White Balance - an Honest Answer

[Sebastian]

When I remember, I adjust the white balance on my 300D, and I'm very happy when I do. Setting to tungsten / fluoro etc. at the right times really improves the shots. I've also experimented with Custom WB, and found it works very well too. The trick with all of this is remembering to make the change. I sometimes find I think so much about exposure, composition and DoF, that it is only afterwards that I think "Oh, the WB !"

Anyway, my question is this. When setting custom WB, some people talk about shooting a white object or a pringles lid, while others talk about shooting a grey card. Surely this will give different results ? Telling the camera that a white object is "white" vs. telling the camera that a grey object is "white" must be interpretted quite differently. I have thus far assumed that setting Custom WB is defining what is "white", and not what is "grey", and therefore shooting a white object to set Custom CF is the correct process. Can anyone clarify this for me.

White or grey, it makes no difference, the meter will expose both to be the same value of grey.

[EDIT] Let me elaborate. The camera meter is designed to expose for the middle value, grey. Anytime you point it at something, the "correct" meter reading is giving you the setting to make the subject middle grey. So the only time the readig is correct is if the subject truely is middle grey. Otherwise the reading will skew the exposure, if you point it at a black subject, the meter will overexpose to make the black grey, and it will underexpose white to make it grey. Hence, no difference between using grey and white cards. The only matter of importance when it comes to white balance is that cards be neutral in color. Unless of course you want creative effects like Skyman suggests.

Hope that answers your question.

[MJS]

If you treat each shoot like a paying job, you won't have the luxury of a screw up. I always teach my students to adjust the white balance manually.

MJS