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by Kim on Mon Nov 28, 2016 11:07 pm
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Seems I am out on my own when it comes to shooting setups on the camera in terms of 'release or focus priority' in that I use Focus all the time except for fast action in continuous mode.

Today I was helping a fellow photographer with orchid photography when he asked about white balance. Well I always set the kelvin temp I think is right for the shooting conditions and don't use any of the pre sets or auto. I have been doing it that way ever since I got the Nikon D70 camera way back when and am pretty good at getting it right now. As I shoot raw it is easy to correct if I need to which is not that often.

The other photographer thought it was strange and considered auto all that was required.

What do others use?
 

by ChrisRoss on Tue Nov 29, 2016 3:33 am
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I use Auto and it is pretty close pretty much all the time on my Canon images. But that doesn't mean you should if you are happy with your results.. If you are going to the trouble of setting you could always use a custom white balance by taking a reading off a white card to set the temperature for each setup. Doubt it would be much more trouble than dialling in a Kelvin temperature, but don't know how Nikon have implemented the functionality compared to other brands.
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by E.J. Peiker on Tue Nov 29, 2016 10:10 am
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I don't use auto because I shoot a lot of stitched stuff and I don't want my white balance changing from shot to shot.  For each of my cameras I have made a custom white balance in noon full sun using a gretag macbeth color checker and then using the light gray swatch to take the custom WB.  I have done the same thing for a noon completely overcast day.  I have those two set in my camera and select the full sun white balance pretty much all the time except for when it's completely overcast.  Since even with auto WB I am virtually always adjusting the WB in post anyway, I have decided that two presets is all I need and it insures shot to shot consistency without the camera making any weird decisions about WB based on what the camera happens to be seeing.  An easy experiment, taking the same shot in the same light and just moving the subject around in the frame will reveal slight changes in what the camera uses for WB in auto mode - that seems absurd to me.

In a more studio like environment either in an actual studio or say I am shooting at a feeder set-up from a blind, I will place a gray card someplace in the same light as the set-up and just take a custom WB and use that until the light changes significantly and then I'll do it again as needed.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:15 am
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E.J., this question is for you: Since RAW isn't affected by white balance, other than PS or other programs reading the camera setting for it, I don't see the point of adjusting WB except for viewing the JPEG rendition. Why not just adjust in PP, even for stitched images? I know the eye compensates and adjusts our perception of what we see on screen, but the RAW image doesn't change when WB is adjusted.
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by E.J. Peiker on Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:38 am
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SantaFeJoe wrote:E.J., this question is for you: Since RAW isn't affected by white balance, other than PS or other programs reading the camera setting for it, I don't see the point of adjusting WB except for viewing the JPEG rendition. Why not just adjust in PP, even for stitched images? I know the eye compensates and adjusts our perception of what we see on screen, but the RAW image doesn't change when WB is adjusted.
Yeah that is what you would do if you shoot in auto but I have found that it's just a lot easier and it takes fewer steps in post if all of the images are the same to begin with.  Also some camera manufacturers seem to cook their RAW data a bit and just setting every shot to the same temperature doesn't even things out like you would expect.  Just try this, take a fairly wide stitched panorama around sunset or sunrise where one side is already shaded and the other side has warm early/late light. Do one with a locked down WB and the other with auto WB and then post process them both.  You will usually find that it's less work to match the sky across the sweep with the locked down WB.

As an aside, if you use a histogram to make exposure decisions, that histogram is generated off of an embedded JPEG that has your auto white balance applied and depending on where in the panorama you take your exposure info, you could get a wildly different result due to the WB that the camera selected.  Of course that is also true based on the lighting across the panorama sweep but this eliminates one of the variables.

In the end, I just like complete control of the image making process which is why I never use auto-exposure either and for many of the same reasons I don't use auto white balance.  Similarly, as long as it isn't a super dynamic situation, I don't even use auto flash, preferring to do it manually.  And about half of my lenses are manual focus but I do use AF on the AF lenses when appropriate :)
 

by photoman4343 on Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:39 am
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I shoot with Nikon DSLRs. Short answer, it all depends.

For some of my nature shooting, I use auto as the images taken are in Continuous mode at high frame rates. If I am taking pictures in early morning light or late afternoon light, I turn auto off and set Daylight, Cloudy or a set Kelvin number because I do not want the golden light diminished by the auto setting. If I were at a place like Bosque and I wanted a consistent WB from shot to shot, I would not use auto WB. The same goes for most of my landscape shots where auto is rarely set. I try and get it right in the camera and minimize any fixing in post processing.
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by SantaFeJoe on Tue Nov 29, 2016 11:55 am
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Maybe this will help explain for some of you:

https://www.adobe.com/digitalimag/pdfs/ ... w_sec3.pdf
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by E.J. Peiker on Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:20 pm
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It's good to have a really interesting discussion like this on the pros and cons of something like WB adjustment - especially since there really isn't a "correct" answer, but rather different preferences depending on how the photographer likes to work, and hopefully an educational topic on those less familiar with such nuances :)  It's the kind of discussion we don't have that much anymore...
 

by SantaFeJoe on Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:56 pm
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I found the different preferences and opinions interesting when I did this search:

http://www.google.com/search?q=does+whi ... ent=safari

I always shoot in auto and RAW+JPEG just for convenience of a starting point set by the camera for an idea how the camera thinks the image should look. I admit that am horrible at PP. It seems my eyes can never get the color right. When I revisit an image, the color is always way off! Shooting digital has changed photography so much that you no longer can just be a photographer, but a computer and post processing expert as well to get your best image. The possibilities are far greater than film, but so much depends on PP skills and visual perception of a screen.
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

by Tim Zurowski on Tue Nov 29, 2016 1:41 pm
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Like EJ, and for the same reasons, I always stay on the same WB and never use Auto. I typically use the Direct Sunlight setting on Nikon cameras, but will occasionally go into the K settings or the Cloudy setting.
 

by signgrap on Tue Nov 29, 2016 6:03 pm
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I do pretty much what E.J. does. For the most part two settings: noon full Sun and Cloudy using a ColorChecker. In most situations my camera is set on noon full sun. For minor variations in WB I leave the setting on noon full sun. Only when when the light has noticeably changed WB do I make an adjustment in camera, otherwise I normally make WB changes in PP. But on anything where color accuracy is important, to me or someone else, I will shoot a ColorChecker Passport which I always carry with me when shooting. But in most of my PP of Raw files I'll adjust the WB to what I think is needed to portray the mood of the scene accurately (note accurate to the mood I want to portray).
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by Dave Courtenay on Tue Nov 29, 2016 9:19 pm
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I am the same as Tim and for the same reasons as EJ, I adjust in PS if i need to

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by E.J. Peiker on Wed Nov 30, 2016 12:00 am
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While on the subject, I always have one of these in my bag when in the field in case I want to do a precise WB specifically for the current lighting situation.  While it isn't super critical for nature situations, I do a lot of other stuff and for things like products or real estate interiors, having accurate color is very important and your visual memory of precise colors is just not good enough.  I will both do a custom WB off of the target and take a photo of it so that I can also take a custom WB in my RAW converter prior to conversion.  For super critical jobs, and we are getting into an even more specialized realm here, I will actually take a Lens Cast Correction (LCC) shot which evens out any lens cast, lens uneveness across the field and vignetting (requires C1Pro, Adobe does not offer LCC correction in their products which is why technical camera users don't use Adobe RAW conversion software) 

Here is my in the field WB target I carry with me
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... ay_12.html
 

by Larry Shuman on Wed Nov 30, 2016 6:58 am
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Why not use a kelvin light meter and color correction filters? I watched a fellow use a 4x5 and the kelvin meter to create some very interesting work at night.

Larry
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed Nov 30, 2016 8:33 am
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Larry Shuman wrote:Why not use a kelvin light meter and color correction filters? I watched a fellow use a 4x5 and the kelvin meter to create some very interesting work at night.

Larry
More than what I want to carry in the field and it doesn't address across field color shifts or vignetting like a custom WB off of a grey card and an LCC profile ;)
 

by DChan on Wed Nov 30, 2016 11:16 am
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I leave WB at auto. IMO if I am going to check and adjust WB in post anyway, it really does not matter what I set on my camera. Auto is just as good (if not better in some situations) as the other options. Having said that, I carry these in my bag:

http://xritephoto.com/colorchecker-passport-photo

http://spyder.datacolor.com/portfolio-view/spydercube/
 

by ronzie on Wed Nov 30, 2016 4:23 pm
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My final output is for hobby print.

I have my trusty Canon 50D set for 56K. I want sunset illuminated objects to have neutrals in sunset color, not corrected to white, and further correct in PP.

It is important that you check the RBG histogram for no clipping, although I believe that is from the embedded jpg as it were so in RAW you should have a greater range.
 

by Kim on Wed Nov 30, 2016 4:43 pm
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Ok seems there is a variety of approaches used by members to white balance. I use a grey card in portraits and food work but stick to kelvin temps for my nature stuff.

EJ why noon day sun for your WB, is it because it is more neutral than morning or evening light?
 

by E.J. Peiker on Wed Nov 30, 2016 6:18 pm
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Kim wrote:Ok seems there is a variety of approaches used by members to white balance. I use a grey card in portraits and food work but stick to kelvin temps for my nature stuff.

EJ why noon day sun for your WB, is it because it is more neutral than morning or evening light?
If I would do the white balanced based on sunrise or sunset I would essentially negate the warm colors of sunrise or sunset.  The warm glow would become neutral.
 

by SantaFeJoe on Thu Dec 01, 2016 10:53 am
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Here's another article on white balance. Also, check out other articles on Roger's site like on ISO.

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/color.balance/

This is on ISO (I know this isn't related to color balance, but is informative):

http://www.clarkvision.com/articles/iso/
Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.  -Pablo Picasso
 

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