Getting white balance right to start

I can't tell you how many times in the last month I have seen someone post a wondeful picture and then ask for help in getting the white balance corrected. Either they don't know what to do, they can't get it quite right, etc.

I've tried a number of things. Shooting in raw is helpful sometimes. You can then dial in a certain temp. But what if you only need a small jpeg and don't want the time and trouble of raw conversion?

Just like anything else in digital editing, it's easier to get it right when you take the image than to have to edit each image--even if you can nail it in PS.

There are several tools out there. Expodisc. White balance cards. Many others, including copier paper (my Canon Tech Rep told me that is what Canon recommends). And then there is this.

http://www.photovision​video.com/target.html

Out of evreything I have tried it's the only thing that is 100% on for me every time. It's fairly quick and easy to use and in addition to nailing the WB, you cal also confirm exposure with the flip side. Folks, I simply cannot recommend this tool enough!

If you are in doubt but you are struggling with this, spend the $49 and get the small one. It's worth it. And, you can tuck the small one in your pocket.

You can also get the same product (a medium sized one) at your local camera store courtesy of Westcott, but that one does not include Ed's cool DVD and you need the DVD.

I don't have any stake in this product or the company, I just hate seeing people struggle with this.

question: I used the AWB in my camera (20D)and under tungsten, its was still too warm. Then I clicked to the little icon representing Tungsten and it still was too "warm". Do I have to set it always in Custom mode to get it right? And this may be a really stupid question, but when I fill the viewer with the white card and press WB do I do it in the Tungston lighting that I am using for the portrait?
Joel

You shoot the white side of this target based on your INCIDENT meter reading right where your subject will be, or at least in the same light. You then set your camera to Custom White Balance and it prompts you to choose an image. Choose that image. Make sure you are set to CWB.

Then, with the same meter reading, shoot the reverse. You should, if exposing accurately, have 3 spikes in the histogram.

It's really straight forward but you need to watch Ed's DVD.

Looks like a great tool!

It'd be easier for me to do the custom white balance than to adjust it in RAW conversion.

The tool is great, but I prefer a smaller size.

Oceanrider, it is hard to tell what you are doing.

Set your 20D to AWB for convenience. Shoot a shot of a pure white card illuminated with the light that you are trying to balance for. The shot should fill the frame. So now you have one mostly white image inside the CF card. Now go through your menu to find the Custom White Balance feature. Then it will begin to display the images on your CF card. Point it to the one that is your mostly white image. Then activate that image as the one the camera uses as its target. Your camera will store the white values of that image into its memory.

Then, if you shift your camera to the AWB mode (top button), it will do AWB. If you shift it to Tungsten, it will do that. And so forth. When you shift it to Custom White Balance, then it will use the values that it had previously stored above, and it will try to interpret future shots based on the stored values from memory. You can always shift back to AWB or anything else, but when you shift to Custom White Balance, it will start doing future shots based on memory. It doesn't fix anything you shot in the past.

Now, how do you get rid of a Custom White Balance? First of all, you don't really have to. You can always leave your camera shifted away from Custom White Balance, and it is a non-issue. You can always follow the procedure for the camera to memorize a new Custom White Balance, so it dumps the old values and stores the new values. Or, the hard way is to remove both the regular battery and the memory backup battery. That will dump everything memorized, including custom settings of all kinds.

---Bob Gross---

I found the Expodisc to be pretty overpriced for what it does. Ed values it highly. I saw his song and dance a couple of years ago.

I constructed my own for about 10 cents.

---Bob Gross---

You mention basing the shot on incident light value. Should one be in manual mode when taking the WB calibration shot? Should it make a difference? I have been getting gray shots of my WB card. Could it be that there isn't enough light? I'm using two tungsten 500W lamps though with white umbrellas about 3 feet from the subjects

Thanks for any help, I'm a newbie using a Rebel and flying by the seat of my pants.

I've not seen Ed try and sell the Expo disc--not to say he hasn't--but I didn't see it. Either way, I know from experience this thing works. I've heard too much mixed feedback on the expo disc. I've also heard that a double coffee filter works as well. But the question is, as well as what. Aside from this tool, which has worked for me in EVERY situation flawlessly, I don't know of anything that nails the light every time.

Actually, I misspoke. You should incident meter the light falling on the target. Then close down 2 stops. This is per Ed's DVD and where just buying the target from Westcott you miss out. This gives you a gray target but it does work consistently for white balance. You can also just shoot the target in program mode (if not using some external or manual flash) and get the same result (the camera will automatically expose for 18% gray).

But I definitely recommend getting the tool from Ed so you can review the DVD. Well worth watching.

I agree. Kodak's gray card comes with complete instructions for under $20US. Cut it in half & reverse one side. Now you have a white & grey card. Tape them together with black tape as a hinge & it will fit folded in your back pocket.
Using A Gray Card:
http://www.goshen.edu/​~marvinpb/graycd.htmlL​ots more info is you google for them.

Ok, I'm sold (it actually didn't take too much selling) on getting it RIGHT in the camera. It seems only logical.
But all this talk of gray cards tends to confuse me.
Would I be correct in assuming that the gray card is for EXPOSURE and the black, white and other combinations discusssed in this thread are for WHITE BALANCE? Or am I oversimplilfying it? I'm talking about using what comes in the camera, not handheld meters.
Jim

A gray card can be used for both exposure & Wb. If you shoot a white card for WB, be sure that you underexpose a stop or two - the cam needs an unblown pic to calculate WB.
Black, gray, & white are useful in PS to set a point in levels, curves, etc.

And therein lies my confusion. I think I must be using the terms incorrectly or I don't understand what they mean. Based on my understanding (?), it would seem that using a white card for WHITE BALANCE would have no effect on EXPOSURE.

I'm not trying to be argumentative. I'm just confused.

Thanks for your interest. I appreciate it.

Jim

If you are trying to set a custom white balance, then you need to use a card. The card can be pure white or pure gray, but it must be pure and not have some color tint to it. Let's just call that the pure white card.

If you are trying to check some exposure details, then you might want to use a gray card. The typical gray card is exactly 18% gray. Film shooters and flash users like that especially, but most meter systems are calibrated to 18% gray.

Now, a digital camera can display a histogram of what it sees. So, if you want, you can make yourself a card target with multiple tones on it. A typical one has black, gray, and white. If you shoot the digital camera at it, you should see three spikes at fairly predictable places on the histogram.

So, what kind of card you use depends on what you are trying to do.

I simply made my own black-gray-white target for histograms for ten cents. If I shoot my digital camera at only the white part, then I have a white card for balance.

---Bob Gross---