white balance

[fototaker]

can someone explain just what this is and how often I have to use it...I'm weening myself off film and this is a head scratcher for me---thanks

[CyberPet]

Most cameras have a decent Auto white balance, where it detects what kind of light (temperature) you're shooting in and adjust to that. But in some cases the AWB misses and it's having to struggle to find the right white balance. Then you have to use pre-set white balances (as for incadecent light, sunny, cloudy, etc, etc), plus you can set your own custom white balance (good for mixed light).

When you set custom white balance with a Canon you first photograph a white surface (a white coffee filter will work) with the ambient light you'll be shooting in, then you set the camera to the custom white balance and choose that photograph. It's very nifty!

A way to totally ignore the white balance is to shoot in RAW, then you can in the Raw converter set the temperature of the light to taste. Also good if you forget that you've set your white balance to a cloudy day outdoor and then go inside and shoot in incadecent light.

[rent]

welcome to the forums fototaker.

to answer your original question of what is white balance... the imaging sensor in your camera needs to have a point of reference as to what is white. while this comes easy to our eyes -- we think of a white sheet of paper as white no matter if it's under sunlight or fluorescent light -- the digital sensor needs to know the color temperature of the light it's reading.

so we do this by setting the color temperature value as a way to indicate to the sensor what it should render as white.

petra's post above answers the rest. :)

-alex

[BrandonSi]

A way to totally ignore the white balance is to shoot in RAW, then you can in the Raw converter set the temperature of the light to taste. Also good if you forget that you've set your white balance to a cloudy day outdoor and then go inside and shoot in incadecent light.

Yep. White balance to me is just a setting in Capture One ;)

[jimsolt]

can someone explain just what this is and how often I have to use it...I'm weening myself off film and this is a head scratcher for me---thanks

Think FILM!!! You selected color film for daylight or tungsten and/or you used filters to compensate for different light.

Think DIGITAL!!! You use white balance to do the same thing. Depending on your camera, you have different settings for white balance -- daylight, incandescent, etc., and something film didn't have, AUTOMATIC, which as previously stated works well a lot of the time.

RE: alternatives -- if you shoot in RAW format, you can ajust your white balance after the fact. In any other format, you must expose properly for white balance either with the built in settings -- more options, the more elaborate camera you have, OR use custom white balance -- shooting and using as reference a white (or some prefer gray) card exposed in the light you will be shooting in.

If you know about this in film, don't let the terminology get the best of you. It is for exactly the same purpose.

Jim