White balance comparison

D

dvdguy

Ok, this is a sequel to my earlier post in which I asked how to set WB. Now, my question is: When is the RIGHT time to set white balance? Cause I've been doing some experiments yesterday and here are some pics of my work so far... These pics have been done with a 500W light (dont know how much is that in Kelvin) so you tell me which one works best in comparison with the others. And also guess in which pic have I used AUTO WB and in which MANUAL (One-Push) WB... just checking something ;)


Pic 1

dsc00145rw.jpg
or
dsc00144x.jpg


Pic 2

dsc00141rg.jpg
or
dsc00139ze.jpg


To be continued...
 
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And the final pic: (note: this is my 500 Watt light that I use, its set on top of an object so the light can bounce off the wall giving a warmer look.)

dsc00150kf.jpg
or
dsc00147m.jpg


Ok, thats it!! Now first, I want you guys to guess White Balance feature did I use in each picture..I just want to check something :)
 
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I would hope that you manually white balanced in each of the first pics. Those look far closer to white balance then pic 2 for each. I am guessing your using a 500w work light for your light? If that is the case then the balance temperature for those is something around 3500K or so. Which is very close to ideal 3200K. Can you see in each of the 2nd shots how blue they look? Not what you want, and to be honest, it doesn't look like you were white balancing manually, it actually looked like you were switching between tungsten and daylight filters. Which is why the colors are so close in all of the pictures. But I can see your learning and trying different things out. So keep it up. Do you notice the different in the colors? That's the more important question.
 
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I really appreciate your honest opinion and wonder what should I try out next? Correct me if I'm wrong, I need to try out some other light? What would you advise, I'm not sure now. I did everything what I was suppose to. I set up my lighting, preset my WB to one-push (manual) and then took the shots. Did I miss anything? Or do I need different lights?
 
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If by "manual WB stuff" you mean that I took the shot with my manual (one-push) white balance setting, then YES ....although, something is WRONG! Well, maybe it's because I used one light? a 500 Watt work light, oh yes, and maybe the over-head light was turned on, im not sure, cant recall. Eitherway, how can I repeat the process without messing up? I took the picture of the bed while the light was bouncing off the wall. And the worklight was about 4 feet from the wall. Maybe it has some relevance
 
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dvdguy said:
If by "manual WB stuff" you mean that I took the shot with my manual (one-push) white balance setting, then YES ....although, something is WRONG! Well, maybe it's because I used one light? a 500 Watt work light, oh yes, and maybe the over-head light was turned on, im not sure, cant recall. Eitherway, how can I repeat the process without messing up? I took the picture of the bed while the light was bouncing off the wall. And the worklight was about 4 feet from the wall. Maybe it has some relevance
Click to expand...

Not quite what Im asking..

When you hit the "wb button" what was the camera looking at? If your answer is "just the room" then, I don't think your doing it right.. :)
 
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well hehe, yeah, you can tell from the picture 3, I was basicly shooting the couch. Although, the couch WAS the object the camera was looking at. Why did it turn out the way it did? And what can I do about it? I really could use in information in detail.
 
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How to set White Balance video (including manually, with a white piece of paper) :cool:

The basics in this video are pretty much the same for any digital camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mkq5UYietko


For the custom presets (such as default Tungsten, Daylight, Shade, whatever) you can just select what you want.

For true manual setting, you actually need to provide the camera with "what white looks like"; usually a piece of card or paper.
 
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Zensteve, thank you very much! I done that before too exactly, but that wasnt the problem. The problem was the my crazy thinking! It had something to do with the lighting being set as I suspected. I know I did something wrong, but now, hopefully, I did better. Im uploading the pics....
 
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and yeah, you guys were right, my bad, the damn paper wasnt highlighted enough and I wasn't even sure what I was basicly shooting, as in the first pic, you can see I was shooting the entire corner of my living room. lol, trial and error, what can I say :)
 
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You should be zooming in on that piece of paper 'til it literally fills the screen; then press setting.

Or if you don't want to zoom, have someone hold it right in front of the camera so it fills the lens; then press setting.

Just make sure the paper/card has adequate light on it, btw.
 
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Learning by committee! Hhaha

Iv not done this experiment, and I'm grateful for DVDGuys saving me the effort. Should he (ok We!) expect that if properly WB, that the same shot with different light temps should look essentially the same?
 
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yeah, Zensteve I did that, do you see a difference in the pics now? I left that "white card" there after I zoomed in and WB. Its less different in color, although it shows that its been white balanced or maybe im wrong, but I can see the difference :) . and Wheatgrinder, WHAT? Look CLOSELY and for about 10 SECONDS LONGER, youll see its different in color. It may not show much as the first pics that were a mess, but you can see clearly now. For example: the curtains behind that red car model were a bit yellow and now its more clear in white.
 
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Dvdguy..
I was asking a theoretical question... I noticed your differences, hence I was asking what is the theoretical goal of WB'ing.

The difference between “theory” and “practice” is that in theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice, there is. :)
 
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