This article assumes that the reader is familiar with:
- Concept of White Balance (WB)
- Concept of how camera reads color temperature.
- Usage of cameras built in white balance settings
This entry describes my experiments with in-built white balance settings and custom white balance setting. So here we go…
I have read in various articles that a photographer should always select white balance depending on the subject lighting to get the best results.
All digital cameras (consumer and professional range) have the option to select from multiple white balance modes depending on the lighting of subject.
Daylight, Cloudy, Sunny, Flash, Florescent, Tungsten are some of the options available. These presets work well for most of scene types. However, there are some situations where automatic and preset white balance would not yield natural colors. So what’s the solution? Read on….
One option available in the advance segments – high end compacts and DSLR’s is the selection of “Custom WB” instead of the preset options.
I use a Canon 350D/Rebel XT Digital SLR and it has the option to select “Custom WB”.
The most common method is to use a “Grey Card” and use it to set the Custom WB. Basically you take a picture of the Grey card at the same angle as falling on the subject and get a correct exposure. Then set that image as the base for custom white balance and take the shot.
My problem: I do not have a Grey card.
Possible Solutions: 1) Use a pure white paper instead of a grey card or 2) Use the front of my hand (palm) instead of a Grey card.
The second option was worth exploring as there would be many places where I may not be having Grey card or white paper handy when shooting.
I experimented with the second option and took a shot of my palm in similar lighting conditions in a shaded area of my room and here are the results:
Experiment #1: Single Subject – Single Color
Shot #1: WB – Auto
Experiment #1: Single Subject – Single Color
Shot #1: WB – Auto
Shot #2: WB - Shade
Shot #3: WB - Cloudy
Shot #4: WB - Flash (-2EV)
Shot #5: WB - Custom
Experiment # 2: Multiple Subjects – 3 Prominent Colors
Shot #1: WB – Auto
Shot #2: WB – Custom
Conclusion:
Experiment #1
WB Auto and Presets did not work well when I had only grapes in the scene. The color of grapes was pale and washed out. High degree of yellow cast was seen in the result. The custom WB worked very well here – I got rich and accurate reproduction of colors seen by eyes.
Experiment #2
WB Auto and Custom WB, both did very well here. The results from Auto WB and Custom WB were comparable. The addition of colors in the scene contributed to camera selecting accurate WB automatically.
Conclusion:
Use custom WB when one color dominates the scene – snow, sky, diamonds, gold, a model dressed in a red garment etc…..
It is safe to rely on Auto WB when you have multiple colors in the scene and camera has the chance to set the auto WB by judging other areas of scene as well.
There are other situations when you would want to try custom WB like multiple light source and many more which is not covered by the experiment in this post.
