Getting the WB right each time

[edavies]

Hello to all. I seem to be getting confused with how one can get the WB right for a particular shot. Quite frankly I presently cannot afford the "lens" type of cover (can't remember what they are called) which one is supposed to point at the subject and carry out a custom WB setup. I have used a white peice of paper or card which seems to be fine but I was, for instance, faced with a unique situation last week. My daughter found a barn owl in a tree outsdie our house. Concerned that I was going to loose out on photographing it, I setup the camera with the 70 to 300mm lens on the tripod. The problem was that the bird was in both shadow of the leaves of the tree AND sunshine as it was early in the morning. I used the flash to try and hide the shadows and also shot it in RAW and Jpeg mode. What would be the correct way to set the WB setting here? I had three variables - sunshine, shade and flash. Even with the RAW shot I found it very difficult to adjust it to look natural and it still appeared to be very redish. I also had problems with sharpness as I was shooting at almost the full 300mm. Should I perhaps lock the mirror up for this type of mode and can anyone suggest and cheap but effective way of setting the camera for the correct WB. Thanks for your help. Regards Evan.

[inkista]

Mixing flash and sunshine can introduce white balance problems, if the color of the two types of light are very different. But the key thing here is to realize that sometimes all the preset white balance settings may not be correct. Shooting in RAW, and then adjusting the color balance in post processing is probably your best bet, here. And you may want to learn about using the eyedroppers for white balance.

Secondly, mirror lock-up will only help if you think that the lack of sharpness is coming from motion blur caused by the mirror assembly movement during the exposure. It wouldn't hurt to try it, but chances are good that other factors are at work--like your tripod not being sturdy enough to withstand wind, or the shake introduced by pushing the shutter button. Try using a timer. Also, check to see if you're shooting at your maximum aperture. Stopping down to f/8 can often help a lens be at its sharpest. And possibly zooming out just a little from the 300mm end of the lens might also help.

[FrankLamont]

As Inkista has mentioned, using flash and warm ambient lighting is... not an ideal form of lighting at all.

[kencaleno]

I have simplified white balance-I set my white balance for cloudy for outdoor shots (Warmer images-because even in bright sunlight the refected blue sky can render images with a blue,(Cool) cast.Between 9am and 5pm- From sunrise to 9am Auto white balance From 5pm to dusk shade white balance-Sunset: auto white balance. twilight: Tungsten to reinforce the blue.

Indoors under Tungsten lighting, I use auto white balance-because the tungsten WB in camera is 3400 Kelvin,which is studio tungsten,and household tungsten is 3200 kelvin, otherwise images will be too blue.

Fluorescent for fluorescent lighting-BUT there are several temperatures to fluorescent light-best to use flash with window green gel,and fluorescent White balance.

Regards, Ken

[wulf]

If the bird was sitting still, as owls are wont to do, taking the same image with two different exposure settings and blending them in post production might be a better route to dealing with lighting in that sort of situation rather than attempting to use flash. As well as mixing different kinds of light, flash also drops off in efficiency over a long distance and might disturb a subject like a bird or animal.

Wulf

[Quo Fan]

I leave my camera set to auto white balance, and if I think the colors are wrong, I'll fix it in post.

[navcom]

Shooting RAW is a good starting point, but you want to find a way to do it on-scene as well. For custom white balance, I've constructed my own "card". I used my worthless UV filter. I took a white coffee filter from an automatic coffee maker, cut out a circle the size of the UV filter, and superglued it to the inside of the filter. When I'm on scene, I just screw on the filter, take my custom setting, and take it off...presto. It actually works pretty darn good.

I've used fill flash with this and haven't had much of an issue, but every scene is going to be different.

As a disclaimer, I don't use my coffee filter-filter too often. I usually use a preset white balance very similar to what Ken described. But every now and then it just doesn't seem to work so I pull out my trusty "white balance filter".

[LoveDSLR]

I cheat! I use a color meter (works with ambient light and flash).

[kencaleno]

Originally Posted by wulf

If the bird was sitting still, as owls are wont to do, taking the same image with two different exposure settings and blending them in post production might be a better route to dealing with lighting in that sort of situation rather than attempting to use flash. As well as mixing different kinds of light, flash also drops off in efficiency over a long distance and might disturb a subject like a bird or animal.

Wulf

Flash doesn't disturb birds-I have used flash from 6 feet away from a bird on a branch outside my house,and flash didn't register with the bird(image below)