White Balance

Those nice to know things about your DSLR will be found here. How to do this, and why you probably should not do that.

Moderators: Greg B, Nnnnsic, Geoff, Glen, gstark, Moderators

Forum rules
Please ensure that you have a meaningful location included in your profile. Please refer to the FAQ for details of what "meaningful" is. Please also check the portal page for more information on this.

White Balance

Postby NewbieD70 on Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:17 pm

Just wondering if someone could advise, if I use a - white balance, of say -3, is this likely to produce the "blue" you see in some pictures?

I am referring to mainly landscapes here.

Thanks
Thanks, Trevor
User avatar
NewbieD70
Member
 
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:57 pm
Location: Perth

Postby sheepie on Sat Apr 16, 2005 5:41 pm

I generally use whatever WB best suits the situation, then put in -1 or -2. This tends to WARM the lighting rather than COOL it. If I am unsure, I'll generally have it set to AUTO WB -2.

I also shoot RAW, so the WB setting isn't quite so important - but I find having the -1 or -2 on whatever setting I do have seems to result in (to my eyes) better pics :)
*** When getting there is half the fun! ***
User avatar
sheepie
Key Member
 
Posts: 3029
Joined: Sun Aug 08, 2004 11:56 am
Location: Picnic Point, Sydney Australia *** Nikon D200/D70 ***

Re: White Balance

Postby gstark on Sat Apr 16, 2005 7:02 pm

NewbieD70 wrote:Just wondering if someone could advise, if I use a - white balance, of say -3, is this likely to produce the "blue" you see in some pictures?


I'd respectfully suggest that you start with the basics. Have you downloaded our white balance tutorial yet? If not, I'd commend it to you.

Getting back to your question, it's not as simple as just the + or - settings. What was your actual white balance setting? Bright sunlight? Incandescent? Flouro? Have a look at the forum logo in the top left hand corner of your browser window. See the line beneath the number 42? That whole section is for your basic wb settings, and in this example we're set for bright sunlight.

Now, if your wb was set for incandescent lighting, but you were shooting a landscape, you'll be likely to have a blue cast over your image, and your -3 setting won't have that much of an effect.

So it's that primary setting that will determine the baseline colour that you'll see, and the +/- settings will just nudge the flavour a little this way or that.
g.
Gary Stark
Nikon, Canon, Bronica .... stuff
The people who want English to be the official language of the United States are uncomfortable with their leaders being fluent in it - US Pres. Bartlet
User avatar
gstark
Site Admin
 
Posts: 22896
Joined: Thu Aug 05, 2004 11:41 pm
Location: Bondi, NSW

Postby NewbieD70 on Sun Apr 17, 2005 7:38 am

Thanks guys, will have a play and see what happens...good thing we dont pay for processing :-)
Thanks, Trevor
User avatar
NewbieD70
Member
 
Posts: 88
Joined: Fri Oct 29, 2004 7:57 pm
Location: Perth

Postby Krzysztof M on Sun Apr 24, 2005 5:09 am

hi there.

im new in here, got a d70 recently. ive heard auto WB isnt too good (to put it nicely!). what do you guys think, should i try to avoid it or can a rely on auto?

thanks in advance
k.
Krzysztof M
Newbie
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Hornsby, NSW

Postby fozzie on Sun Apr 24, 2005 8:00 am

Krzysztof M,

Krzysztof M wrote:hi there.

im new in here, got a d70 recently. ive heard auto WB isnt too good (to put it nicely!). what do you guys think, should i try to avoid it or can a rely on auto?

thanks in advance
k.


Firstly welcome to the forum :) .

Refer to 'Home Page', left hand column, heading 'Tutorials', then 'How White Balance Works on the D70'.
fozzie

When people ask what equipment I use - I tell them my eyes.
User avatar
fozzie
Key Member
 
Posts: 2806
Joined: Tue Oct 12, 2004 9:19 pm
Location: AUADA : Nikon D3/D2x - JPG Shooter

Postby Krzysztof M on Mon Apr 25, 2005 11:22 am

thanks fozzie for nice welcome.

i`ll read it and have a go.

cheers
k.
Krzysztof M
Newbie
 
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Apr 24, 2005 4:51 am
Location: Hornsby, NSW

Postby ozczecho on Mon Apr 25, 2005 12:22 pm

The tutorial section is awesome and commend any new commer to check it out. Thanks to the people who donated their time to put the articles in there.....
User avatar
ozczecho
Senior Member
 
Posts: 785
Joined: Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:41 pm
Location: Beecroft, Sydney

Postby below-0 on Thu Apr 28, 2005 10:36 am

speaking of white balance, I was having a nightmare taking anzac day pics at around 10-11 the sky was very bright & overcast and the city scenes exceptionally darker. I just couldn't get the combo of sky and people very well so many pics have over-exposed skies. I'll post them soon -- was using a combo of wb settings. mostly -2 cloudy.
below-0
Member
 
Posts: 67
Joined: Fri Oct 22, 2004 1:27 pm


Return to Tips and tricks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 21 guests