How to Use Custom White Balance. Quick Tutorial
By
Staten Island, NY Posted: 8/2/2016 1:00:00 AM
Sometimes I'm blue. It's not my fault.
One thing that most YouTube creators overlook is getting the right white balance, which makes their videos look a bit off color. That's because most people set their cameras to use Automatic White Balance (AWB), which means that the camera makes a GUESS about the actual color of the light in the room.
Huh? Color of the light in the room?
Contrary to what many people think, every light has at least some color. There are very few truly "white" lights. This means that when you are in your house, using an old fashioned tungsten light bulb, chances are it's a bit yellow or even orange. This is what people would call a "Warm" temperature. Conversely, a lot of florescent bulbs are somewhat blue, which people would call "Cool".
Those warm and cold color variations are called the colors, and they have a scale, which is measured in units called Kelvin, but the main thing to know is that any given light source will throw light which is either warm / yellow or cold / blue, and anything in between, and it's important that you tell the camera what "color" the light is, so that your color is as accurate as possible.
While it may be tempting to either use the automatic (AWB) setting, or even use one of the presets like "Sun", "Shade", "Indoor", etc., the truth is it's not as cut and dry as that. Not all incandescent bulbs are the same temperature, nor is the sun always the same color. It's somewhat orange at sunset for example.
Making things even more complicated, if you shoot indoors, you may have multiple light sources in the room, such as multiple light bulbs and perhaps a window. In that case, it's nearly impossible to use a preset.
That's where Custom White Balance comes into play, and it's easier than you think to set it up. All you need to do is take a photo of a neutral subject, such as a white or grey piece of paper or cardboard, then use a couple of buttons on the camera to tell it to use the photo you just took as a reference for the correct light. Since the camera knows what those colors are supposed to look like, it will know exactly whether to shift warmer or colder to match the correct white balance.
This may sound complicated, but it literally takes seconds. Take the shot, use the menu to tell it that what you just shot is white or grey, and turn on the custom white balance. From that moment on, your color will be absolutely perfect, as long as the lighting conditions don't change.
Remember, if you move to another location, or even use the same location later in the day, you'll need to repeat the steps to match the new color temperature.
Joe Crescenzi, Founder
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