# Custom WB



## rjackjames (Dec 16, 2009)

Do you have too keep reseting the custom WB every time like indoors n outdoors?


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## sdowden (Dec 16, 2009)

Everytime you turn the camera off the white balance will reset.

I have this 3 pack of cheat cards, ones a grey card, ones a black (handy for black point) and ones for white balance, everytime I go to shoot I take a image of the white one, then set the camera to that white balance in the custom settings. that way if the conditions change in the few short minutes I can change it later.


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## rjackjames (Dec 16, 2009)

sdowden said:


> Everytime you turn the camera off the white balance will reset.
> 
> I have this 3 pack of cheat cards, ones a grey card, ones a black (handy for black point) and ones for white balance, everytime I go to shoot I take a image of the white one, then set the camera to that white balance in the custom settings. that way if the conditions change in the few short minutes I can change it later.



Thanks I appreciate it..... I have lot too learn.....


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## KmH (Dec 18, 2009)

sdowden said:


> Everytime you turn the camera off the white balance will reset.
> 
> I have this 3 pack of cheat cards, ones a grey card, ones a black (handy for black point) and ones for white balance, everytime I go to shoot I take a image of the white one, then set the camera to that white balance in the custom settings. that way if the conditions change in the few short minutes I can change it later.


Interesting. I have one card that does all of that. You get it from www.rawworkflow.com .

Setting a custom white balance is a good idea whenever the light changes. White balance is easiest set from a card that is 18% grey. The key is knowing exactly the color and reflectance of whatever you use. 

There is white and there is white, and then there is the other white.

Our eyes aren't reliable for distinguishing white because our brains continually make adjustments for us. Incandescent lighting is really a light shade of orange and flourescent light it actually a shade of light green, but our brain tends to make us humans think it's all white light.


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## rjackjames (Dec 19, 2009)

KmH said:


> sdowden said:
> 
> 
> > Everytime you turn the camera off the white balance will reset.
> ...



Thanx I am trying too shoot with alot of snow here in Alaska n all my pictures all comes out grey. So I tried different techniques and still having a few problems.....I try and try them out again.....


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## IgsEMT (Dec 19, 2009)

> Everytime you turn the camera off the white balance will reset.
> 
> I have this 3 pack of cheat cards, ones a grey card, ones a black (handy for black point) and ones for white balance, everytime I go to shoot I take a image of the white one, then set the camera to that white balance in the custom settings. that way if the conditions change in the few short minutes I can change it later.


Interesting. What camera do you use?
I set it once and done with it. Then again, I'm using flash 99.9% of the time to main light source is my flash. On occasion outdoors, I'll preset it again (takes seconds).
What cheats do you have?




> Thanx I am trying too shoot with alot of snow here in Alaska n all my pictures all comes out grey. So I tried different techniques and still having a few problems.....I try and try them out again.....


If your light source in flash or sunny day, set it on "sunny/daylight" or flash (a bit warmer then previous one) and have a blast


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## JimKing (Dec 19, 2009)

Are you sure this is a white balance problem. First Nikon recommends a grey card not a white card, however, white will work.
But, the snow problem. Your cameras light meter will assume that any photo is normal. A photo with a large amount of snow in it is not normal, it's way too white so your cameras computer says "Wow its too bright I need to make it darker." and guess what? Your snow is grey. If you have a +/- control set your camera to over expose by one or two stops set it to +1 or +2 and see what happens.


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## IgsEMT (Dec 19, 2009)

for exposure, I believe its called shooting lights to Over and darks to under (don't remember the saying  ) but point is that camera will attempt underexpose lights and overexpose darks thus you have to compensate for that


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## Overread (Dec 19, 2009)

I belive this article might give some advince on setting white balance as well as the topic in general: 
White Balance

Jim gives a good measure for working in snow - but I will also add that you should use your histogram - take a shot and review it with the histgram in the camera and then adjust your exposure based onthat - it should give you a better idea of roughly how much you can get away with overexposing the shot before you start to get blown highlights.
more info: 
Histograms - Part I
Histograms - Part II


Finally another very good measure is to also shoot in RAW because RAW will let you adjust the white balance in the shot in editing. This is a very big advantage because it means that even if auto or manual white balance fail, you can still correct the error later. Note that whilst you can correct some white balance problems with a JPEG image it takes a lot longer and is a lot harder to perform and have the effect looking correct (and without having the image suffer from pixelation and banding).
more info: 
Why Raw -- Part I


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