I recently decided to try out the procedure of setting a custom (preset) White Balance (WB) for my indoor winter sports shooting. And after doing so I’m now wondering why I hadn’t done this sooner. It’s incredibly simple, quick to do, and, at least so far, for the venues I’m shooting in anyway, appears to be an improvement over the Auto WB. Not that Auto WB was terribly bad, but photo’s I’ve taken so far with a preset WB definitely appear better (JPEG, Fine/Large).
I’m using an 8”x10” gray card that came with one of my Scott Kelby books. I usually place this card in a location (floor, chair, bleacher seat) which is generally receiving the same light I’ll be shooting in. My cameras are either a D7000 or D300s so the next steps are Nikon-specific: set WB to PRE, press and long-hold the WB button until “PRE” flashes in the viewfinder, release the WB button, compose the gray card in the frame (focus apparently doesn’t matter), and press the shutter release button. If the preset(ing) was successful then “GD” (for GOOD) flashes in the viewfinder. That’s all there is to it.
So I’m wondering, does most everyone else use a preset WB procedure for indoor sports, and I’m now just becoming aware of it? Or is AUTO WB more commonly used? Are there any variations to the procedure I’m doing? I’ve heard mention that it’s also possible to use a pure white reference, but with this procedure I’m puzzled by that since I thought that the camera was looking for something that’s 18% gray. Also wondering if a WB preset is ever used when shooting sports in outdoor (good) light.
Here is another great tip from John Patrick in a recent thread that I'm adding to your post. Hope that's OK.
Just a pointer: In the US, we have 60 Hz electricity, so each light gets one complete cycle every 1/60th of a sec. 1/60th is a great shutter speed to WB at, however, 1/40th isn't. You're now getting 1 complete cycle and then part of a cycle. You'll want integer multiples of 1/60th to ensure you get complete cycles: 1/60th, 2/60th (= 1/30th), 3/60th (= 1/20th), etc.
I use neither AutoWB nor custom WB and here's why. All the preset WB banks such as flash, shade, auto, etc, are all assuming typical lighting situations within those banks. Custom takes it a step further and scientifically assigns a WB based on lighting inputs that you have set. There's nothing wrong with it, but you have to understand that the banks are scientifically preset based on lighting under those conditions. Custom is scientifically calculated by your input.
Probelm is that photography isn't scientfic. It's aesthetic. What a custom WB tells me is "true" may not be the "true" that I want to photograph. Most of the time, custom WB is too cool for my liking and it needs tweaking practically all of the time. Since I was finding myself tweaking all of the time, I figured... why bother using a grey card or expodisk. Just set a kelvin and be happy. I have been doing that for years now and all my photog friends call me the human white balance machine. I have been doing it so long that I can walk into a venue, look at the lights, call out a kelvin number and be right 99% of the time.
Timely post as I am struggling with WB (or maybe I am over thinking it). I have followed somewhat the same procedure as PC stated in the intial post. I place my disc at or around the foul line area (for Bball) at end of the gym I am shooting and preset WB on each camera (D300 / D3) with mixed results. Plus, have noticed (in gyms) that each one has a "bright spot" (better than avg light) or a "dark spot" (poorer than avg light); therefore, regardless how I have set the WB and action is in these areas - the results are all over a scale. Plus, I have notice a difference in WB results based on if I am sitting or standing (which makes some sense as the intensity of the light falls off closer you are to the floor).
So now I am performing a lot of tweaking (using / learning LR3) to achieve the not cool and not too warm image (preliminarily too warm).
Now off to read up on Kelvin based on Paul's insight.
I am perhaps in the minority here, but I shoot a lot of indoor sports and I have had some pretty good success with the ColorChecker Passport and it's related software. You still need to get the right shot of the ColorChecker card (no shadows, etc). I use it for outdoor shots as well.
What I like most is the ease of use in Lightroom to make custom WB adjustments.
Like Paul I shoot at a specific Kelvin temp, but unlike Paul, I don't choose the temperature. My camera is currently malfunctioning and no matter what setting I use it always assigns a kelvin temp of 4000. No biggy, though. I just shoot raw and adjust in post. I have used a color checker, but really, for me anyway, white balance is an aesthetic issue and I adjust it until I like it, regardless of the results of the color checker. It gives a good starting point, but I've found that I always end up adjusting it anyway. So, I don't use that anymore.
Well that solves it... now I'm just going to walk into my venues, snap a cell phone pic, and text it to Paul so that he can give me the correct Kelvin.
A downside to Kelvin wb settings in camera, is that there is still a Tint that sometimes needs some tweeking.
Shoot in RAW in auto or any other setting, adjust to taste in post as suggested by Monkey Falls. Problem is, lighting varies at these venues and your times will vary as well. Thus, from frame to frame, you will get all sorts of strange colors. If you use RAW, you can adjust each as necessary.
There are several threads/articles on gymnasium lighting which go into detail about the varying colors due to different sorts of lighting used, frequencies vs. shutter speeds, etc. Don't have a link, but a search would probably turn it up fairly easily.
triggermike wrote:
Shoot in RAW in auto or any other setting, adjust to taste in post as suggested by Monkey Falls. Problem is, lighting varies at these venues and your times will vary as well. Thus, from frame to frame, you will get all sorts of strange colors. If you use RAW, you can adjust each as necessary.
There are several threads/articles on gymnasium lighting which go into detail about the varying colors due to different sorts of lighting used, frequencies vs. shutter speeds, etc. Don't have a link, but a search would probably turn it up fairly easily.
Yep, it's something you quickly realize if you glance at the photos you're taking - that the lights you're shooting under are producing weird colors. I shoot at a hockey rink at a college nearby and those lights drive me nuts. I'm forced to shoot at 1/500th at a minimum to freeze the action, but in doing that the lights sometimes cause half of the ice in the picture to look white, and the other half pink, purple or blue. It takes a lot of tweaking of the white tint slider in Lightroom to get it to a balance that is acceptable.
