is my custom white balance technique a bad practice?

[birdfromboat]

when I first saw an expodisc, I thought I wanted one. Then I saw the price, and that I needed a different one for all my different lens filter dia's. I bought a Lally cap ( has anyone else seen this?) because it was inexpensive and promptly lost it, but at least I got the jist of how it worked first. This is what I tried next, and what I still do to this day:

I purchased a yard of ripstop nylon that was as close to "photogray" as I could find (pretty dang close) and cut up several 12 x 12 sheets with a solder iron so the edges wouldn't fray. I set the lens to a suitable fstop for available light, manual focus, zoom length not important, and take an exposure with a sheet of my ripstop gray stretched over the lens opening and the camera pointed at the strongest source of light affecting the subject(s). This exposure is used to set custom white balance, with pretty good results. I shoot everything raw anyway, so I get a second chance at color, but I am usually pretty close, maybe just a little off in Cyan/green consistantly. I know there are other methods, what are yours? I have been advised to just use AWB and do it all in raw post process, but I am happy with my results and have not yet been convinced to try otherwise. I have never actually met anyone that uses the coffee filter trick, does that work for you? Anyone using a lally cap? Expo disc? gray card? copier paper? Anyone?

[Deckham]

I may get shot for this, however, shooting in RAW, I always keep it on auto. If I have a series (say, a warm interior shoot), I will correct the first photo in LR, than apply to the entire series. I do not believe there is any drawback to this system, other then perhaps some self-satisfaction with nailing wb onsite. Personally, I feel it takes times away when I could use it elsewhere.

Mixing light sources is another matter.

[opus13]

Agreed.

Constantly checking a rechecking whitebalance just irritates me and gets in the way of shooting. AutoWB+RAW is great by me. After all, what is post processing for, if not to keep you enjoying what you are doing?

[birdfromboat]

Do people still get shot in Australia for not using all the technology available? Man, thats harsh. You are right, its all about satisfaction at nailing it. I used to be a photoprinter back in the days of the kodak 5s printers with the clicking and clacking filter decks, and I hated photogs that couldn't get it right. I like to get it right if I can, but you are right, I probably could be doing more shooting stuck in AWB and doing it all in post. Thanks for the input.

[Deckham]

Originally Posted by birdfromboat

Do people still get shot in Australia for not using all the technology available? Man, thats harsh. You are right, its all about satisfaction at nailing it. I used to be a photoprinter back in the days of the kodak 5s printers with the clicking and clacking filter decks, and I hated photogs that couldn't get it right. I like to get it right if I can, but you are right, I probably could be doing more shooting stuck in AWB and doing it all in post. Thanks for the input.

hahaha - figuratively speaking, of course
Sometimes, Puritans can get a little excited

[manutd101]

I shoot a gray card in challenging situations, especially when shooting jpegs for sport.

[PhotosGuy]

Gray Card…White Paper. What’s best?

[gkas]

I still love my WhiBal...

[primoz]

Since I shoot in jpeg, proper wb is a bit more important then when shooting in raw. But no matter what, simple white paper works good. If there's no white paper, snow, gray asphalt, kinda white t-shirt and similar things do just fine
Expo disc is cool, but plain paper works good enough, so it feels a bit stupid to pay $100 for it.