Setting the white balance for a bright lighted, multi-color, stage

[wilcal]

There are six preset white balance settings on the Canon
cameras, plus custom and auto. If you are shooting a
lighted stage with lots of different colors ( tungsten )
and theatrical gels how would you set up your White
Balance? Some stages may have some fluorescent lights
mixed in. I have found that the AWB auto setting tends
to be off and orange.

Thanks

 

[Tom Wills]

I found on a show I photographed (same process applies) that I had to set my white balance to around 2900k to get something that looked similar to what my eyes saw. The issue was that the lighting board operator was told to make things feel "intimate" by keeping the dimmers at 75% or so, so we never got the full 3200k. Don't know why, exactly, but it worked. On another show I set it to around 3800k, because the stage was back-lit with a bunch of blue LEDs, and they were going too blue in the final photos. A lot of it seems to be by eye, but being in the 3200k range (plus or minus a few hundred) seems to produce a pretty natural look. So, I'd take a few test shots, if possible on a rehearsal night, and then figure out what most appropriately approximates the "right" look.

 

[Alex H.]

Start with the tungsten preset. That's generally effective for stage lighting. Tweak from there if you don't like it (or if, as has been mentioned, other lighting oddities interfere).

 

[David G. Smith]

Start with the tungsten preset. That's generally effective for stage lighting. Tweak from there if you don't like it (or if, as has been mentioned, other lighting oddities interfere).

I agree. Look to see what is the primary light source used on the stage. In most instances it will be tungsten units (Fresnel or par cans, ect). Set the white balance to tungsten (Indoor, 3200K) and make adjustments from there (either in camera with WB shift, or, as I prefer, in post). Double check though and see what the primary sources are, a lot of stages are switching to LED lighting, which is mostly daylight balanced. Beware of flicker under dimmable LEDs also.

 

[robotsound]

I found on a show I photographed (same process applies) that I had to set my white balance to around 2900k to get something that looked similar to what my eyes saw. The issue was that the lighting board operator was told to make things feel "intimate" by keeping the dimmers at 75% or so, so we never got the full 3200k. Don't know why, exactly, but it worked.

What you describe makes perfect sense. As you dim tungsten lights, the color shifts more orange (below 3200K).

 

[wilcal]

Start with the tungsten preset. That's generally effective for stage lighting. Tweak from there if you don't like it (or if, as has been mentioned, other lighting oddities interfere).

So in the case of my T3i I would be "tweeking" the WB Shift/BKT feature around.

Great comments all. Thanks. Good stuff.