If you shoot raw and are particular about color and white balance get an X-rite passport (http://www.xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?id=1257&tab=videos)
Then use it to calibrate your camera and set white balance. If you use Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom you can also create a preset in about 5 minutes so the white balance and camera profile can be attached to the file during ingestion into Lightroom or via Camera RAW to Photoshop. This will correct the previews in LR rather than having them use the camera embedded white balance and color space.
E-Vener wrote:
...The Datacolor Spyder Cube is also supposed to be very good, I just don't have one.
I do, and it's a good little tool for use in post, but not really intended for setting white balance before the shoot.
If you capture in RAW, you don't really need to set WB before the shoot; the latter is for use when capturing in JPEG or TIFF.
When capturing RAW images, if you include the SpyderCube somewhere in the scene -- or in a seperate shot under the same light -- you can then use it after the shoot to correct color and tone after the fact.
Question, say i use a grey card.
Then change my light setup (move a light around and/or change the exposure), will i need to shoot another test shot with the grey card?
I assume so, correct?
Tom Janz wrote:
Question, say i use a grey card.
Then change my light setup (move a light around and/or change the exposure), will i need to shoot another test shot with the grey card?
I assume so, correct?
Depends on what you are using the card for. If WB then no, because you would have done nothing to alter the WB of the lighting.
Yea, ive heard of AB's having color shift at different power settings. Thats why i was worried about using a custom WB. I normally shoot on auto and .raw, and try to get it close in ACR. But a grey card would make things alot easier. I guess it doesn't hurt to toss the card in there after a change in the lighting.
Tom Janz wrote:
Yea, ive heard of AB's having color shift at different power settings. Thats why i was worried about using a custom WB. I normally shoot on auto and .raw, and try to get it close in ACR. But a grey card would make things alot easier. I guess it doesn't hurt to toss the card in there after a change in the lighting.
Auto WB is not recommended for flash. It bases WB on the content and can vary shot-to-shot. What you want is shot-to-shot consistency so its possible to batch correct WB.
Even when a gray card is used for Custom WB the resulting technically neutral WB isn't always the best looking color perceptually. Depending on content and intended mood you might want the color slightly warmer or cooler.
All lights change color temp to some degree if the power changes significantly, but in in normal shooting your exposure shouldn't change more than 1/3 stop of so for a given set up. I have AB800s and have never had an issue with color variation.
To ease your worries get a gray card and do some testing: set WB then change power, re-meter and see if there is s difference you can see between the shots. If you can see the difference it matters, if you can't it doesn't.
Let's all remember that the white balance setting in the camera is a metadata field in the raw file used by whatever software to "adjust" the preview JPG until whatever you have set in your software sets its own parameters.
Thus, leaving the camera on auto white balance, shooting raw and the using a develop preset in either ACR or Lightroom sets the white balance to whatever you want it set to when importing the files.
Thus, using a passport, its a simple matter shoot it for reference. Then make a camera calibration using it, which includes a white balance setting. Then load the camera calibration and click the white balance eye dropper on the second gray square to get "neutral white balance. Or any of the biased white balance options included on the passport.
Save that as a preset for the shoot and import your images.
It probably takes less time to do it than it did to write this, or read it.
Alas, a question, outdoors, sun, revolves, open sky, clouds, form equation.
What is an acceptable difference; (if you accept) flickering temperature values.
Other coin side; calibration.
Upon usage. (eg. cube or passport) 'Same light'.
Outdoors compared with a studio.
A revolving sun compared to a plug.
Based upon two different scenarios, how would you incorporate both passport and cube usage in everyday practical usage?
Outdoors; open sky, no clouds, close(r) proximity, eg. few feet. Both cube and passport gray patches can be useful.
Introduce a sun revolving between clouds. Would you take a gray metering, or a more practical solution (if you're into specifics); a future color calibration. eg. dual illuminant.
With close(r) proximity, under (relatively; eg. open sky) same lighting, would you use just the gray meter patch side or the passport color patches side. Or combine with the cube. (eg. specular highlights) One or the other, or both.
Any research differences between gray values between cube and passport?
Or both acceptable?
Metering; some say fill frame with gray. Others; just central square (rectangle).
(eg. spot) Consensus; perhaps more lean towards latter.
Telephoto lens, beyond usage? Take into account, reflectance values upon different surfaces. Hence, calibration, more practical, if a tactical. Though most just set a pleasing, easing, final print or view setting.
I'm not sure why you are dredging up a 6 year old thread. Do you have a question other than the rhetorical ones you raised? Do you have practical experience with either tool you mentioned? Are you looking for advice? What are you after?
I stumbled across this thread while I'm also having trouble with WB. I can shoot with a grey card and when I sample off the image with the grey card, my images look more "warm" than when using auto WB in camera.
Granted I do not have that high end of a setup, Dell U2412M monitor and use Spyder3 express with basICCColor software to calibrate it all, the results are consistent with the images being warm. I know using the software that came with the spyder3 is recommended. But the colors seem way off, and if I apply a vignette to an image, there is a very harsh transition or very bad banding with the vignette.
Not to hijack just was wondering what it could be?
I even bought the Dell recently thinking could be my monitor.
jbandy wrote:
I stumbled across this thread while I'm also having trouble with WB. I can shoot with a grey card and when I sample off the image with the grey card, my images look more "warm" than when using auto WB in camera.
Thanks
How are you processing? Are you in Photoshop? Are you shooting RAW?
If in PS, use the eyedropper to check the RGB of the grey cards. Which WB setting gives more neutral numbers?
BTW, I use the X-Rite Passport Color Checker, which does well.
Sep 17, 2015 at 12:04 PM
Andrew Pece Photography Offline • • Upload & Sell: Off
For any given picture, many times it's assumed that throwing a grey card in there will magically correct everything. I suppose that is true to some extent if the entire scene is lit by the same light source. But isn't this rare? Even in cases where it is only one light, you have to think about different colors bouncing in from different sides. Further, what I notice as a problem for people going for wb accuracy, is they use a single point to set white balance. I would think at least three point need to be set, mid dark and light tones, and all three would need to have equal rgb values. If I had to do this I'd use curves within ps.
I suppose my point is wb is way too much of a pain to really get right. Go for it if you want but the truth is that setting your wb to what looks best for your intent is the way to go, and then if further adjustments are necessary to make them selectively with masks. Another way to put it - if you work hard on white balance it gets you nowhere. Selectively controlling wb is where it's at imo. Global adjustments are just too average and banal looking, although giving yourself a good starting point is important of cours.
jbandy wrote:
...I can shoot with a grey card and when I sample off the image with the grey card, my images look more "warm" than when using auto WB in camera.
It can depend on the gray card: some are not color-neutral. Gray cards were originally intended for use in setting exposure, not white balance.
