Folks, one of the most important aspects of digital photography is making sure that the color on your photos is accurate. And absolutely the only way to ensure this is to take control of your camera’s white balance setting at all times. This is something that you can do by shooting a grey card (like this Ezybalance Card (Grey/White)
), or you can use a fantastic tool called an ExpoDisc
(make sure and get the size equal to your largest lens diameter).
Let me illustrate the point very quickly with a couple of sample images.
This first image comes straight out of the Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 70-200mm lens. This is a $5,000 camera setup, and the camera was set on “Auto White Balance”. Basically, what I’m telling you is that your camera is definitely no better at auto white balance than this rig.
Now, if you ask me, that is a nice photo. The colors don’t look so bad, and I kind of like how the columns are a bit “rich” in color. All in all, no one would be complaining. Until they see what the image should have looked like…
Here is the same shot taken with a custom white balance set using an Expodisc:
Wow. All of a sudden, the sky looks bluer, the leaves look greener, and the stone looks… stoner? Anyway, hopefully this dramatically illustrates the point. Just imagine what happens when you take a photo of an actual person! Instead of them having a yellowish or reddish tint to their skin, you get an actual skin tone! Amazing.
So, I recommend that everyone pick up an expodisc for your photography. As long as your camera allows you to set a custom white balance, you should do it. And if your camera doesn’t – its a piece of crap and you should replace it with one that does!
Here is a little video that illustrates how to use an expodisc on a Canon. You can also see how to do it on a Nikon.
If you are not going to get an expodisc, then you should watch this video to see what your alternatives are for setting a custom white balance.
I have been messing around with photography for many years and still never realised what a difference white balance can make, particularly in digital photography can make. I wonder how I get get the users of our service who hire our compact digital cameras to understand and use white balance better, after all most of them are taking wedding photos that are a one off chance.
I see many white wedding dresses that just are not correct, sure I can correct them for my clients in photoshop but it would be really nice to help them get better photos to start with.
Any Thoughts
BTW a great blogg and some great tips
Hmmm, do I sense another OMB contest coming ….? ;)
While I do agree with Christian about liking the color of the column in the first shot – if it’s not true-to-life, who wants it? Right? That’s really amazing the difference between the two, though. If you open each photo in a new window (to see them all biggy-fied) and click back and forth between the two, it really makes the difference dramatic.
I really like that MyPhotoTutorial guy – he takes all this mumbo jumbo – so hard to understand – photography stuff and makes it SO much easier to understand! You did too, John – then he just went into more detail. Love it!
I absolutely love photography, but, it can be so hard to understand….. learning from your learning is really helpful!
Now quit running companies and running off to conferences and blog more, mister!! ;)
The funny part is, there are parts of both photos that are amazing. While I know the second photo has more true-to-life color, I would want to merge the column/pillar and tree color of the first photo (which just looks rich and lush) with the building and sky of the second (which looks vibrant and bright). The joys of photography are truly neverending.
I’m very interssted in photography art, would you suggest me the best camera for that ?!
Nice tutorial, very helpful indeed specially for a amateur in photography. Now I know how you get those awesome shots.