Colour temperature /white balance

Hi, I'm a newbie here, I hope somebody can help me on what is probably a photography basic subject but one I haven't had to deal with till now.

I just bought a 2nd hand 30D and have been testing it out. I took some shots of a lemon coloured hibiscus using different white balance settings.

Even the best shot is way off the original subject colour - the lemon is more towards a pale orange.

Photoshop Auto Levels adjustment corrects the problem, but what I'd like to know is how to set the camera up to automatically get shots like this correct without the need for photoshop?

Any help appreciated!

Thanks

Gray card will solve all of your problems.
They are pretty cheap, you just have to learn how to use it.

Welcome to POTN!

Thanks Hermeto - guess I just search for info on how to use it!

Hi Mikey1967, welcome to the Forum!

As you might guess, the subject is quite complex. The Auto white-balance is often said to get it more-or-less right, but because you don't know what it's going to choose, most enthusiasts don't use it. It's usually best to choose which of the preset ones best suits the lighting, whether it's sunny, shady or whatever. I personally normally use 'daylight', as that's what film always was.

Again, most enthusiasts shoot in RAW, which you then adjust in the RAW-converter software to whatever you like.

As a further complication, some flowers are very difficult to show accurately, because of the different sensitivities of the sensor and its built-in filters against those of the cone cells in our eyes. I think this was more of a problem with film and its sensitivity into the near infrared, which DSLRs filter out.

Keep on experimenting!

mikey1967 wrote in post #4036161
Thanks Hermeto - guess I just search for info on how to use it!

https://photography-on-the.net …arch.php?search​id=3410514

Thanks for your replies guys and your welcomes )

Grey cards are Ok, but for better results the WhiBal is totally nuetral, and only cost about $10 more.

Here is a link, check out the Videos showing how to use one, even if you dont purchase one the videos should help you out.

http://www.whibalhost.​com …ials/WhiBal/01/​index.html

Thank You!

I also recommend WhiBal.
Buy it once, use it as much as you like and it will last longer than your camera..

Hermeto wrote in post #4036152
Gray card will solve all of your problems.
They are pretty cheap, you just have to learn how to use it.

Welcome to POTN!

Yes, and my personal advice is to shoot RAW files - the easiest to adjust white balance.

But this is just my personal opinion - and I'm not starting a RAW/JPEG discussion. Please.

No, not in front of the new member, please!

What bugs me is that the white balance presets on a Sony DSC-N2 p&s which I have are much more reliable it seems than the ones on the 30D

Why should it bug you?
You don’t shoot with both cameras at the same time, do you?

What bugs me is with my 30D set to AWB, the colour temp it selects late in the day is always well below 5200 K, whereas the white balance tool gives readings of 7,000 and higher. The camera's WB seems to be going the wrong way.

Any insights?

Sometimes I do and thanks goodness. I was shooting some people recently in Spain in very bright conditions and used a Canon 10D and the Sony - the Sony results were the better ones - probably because I didn't take enough care when shooting as I did the shoot in a hurry but the results were quite different. I ended up using the Sony ones only