White Balance

[glen_berry]

<p>While not new to photography, I can unequivocally say I don't truly understand what influences the WB. I shoot a great deal of high school sports in my forner high school gym with a D300 - I initially used the ExpoDisc to set my WB, then saved the setting(s) for that venue. I'm hoping to photograph an event in a different venue this weekend - I'm going to try shooting RAW - which is something I've never done. I have to admit I don't know what factors influence my WB. If I set my custom WB in the new venue, will changing my shutter speed from 1/500 to 1/60, impact my WB? Likewise, if I shoot at f2.8 and change to f6 - will that affect it? Or if I change the ISO? I've checked the archives - while there may be some info there, I can't find it. Any help would be appreciated. TIA..</p>

[bobatkins]

<p>Lighting is the only thing at affects WB.</p>

<p>Under some types of fluorescent lights it can change with shutter speed only because the lights are actually flickering (faster than you can see) and it can depend on which part of their cycle you catch</p>

[phule]

<p>If you want to see it in action, take a look at the animated gif from Guy Rhodes in this thread:</p>

<p>http://www.sportsshooter.com/message_display.html?tid=20873<br>

It's linked to from his post at 7:49 AM</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Read a few online articles about <a href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&channel=s&q=color+temperature&aq=f&aqi=g10&aql=&oq=">color temperature</a> , which will help clarify what's going on with white balance. As Bob noted, some artificial lighting will be inconsistent so you'll occasionally experience some erratic results even with a custom white balance. This occurs with some metal halide lighting found in school gyms and auditoriums too.</p>

<p>The metal halide lights you'll encounter in many school gyms and auditoriums can vary wildly so there's no single setting that'll be appropriate for every situation. And if the lights were turned on just at the start of the game or event, you may need to tweak the WB again within 15-30 minutes after the lights warm up.</p>

<p>The same thing happens throughout the day. From dawn to midday to dusk, the color temperature of daylight changes. So if you want neutral color you may want to custom white balance periodically, especially at sunrise and sunset as the color temperature changes every few minutes. Fortunately most viewers perceive the warmth of sunrise and sunset colors as aesthetically pleasing so it's not always necessary to fix it.</p>

<p>And if you encounter mixed lighting there's no way to balance for all of it. The worst I've encountered was a church in a metal industrial building with a mix of metal halide lights overhead, halogen wall sconces, fluorescent fixtures in the lobby and daylight through the windows. The only way to fix that is in post with selective color correction where needed, or convert the whole mess to monochrome and be done with it.</p>

[mike_stemberg]

Here is something from the archives here on photo.net ~

<a href="http://www.photo.net/column/jonsienkiewicz/missing-pages-column/white-balance/"> Missing Pages: White Balance.</a>

[ralf_h]

<p>you mentioned shooting in RAW. if you do, this may be the easiest solution for you, as you won't need to deal with white balance until you are in post. there you will be able to adjust the WB to your heart's content and get it to where it will look exactly the way you need</p>

[SCL]

<p>Our eyes and brains compensate substantially for differing color temperatures (AKA white balance)...but our cameras aren't up to human standards yet in this function. You can attempt to custom balance, but will probably need post processing anyway for final correction, especially if you are dealing with mixed lighting. If you're using a D300, I can't imagine why you're not routinely shooting RAW, which will capture everything the sensor can and allow you to sort it out later, while keeping a a lossless formatted original. </p>

[ben_goren]

<p>Glen,</p>

 

<p>An ideal way to get a gut-level understanding of white balance

is to critically look at a large white sphere (rounded tent,

<i>etc.</i>) immediately after sunrise or just before sunset. A

styrofoam cup will work in a pinch but is less than ideal due to

its small size.</p>

 

<p>You want to have the white object in direct sunlight. Observe

the color of the sunlit portion; compare it with the shaded

portion; and examine the transition between the two.</p>

 

<p>Cheers,</p>

 

<p>b&</p>

[glen_berry]

<p>Thanks to all who provided information - I will look at the links provided - and Ben - thanks for that example - Glen...</p>