topic Re: White balance settings? in General Discussion

White balance settings?

Tintype_18 — Sat, 16 Oct 2021 23:43:36 GMT

Couldn't find the dog show photo. Someone edited it with proper WB. Is there a rule of thumb for setting WB or set to Auto? I had used the shade icon as the exhibition center is shaded but open sides and artificial lighting.

Re: White balance settings?

kvbarkley — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 14:20:56 GMT

The rule is to set it for the lighting you have. Mixed lighting is the toughest.

Most here will say to shoot raw and fix it in post. I usually use Auto and forget about it, and I shoot jpegs.

Re: White balance settings?

rs-eos — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 16:10:01 GMT

Shooting in RAW will not bake in any white balance. Thus, you can freely edit it in post.

I still try to get within the ballpark though as the current white balance setting _will be used_ for JPEG (which is used for the back-of-camera preview too).

For light from a single source (or predominantly from a single source), I use the presets (tungsten, daylight, shade, etc.).

For mixed lighting, I'll use a custom white balance,

For ultimate control, when capturing proper color is critical, I will use a color chart. Personally I use a Datacolor SpyderCHECKR Color Chart. For each set of images under the same lighting, I'll capture one image with the chart. I use Lightroom and there's a post workflow I use that creates a custom profile from the captured color chart. I then apply that to all the other images in that "set". Where "set" refers to a group of images all captured under the same lighting conditions.

Re: White balance settings?

Tintype_18 — Sun, 17 Oct 2021 22:06:59 GMT

Ricky, where is the colot chart available? i find this interesting.

Re: White balance settings?

rs-eos — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 00:32:42 GMT

I got mine at B&H Photo. Another popular brand is x-rite.

Re: White balance settings?

kvbarkley — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 01:29:54 GMT

There is also the Whibal.

Re: White balance settings?

FloridaDrafter — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 02:24:33 GMT

@rs-eos wrote:
I got mine at B&H Photo. Another popular brand is x-rite.

I used to use ColorMonki before X-rite got it. But it seems like when I used it, it was Color Monkey, but it's been a while and could be a totally different program. I worked, for a while, as a graphic artist making logos and brochures for project solicitation. I worked with CorelDraw and Adobe Illustrator.

Newton

Re: White balance settings?

kvbarkley — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 13:08:43 GMT

Isn't Color-Munki a display proffiling system? That is not what we are talking about here. We are refering to portable color / white-balance standards that you can take to the field to give yourself a reference you can use during post.

Re: White balance settings?

johnrmoyer — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 14:14:10 GMT

I use auto white balance, but I almost always change the white balance in DPP. When indoors under artificial light that is not changing, I have photographed something white or gray and used that to create a custom white balance, but I am usually outdoors and often end up using daylight, cloudy, shade, or auto white priority.

Since my photos are usually viewed on a screen and if printed I do not control the printing process, I do not bother to calibrate my monitor. Also, before cataract surgery colors looked very different to me than after cataract surgery so I sometimes trust the camera more than I trust my eyes unless there is some part of the image that I think I know what the colors should be.

Your circumstances are likely different and you might make different choices.

Re: White balance settings?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 15:17:25 GMT

"I use auto white balance, but I ~~almost~~ always change the white balance in DPP."

Spot on!

It is a little confusing when people say Raw doesn't set WB. It is true it isn't a saved setting, as are almost any setting, when you shoot Raw.

However, your post editor whether it be DPP4 or LR or PS does use the jpg so-called tag file which does include your WB settings to make you a viewable image. Raw is not viewable until converted in to some other format. It is simply ones and zeros.

In most cases you don't need any extraordinary measures to set WB. WB is pretty much a subjective look or feel anyway. I usually leave it on Auto WB. Almost every photo you take will have something at or near 18% neutral grey. Then a very simple process to adjust it in post edit. One click in levels in PS for instance. The other editors are just as simple. Plus if you did have a Raw file, you now have way, way more adjustment latitude to make any correction. That alone is why you should always shoot Raw.

Re: White balance settings?

ebiggs1 — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 15:25:16 GMT

"I used to use ColorMonki before X-rite got it"

You do not need a calibrated monitor in most cases. Certainly not a hobbyists but perhaps a hobbyist is the most demanding. Who knows?

Your monitor does need to have two things adjusted to do photography. Its grey scale needs to be correct and its contrast/brightness needs to be correct.

Most people have the brightness set too high. That makes judging photos more difficult.

Re: White balance settings?

FloridaDrafter — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 18:47:21 GMT

@kvbarkley wrote:
Isn't Color-Munki a display proffiling system? That is not what we are talking about here. We are refering to portable color / white-balance standards that you can take to the field to give yourself a reference you can use during post.

I used it to create profiles for all three of my monitors (I used three 21" CRT's) and our Epson large format printers 17" and 42" roll). The version that I used had color and gray cards to use as a reference in the field or studio. I never used the feature, but you could integrate it with PS.

But you are correct, that isn't what the OP first asked, but later showed interest in. He already had/has the best advice, which, IMO, is to set Auto in camera and if need be, adjust in post. But, I shoot Raw so I am biased.

Re: White balance settings?

wq9nsc — Mon, 18 Oct 2021 21:45:48 GMT

Setting white balance to auto usually does a good job but certainly not always. The ability to change white balance in post isn't the main reason I shoot only in RAW but it is one of the reasons.

My newer Canon bodies have two options for auto white balance, one for white priority and the other for ambiance priority. I shoot mostly sports and for me the white priority setting is spot on most of the time and in photos when it isn't, I use the click option in DPP to select a sample to set white balance. You can also set it via color temperature in DPP if you prefer going that direction.

I think for most users, either the "all in one" AWB or AWB-ambiance works quite well but the lack of auto white priority was one of the few drawbacks I found when using my original 1DX alongside the 1DX II and 1DX III bodies where their auto white option works wonders under varying field lighting conditions. I am surprised this white priority isn't something DPP could work with for any of the bodies but apparently there is some reason that Canon didn't create a white priority option for files where the original camera doesn't have that setting.

Rodger

Re: White balance settings?

ebiggs1 — Tue, 19 Oct 2021 15:58:44 GMT

" Is there a rule of thumb for setting WB or set to Auto?"

You have gotten several differing opinions about WB. The over riding thing is, either set your WB in the camera or set it in post. But the point is "set your WB"

I prefer to set it to auto WB in the camera and pretty much forget it. Then adjust it if need be in Photoshop. That is easy and very simple.

BTW, do check your monitor's grey scale setting along with your brightness/contrast setting. I would wager one or both are off.

Another very simple task and very helpful.

Modern or current computer monitors come from the factory with pretty darn good color settings. For the most part I don't think you need to mess with any calibration settings. The big benefit with calibrating your monitor is if you do a lot of home printing.