# Trying to set "White Balance" on T3i



## Keedo (Jan 14, 2012)

soo i have been trying to set my white balance on my camera but every time i do the pictures come out green and its really annoying =/ 

does anyone know what i am doing wrong? below i posted pictures of the picture i am using to set white balance and the picture i took after i attempted to use that setting.

thank you in advance - Keith
Below is the auto function of the white balance 



_MG_0390 by Keeedo, on Flickr

Below is the picture i took of a white piece of paper to set my white balance 



_MG_0389 by Keeedo, on Flickr

Below is the result of setting the white balance to the picture i took above. 



_MG_0391 by Keeedo, on Flickr


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

I saw a tutorial too that said to use a white sheet of paper to set the wb. I get the same results as you though. I think we need to get greycards...they are something like 18% grey.


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## pharmakon (Jan 14, 2012)

Grey card would be correct.

Also if there is more than one light source (with different color temperatures) you might still have issues even when using a grey card.


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## 480sparky (Jan 14, 2012)

Having access to the exif data would help.


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## Crollo (Jan 14, 2012)

You are in fact taking a picture of the white card *under the same light that is lighting your scene, yes?
*Not saying you're stupid, but there are lots of people out there that do stuff like that.


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

Crollo said:


> You are in fact taking a picture of the white card *under the same light that is lighting your scene, yes?
> *Not saying you're stupid, but there are lots of people out there that do stuff like that.



not the op, but when I tried it I did take the photo under the same light. Mine were done outside and turned out green/blue too.


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## Crollo (Jan 14, 2012)

What I think perhaps is that auto white balance is working on the picture you're taking to set the white balance. Therefore it's turning what would normally be a yellow paper into a white paper. Might be it?


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## MTVision (Jan 14, 2012)

Crollo said:
			
		

> What I think perhaps is that auto white balance is working on the picture you're taking to set the white balance. Therefore it's turning what would normally be a yellow paper into a white paper. Might be it?



That's what I was thinking also. When I preset my WB with a white piece of paper - it usually isn't pure white like that.


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do

take photo of all white
go in to 'set custom white balance'
select photo (of white paper aka white screen)
then switch wb mode to 'custom'.


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## MTVision (Jan 14, 2012)

paigew said:
			
		

> this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do
> 
> take photo of all white
> go in to 'set custom white balance'
> ...



What was your white balance set to when you took the picture? 

My camera has a pre option. I go to that and choose to take a picture vs use one already taken. Then I snap a picture of the white card and then the camera says information saved (or something like that.). The white card does not look white when I take the picture. Inside it looked yellow. If it was white wouldn't that mean WB was already correct??


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

MTVision said:


> paigew said:
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hmmm....my wb was most likely on auto when I took the photo of the white paper. But yes, the photo did 'look' white on the lcd screen, though I suppose it could have been off and I just didn't notice it on screen.


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## MTVision (Jan 14, 2012)

I just looked up custom WB t3i and I found a couple sites that said that the custom function didn't seem to work very well. 

Not sure if that's completely accurate but......


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

MTVision said:


> I just looked up custom WB t3i and I found a couple sites that said that the custom function didn't seem to work very well.
> 
> Not sure if that's completely accurate but......




hmmm...well I hope not! I plan on getting an actual grey card to see if it helps.


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

I found this info here, but I still don't understand why a natural (sunshine) light would make it off colored...



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## MTVision (Jan 14, 2012)

paigew said:
			
		

> I found this info here, but I still don't understand why a natural (sunshine) light would make it off colored...



Light coming through clouds is also natural light but may have a different temperature then direct sunlight.  A white piece of paper looks white to me under sunlight, incandescent, fluorescent, etc. the camera just doesn't register it as white like the human eye.


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## paigew (Jan 14, 2012)

MTVision said:


> paigew said:
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> ...



so you think a greycard would be more accurate?


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## KmH (Jan 14, 2012)

Clue. Few 'white' sheets of paper are actually white. Most 'white' paper has a blue tint to it.

Use a good gray cards like the GENUINE WhiBal G7 Certified Neutral White Balance Card - Pocket Card (2.1"x3.35") and then set the WB in Camera Raw.

Pure white is red = 255, green = 255, blue = 255 (RGB) . Pure black is R = 0, G = 0, B = 0.
Neutral gray is any colro wher the R, G, and B are the same.

RGB all = 100 is a neutral gray. RGB all = 125 is a neutral gray, RGB all = 147 is a neutral gray.

RGB all = 210 is 18% neutral gray.


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## 480sparky (Jan 14, 2012)

I like the Robin Myers gray card..... hard plastic.... consistent color all the way through.  Scratch it, or stain it...... a little 200 grit sandpaper makes it good as new.


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## ann (Jan 15, 2012)

paigew said:


> this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do
> 
> take photo of all white
> go in to 'set custom white balance'
> ...



did you try setting custom white balance mode, then put the white paper in front of the lens and firing the shutter?

I have several other cameras that use this method. Just thought it might be worth a try.

Just to double check you didn't do this in auto mode? As it disregards your settings and does what it wants to do on it's own.


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## paigew (Jan 15, 2012)

Well I attempted it again this morning inside my house and it worked fine. Maybe I was doing something wrong last time...maybe the sun was too bright....no idea.  OP, has any of this info helped you??


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## paigew (Jan 15, 2012)

KmH said:


> Clue. Few 'white' sheets of paper are actually white. Most 'white' paper has a blue tint to it.
> 
> Use a good gray cards like the GENUINE WhiBal G7 Certified Neutral White Balance Card - Pocket Card (2.1"x3.35") and then set the WB in Camera Raw.
> 
> ...



thanks! ordering this!


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## Austin Greene (Jan 15, 2012)

paigew said:


> this is what I did. which is what the tute said to do
> 
> take photo of all white
> go in to 'set custom white balance'
> ...



That is not the way I do it on my T3i. I would suggest setting the W/B to custom, then taking the photo, then going into the menu and selecting "Custom W/B" and then picking the image you just took to set it off of. I do custom w/b whenever I can, especially indoors, and I have never had issues like this with my T3i...

Keep me posted on if that works! 

Oh and also, I have never heard mention of using a grey card with the custom w/b on the t3i. I use a sheet of printer paper and it works perfectly  Though I will research it a bit more...

Toga


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## ConradM (Jan 15, 2012)

You guys can't just set your WB to color temp and pick a number that looks good? Usually indoors I can set it to 3000k (I'm sure this number varies body to body) and the colors look natural on my screen.


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## 480sparky (Jan 15, 2012)

ConradM said:


> You guys can't just set your WB to color temp and pick a number that looks good? Usually indoors I can set it to 3000k (I'm sure this number varies body to body) and the colors look natural on my screen.



I would never trust the screen on my camera to 'set' the WB.


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## ConradM (Jan 15, 2012)

480sparky said:


> ConradM said:
> 
> 
> > You guys can't just set your WB to color temp and pick a number that looks good? Usually indoors I can set it to 3000k (I'm sure this number varies body to body) and the colors look natural on my screen.
> ...



Doesn't your live view display what your picture will look like? I'm honestly curious because this thread is making it sound difficult.


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## 480sparky (Jan 15, 2012)

ConradM said:


> Doesn't your live view display what your picture will look like? I'm honestly curious because this thread is making it sound difficult.




No.  It shows me an imbedded jpeg thumbnail.  As all of 'em do.


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## MTVision (Jan 15, 2012)

ConradM said:
			
		

> You guys can't just set your WB to color temp and pick a number that looks good? Usually indoors I can set it to 3000k (I'm sure this number varies body to body) and the colors look natural on my screen.



Some people set WB by kelvin but your LCD is not a good representation of anything - colors, exposure, focus, etc.


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