understanding white balance

[FilmMakerr]

I understand that you need to white balance (with a white sheet of paper or something) everytime a lighting is changed correct? what if I'm shooting in the same house, every scene in one house, and lighting remains the same but only the camera's position is changed, does that cause the 'lighting to move' in a way? meaning to have to white balance once again? Just alittle confused. :2vrolijk_08:

 

[Noel Evans]

I wouldnt re white balance at all if the interior shoot was meant to be the same time of day across the house. You may want a room to look a little cooler with the look of external sunshine, but you can do this with CTB or in post also.

 

[Joshua Provost]

If only the camera position changes, and the lights and position of the lights do not change, you can get away with white balancing only once. In fact, in that situation, it's better to simply white balance once, so you don't accidentally have some shots that look different.

You can balance to some white paper, but it's better to get a real white/gray card and use that. Usually $10-15 for a good set of cards at a photography store.

Or, just use a preset WB if you feel comfortable doing a slight color correction in post.

 

[smelni]

white balance is a matter of taste and is a religious issue for many.

I white balance very little - and I rarely use a white card.

I white balance at the beginning of a location and use that as a basis unless the lighting changes drastically (inside to outside etc). In additionm white balance tries to set the white and mid grey point properly. If you have a good distribution of tones and brightness you can white balance off of your set scene (once lit). I do this and check by eye on a calibrated monitor. Once i like it i then adjust to taste using color temp in camera.

Some people think this is blasphemy - but my results are great doing it this way and I tend to only have to make minor adjustments in post. When you over white balance you tend to spread your colors more widely in an effort to be too precise.

Try white balancing off of your scene if it has lots of tones - it works very well,

Of course if you have a red car inside a red garage you cannot white balance off that - you will need a white card for that.

 

[HorseFilms]

Try white balancing off of your scene if it has lots of tones - it works very well,

Very interesting. I'll have to play around with that. Thanks for the idea.:beer: