White balance "correction" on a Canon 550D.

[Mr Felix]

Ok, I Know what white balance is - well I think I do.

But reading through the book - manual - Page 101:White balance correction*

You can correct the white balance that has been set. This adjustment will have the same effect as using a commercially-available colour temerature conversion filter or colour compensating filter. Each colour can be corrected to one of nine levels................

Ok, what I read:
You can change the white balance which you could have changed before taking the picture and didn't. (So what is the point of white balance if you can change it AFTER the picture has been taken?)
In the software you can do what is done with expensive filters - I'm guessing that is only kind of.

It goes on to say it is for ADVANCED users. So I'm not going to play with it.

But it confuses me how it fits in to the scheme of things.


Anyone mind talking the village idiot though how it works?

[Shelley]

When I first began shooting I would set my camera to one of the presets on my camera, daylight, cloudy etc. when shooting. I did not have enough understanding at the time to delve into further. Without going into to much detail, white balance can be changed if you shoot in raw mode by your software program on the computer easily.
You would need to be shooting in raw mode on your camera. It is harder if you only shoot jpeg to correct white balance and you would really want it to be right on camera to make life easier for you.

To be honest I would not be wanting to mess around too much with white balance afterwards on the computer (that is me) - I now use custom white balance for my portrait shots, but because I shoot in raw mode, I have been able to change it if I mess it up.

I hope this helps, others might be able to explain better.

[Mr Felix]

Shelly,

Yes and no.

In one of my posts about "night shots" there are shots with different white balances which are obvious to see.

I understand it is something to do with the temerature of the colour white in the shots.

But this "white balance adjust" for POST adjustment seems weird to me.

The manual isn't clear to me.

[William]

Set the camera to AWB ,Canon does a pretty good job on Auto White Balance, Thats where mine is set always , Mind you I shoot in RAW so I can change it if I have to for a desired effect

[ricktas]

You can only change WB in software if you shoot in RAW.

As you would know with your 20 years of photography experience, if you shot under flourescent lights for example, with the wrong film you would get a harsh green tinge to the photos. With film you either bought a flourescent balanced film or used a filter. With digital, you can counter the incorrect colour cast by shooting RAW and then correcting the WB in software. It is just a digital way, compared to an analog way, nothing more, nothing less

[Mr Felix]

I am asking about "WITE BALANCE CORRECTION" as opposed to WHITE BALANCE.

Why is everyone sticking to whitebalance?

[Longshots]

Well actually its the same thing if you're talking about the manual white balance adjustment. Essentially you're adjusting the same thing - the white balance or white balance correction. If you're using the white balance presets, thats effectively changing the white balance - and if you use the manual white balance correction - which btw is best done with using a white piece of paper - pointing the lens at the paper under the ambient lighting conditions, the camera effectively works in the same way a colour meter (very simplified explanation) partially works at, and then the white balance correction can be set manually. Alternatively, you can also dial in the "white balance correction" also known as kelvin colour temperature. Now all of that can be done and is applicable if you're shooting Jpeg. If you're shooting RAW, it will help in you assesing the preview shots, but the great thing about RAW is that you have all the information within the digital capture, and you can adjust the RAW quite comprehensively, which includes a full adjustment of the colour temperature (also referred to as the white balance).

So people arent sticking to "white balance" but referring to the same thing in the variety of different ways - none of them wrong.

HTH

[Mr Felix]

OK, thanks.

I shall have to sit down and look at the white pages with black lettesr on them a bit more.

[ricktas]

Correcting anything is just a post processing tool

Sharpening a photo is correcting/improving the sharpness
Adjusting the levels is correcting the exposure
Correcting the White Balance is just adjusting the white balance

It is just another tool that can be adjusted/corrected. I think you are making it more complex than it really is

[Shelley]

Shelly,

Yes and no.

In one of my posts about "night shots" there are shots with different white balances which are obvious to see.

I understand it is something to do with the temerature of the colour white in the shots.

But this "white balance adjust" for POST adjustment seems weird to me.

The manual isn't clear to me.

Honestly, I agree with what others have posted and it is not complex as Rick said. I know sometimes when doing a sunset I change the white balance to cloudy to get more warmth in the colours - eg. nice red's/oranges etc., if I don't remember to do it in camera, I can do some white balance adjustment (post - pp) because I shoot raw I change to cloudy on the computer and that brings the warmth in - if its too warm - I can adjust it myself (custom). You can also do this by adjusting the colour sliders - but again its choice.

I think if you get out and shoot and try some stuff - you will start to understand it. Its easy to get bogged down by reading and not trying - I do it myself at times.

Look, all the best with working it out

[Wobbles]

Hi Mr Felix,
most of what has already been said is correct, but doesn't actually answer your original question! I believe the confusion has come from everybody having different camera brands and/or models where different terms mean different things...

"White Balance Correction" is a specific Menu Item on the Canon 550D (and similar on my 50D) it shows up as WB SHIFT/BKT on the second menu.
The White Balance Correction or WB SHIFT allows you to "tweak" the standard WB Presets. Say you want the sky to come out "Bluer" in the Cloudy setting, first select the Cloudy WB setting as per normal. Then in the WB SHIFT/BKT menu move the cursor on the colour chart to the left towards "B" Blue using the cross keys then press OK to save. Now when you take photos with the Cloudy WB preset they will turn out bluer! Try it on a white wall to see the difference.

Cheers
John

[Dan Gamble]

Is is possible your seeing colour cast as opposed to white balance problems?

[ricktas]

Hi Mr Felix,
most of what has already been said is correct, but doesn't actually answer your original question! I believe the confusion has come from everybody having different camera brands and/or models where different terms mean different things...

"White Balance Correction" is a specific Menu Item on the Canon 550D (and similar on my 50D) it shows up as WB SHIFT/BKT on the second menu.
The White Balance Correction or WB SHIFT allows you to "tweak" the standard WB Presets. Say you want the sky to come out "Bluer" in the Cloudy setting, first select the Cloudy WB setting as per normal. Then in the WB SHIFT/BKT menu move the cursor on the colour chart to the left towards "B" Blue using the cross keys then press OK to save. Now when you take photos with the Cloudy WB preset they will turn out bluer! Try it on a white wall to see the difference.

Cheers
John

AH. BINGO me thinks. Seems the thread-starter is discussing a menu feature on his camera, that most of us probably do not have. One has to ask if the majority of camera's do not have it, is it really all that useful as we can take perfectly good photos with correct and adjustable white balance. Sometimes camera manufacturers are starting to add features that are 'interesting' to say the least.

[Wobbles]

AH. BINGO me thinks. Seems the thread-starter is discussing a menu feature on his camera, that most of us probably do not have. One has to ask if the majority of camera's do not have it, is it really all that useful as we can take perfectly good photos with correct and adjustable white balance. Sometimes camera manufacturers are starting to add features that are 'interesting' to say the least.

Personally I agree with you Rick. I'd come across the feature when reading my 50D manual but couldn't really see a practical use for it (particularly because I shoot RAW now) other than if you wanted an "artistic" effect on a JPEG straight out of the camera and only remebered it because of the 'nifty' little colour graph (showing my nerdiness! ).

[William]

Agree as well , That sounds like where the confusion has come from, Makes my old 30D look a bit basic Thanks for your input John, I hope this has helped the OP as well

[Shelley]

Thanks Wobbles, I also agree - not something that I have really looked into.

[Bennymiata]

I have a 60D, which is very similar to the 550D.
You can easily get a pre-view of your white balance settings before you take a picture by using Live View and then using the Quick menu, select white balance.
You can change the white balance while you are looking at the live view and see what the picture will look like before you press the shutter.
This way, you can hone in on the look you want for the photo.
The 550D and 60D both have excellent screens, so any changes really show up well.
Of course, you can also take a picture and while viewing the picture on your rear screen, then go into the menus and adjust the white balance AFTER you have taken a photo also, but I find that in difficult or unusual circumstances using live view and adjusting the white balance works well for me.
This even works with photos captured in jpeg format as well as RAW.

My Pentax K-x works in a similar way too, so I would imagine that most SLR's with live view can also do it.

Sometimes, I will play with the white balance for a few minutes, even adjusting the Kelvin settings to tweak it to be just so, before I hit the shutter.
It's actually fun to do and it's amazing the different affects you can get from adjusting the white balance settings.