?

[markubig]

yes, just enough to fill the middle portion of the frame . . . doesn't have to fill the entire frame.

[felix21685]

ok cool thanks.

[ron chappel]

No-i have no way of reminding myself to check the settings each time i shoot so sometimes i stuff up :(
I try to reset everything at the end of each shoot but i inevitably forget sometimes .... then take a bunch of small fine jpeg photo's with a lovely custom blue/cyan colour ,LOL


And yes-CWB is the ant's pants! it's made a massive difference to my ebay pics-and my learning about colour casts

[fatrat]

what if you have a external flash on, do you take a picture of white paper with the flash on?

Also if you had a wide angle lens on, and you wanted to take a pic for white balance with the external flash on in near imposable because you have to get that close to the paper, the flash dont light up the paper

[snibbetsj]

what if you have a external flash on, do you take a picture of white paper with the flash on?

Also if you had a wide angle lens on, and you wanted to take a pic for white balance with the external flash on in near imposable because you have to get that close to the paper, the flash dont light up the paper

You have to set the custom WB in the same light you're going to be shooting. So if you're shooting with the flash, use the flash when you shoot you're white card, otherwise, it won't work correctly.
:)

[Rob612]

Shooting almost always in RAW, I don't bother to manually set the WB. I just correct later if what comes out with auto doesn't fit.

[tim]

what if you have a external flash on, do you take a picture of white paper with the flash on?

That's only helpful if the white paper's near the subject, as a mixture of light between flash and ambient will alter the color temperature.

Shooting almost always in RAW, I don't bother to manually set the WB. I just correct later if what comes out with auto doesn't fit.

Only if you have a color calibrated monitor.

[PhotosGuy]

wow if you set the right WB it helps:D Another convert!

I have to dispute a comment above regarding AWB. In my tests I've found that it sucks big time! See the results here:
http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=54281
Notice the AWB results with the small pic of the construction paper in the 2nd example.

OTOH, if I were shooting a sunset shot, I'd put the cam on Daylight WB, to keep the warm colors. Nothing is always perfect. We need to customise our settings to get custom results, right? ;)

At the bottom of that thread, there's a link to another which you might find interesting.

[wibbly]

Rob612, what photo album software do you use for your web site?

J

[Rob612]

Rob612, what photo album software do you use for your web site?

J

Its a mix between some hand written HTML code (the page with the links and other informations) and the very handy Flash Gallery I from PSCS2 that goes embedded in an Iframe. Feel free (you and everybody else, of course) to use the idea and copy/adapt/modify. BTW, I just added some pics (the portfolios are in chronological order top to bottom).

[wibbly]

Ah. Thanks. I'd not seen the flash gallery in CS2....

J