White balance

[IA4PATS]

Does anybody know of a book that really goes in depth about white balance? I want to go much deeper than setting the camera on the cute little symbols on the display.

[Dbl]

I don't think you need a book on it, might be included in a chapter. What are you looking to accomplish? There are the cute symbols, custom white balance and setting K temp. Those are the three basic ways to set your white balance. I can go into depth on those if you want?

[IA4PATS]

Thanks Dan, I use the symbols on my 7D, but not 100% sure what they are really doing. I use 10000K for sunrises/sunsets. But after that you can go as in depth as you want. For instance, what is the difference between 2000k or 4000k? Or if it is really bright out, what should I use? How does snow affect it? What are the benifits to custom balnce? These are just some questions poping in my head as I type. I want to learn as much as I can and maximize the camera and each photo.

Josh

[MN Shutterbug]

This might be the lazy way, but I use auto white balance and shoot everything in large jpeg and raw. If I don't like the white balance the camera chose, I change it while processing the raw image. In auto, a scene with snow will definitely give you a blue tone which is considered a cool temperature. The only time I utilize the custom white balance is if I'm indoors with odd lighting such as a gymnasium. If I'm shooting a bunch of pics I really don't want to have to change the WB on each one in post.

One way to see the effects at different temps is to shoot a couple in raw and play with the different temps during processing and you'll see what the different temps will do to the image.

[IA4PATS]

That sounds fine except I don't use any programs to alter my pictures. I like the art and challenge of getting what I shoot with the camera. Thanks for the ideas though.

[Todd Caswell]

That sounds fine except I don't use any programs to alter my pictures. I like the art and challenge of getting what I shoot with the camera. Thanks for the ideas though.

Certainly a challenge, but I have a feeling no matter how well you understand WB with no post processing your going to have alot more unusable or unexceptable images.