colour cast on custom white balance

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D-pearce92

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Dex
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I bought the latest isue of difital camera and it said how to get rid of unwanted colour casts in pics but it didnt really help me at all, so im going to ask you kind folk on here, what it is i got advised to try custom white balance cos when shooting in auto at lydden hill the reddy tarmac looks grey so i tried it and it gave my shots an unwanted yellow cast on it, is there any setting i can use to get rid of it via settings in menu?

Many thanks Dex
 
What camera and how did you get the custom WB ?

Were you outside and if so have you tried the daylight setting ? also worth posting a couple of shots so we can see.

Also are you shooting JPeg or Raw ?
 
Canon 20d took a picture of a plain white piece of paper, outside and never tried the daylight setting, always shoot in raw

Heres the pic as requested, no point in me posting more as they all have that colour tinge

Bill-Richards-Nigel-craig1.jpg


Many thanks Dex
 
It does look like the WB is out, here is a quick edit in PSE9

Bill-Richards-Nigel-craig1-.jpg
 
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definately looks better but do you know any way of altering in camera or can it only be done in the post processing stage?
 
If you are shooting in Raw then the WB can be set at any time, what software are you using when you transfer the photo's to your PC ? As all Raw edit software will allow you to change WB.

It seems strange that the auto has given that colour cast as normally it is reasonably accurate, maybe try using Daylight in the future when outside ?
 
I got Photoshop cs5, i can change it its just i wanted to do it in camera to save agro, this was shot in custom white balance, sorry have i not worded it well, when shooting in custom white balance i get that picture.
The tarmac at lydden hill race circuit is slightly red but it comes out grey with auto white balance. Ill try daylight tommorrow and see what happens thanks
 
D-pearce92 said:
I got Photoshop cs5, i can change it its just i wanted to do it in camera to save agro, this was shot in custom white balance, sorry have i not worded it well, when shooting in custom white balance i get that picture.
The tarmac at lydden hill race circuit is slightly red but it comes out grey with auto white balance. Ill try daylight tommorrow and see what happens thanks
Click to expand...

Ok but what i mean is that you have to get the photo's off your camera in Raw and then convert to JPeg on the PC at which point you would then set the WB ?
 
Try 18% grey card or if you have a lowepro camera bag the inside of the bag is about 18% grey and fill the frame to set custom wb . I know it is call white balance but the manufacturers use somewhere near 18% gray as a reference point for the software.
 
Auto white balance is usually pretty good in daylight, but struggles in artificial light, room light, fluorescents etc. Try the pre-sets, they can be better. Or do a custom white balance - see handbook, and follow the instructions carefully. Only takes two secs, but you've got to get it right.

White balance is nothing to do with 18% grey (that's exposure) and what you need is a neutral WB target (not all 18% grey cards are neutral). Neutral means equal quantities of red, green and blue, and clean white paper is usually very close to that, or buy a white balance card.

A custom white balance only works for that particular shooting situation, and that particular light. If the light changes, eg shade, you move inside etc, you need to do it again and reset.
 
Was the white paper the correct colour white?

There are a miriad of 'white' papers about. :thinking:

Was the custom WB taken in 'exactly' the same light as the shot :thinking:

D in W
 
HoppyUK said:
Auto white balance is usually pretty good in daylight, but struggles in artificial light, room light, fluorescents etc. Try the pre-sets, they can be better. Or do a custom white balance - see handbook, and follow the instructions carefully. Only takes two secs, but you've got to get it right.

White balance is nothing to do with 18% grey (that's exposure) and what you need is a neutral WB target (not all 18% grey cards are neutral). Neutral means equal quantities of red, green and blue, and clean white paper is usually very close to that, or buy a white balance card.

A custom white balance only works for that particular shooting situation, and that particular light. If the light changes, eg shade, you move inside etc, you need to do it again and reset.
Click to expand...

I have been doing it wrong then but the raw as shot looks pretty close to right so my 18% grey card must be somewhere near. I am always looking to improve so what is the most accurate way to get custom wb set. Sorry to hi jack but it may be useful to the OP in the long run.
 
paulminus273 said:
I have been doing it wrong then but the raw as shot looks pretty close to right so my 18% grey card must be somewhere near. I am always looking to improve so what is the most accurate way to get custom wb set. Sorry to hi jack but it may be useful to the OP in the long run.
Click to expand...

You just need a truly neutral target - equal quantities of red, blue and green. That could be pure white (which is just a very light shade of grey) or any neutral grey tone, doesn't matter. White paper is pretty good and it's usually quite easy to judge if it is clean white, but that can vary fractionally with artificial whiteners giving a tiny blue tint.

In practise, many people use whatever is to hand - white door, white table cloth, white t-shirt - often good enough. Finding a truly neutral grey subject in real life is quite difficult - take a grey/sliver car for example and it looks neutral enough, until you see it next to another grey car when they're clearly both slightly different.

It's usually more important to get the colour absolutely consistent shot to shot than strictly dead accurate. Our eyes can compensate for slight inaccuracy, but are intollerant of changes from one frame to the next.

For guaranteed accuracy, you need a certified white balance card. I use a Kodak card, which is 90% neutral white on one side for white balance, and 18% grey on the other for exposure. But the grey is not neutral, and not claimed to be - mine is fractionally yellow/greenish.

For the test shot, the key is to ensure that the target is illuminated by exactly the same light as the subject. So long as the target is not blown to pure white with over exposure, or too dark and full of coloured speckles of noise, the brightness doesn't matter.

Another method is to include a white balance target in a test shot, and use that in post processing with the WB dropper - can't be wrong.

Edit: BTW, Lowepro bags are not 18% grey (a bit lighter) and not strictly neutral either. Lowepro has never claimed otherwise.
 
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HoppyUK said:
Another method is to include a white balance target in a test shot, and use that in post processing with the WB dropper - can't be wrong.
Click to expand...

That is the best idea but not always practical!
 
Naw, that's not right either :lol:

billrichardsnigelcraig1.jpg
 
HoppyUK said:
You just need a truly neutral target
Click to expand...

:thumbs:

Sums it up, white balance is for source light colour temperature, everything else is just reflected, and that's where the neutral target like a white or grey card (dependent on camera model) comes in to play because the reflected light is within the parameters the camera wants to meter.

if you don't have one though its a b****r finding some thing to meter off.
Other option is to use the built in pre-sets for the situation that way you get as close as possible to what you need then fine tweak afterwards, which also corrupts less data in the image :D
 
What i do if i struggle getting a correct custom WB setting is to make a note of the colour temperature, and and set it that way with some adjustment to get it correct.


Or just batch correct it in lightroom later.
 
Try this one

car.jpg
[/QUOTE]

Thats exactly how it should look, how did you get it looking like that please Gary.
 
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