White Balance off?

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White Balance off?

Postby DaFrog » April 15th, 2007, 9:23 am

Hi - I took these pictures (with a flash) and I find them uninspiring from a white balance/color point of view, even after trying to correct- What should I do?
[Canon EOS30D - Av mode - f1/10 - 250ms)
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Postby trido » April 15th, 2007, 10:59 am

I dont know anything about you camera but the pics arent too bad at all. They are a little bit oversaturated but the colors sure do pop. Does your camera have an AWB mode or a flash adjustment?
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Postby Len » April 15th, 2007, 5:39 pm

The color looks great to me. Did you want them to look more blue? With flash, you're not going to achieve this. You'll have to shoot with available light. Because aquarium lighting is very unique, it's a trial and error process with your custom white balance. If your camera lets you set WB by adjusting color temperature, I would start there until you find the Kelvin that gives you the desired result.
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Postby DaFrog » April 16th, 2007, 12:47 am

Not really more blue, just a bit different - Basically, the angel is more red, but less saturated... I will try playing with a custom white balance and trial and error (unless I am lucky enough to find a water resistant grey card I could immerse in water)
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Postby Checker » April 17th, 2007, 6:02 pm

You don't really need a grey card, a white object works great.

I have one of these and I can not talk highly enough about it. I LOVE the thing :)

http://www.expodisc.com/products/produc ... _-_Neutral
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Postby bleedingthought » April 18th, 2007, 1:20 pm

GreshamH wrote:You don't really need a grey card, a white object works great.

I have one of these and I can not talk highly enough about it. I LOVE the thing :)

http://www.expodisc.com/products/produc ... _-_Neutral

Does that go directly on the camera, Gresham?

I'm in the same boat, trying to find something submersible that is clean white. :?
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Postby Checker » April 19th, 2007, 12:20 pm

Yes, your mount it on the lense and shoot at the light source. Simple and accurate.
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Postby bleedingthought » April 19th, 2007, 1:03 pm

GreshamH wrote:Yes, your mount it on the lense and shoot at the light source. Simple and accurate.

How much did you pay for yours? Are there different kinds for different brand cameras/lens?
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Postby sfsuphysics » April 19th, 2007, 7:59 pm

GreshamH wrote:Yes, your mount it on the lense and shoot at the light source. Simple and accurate.


Now if only those who had coral websites would use this rather than just going with the flow of a couple thousand watts of 20kK bulbs.
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Postby ThrillYa » April 19th, 2007, 11:05 pm

As far as what to use as a grey/white card which is also submersible, I've used a laminated piece of paper. You choose the color. It works pretty good and is cheap and easy.
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Postby bleedingthought » April 20th, 2007, 1:08 am

ThrillYa wrote:As far as what to use as a grey/white card which is also submersible, I've used a laminated piece of paper. You choose the color. It works pretty good and is cheap and easy.

Good call! :D
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Postby clippo » May 10th, 2007, 9:43 am

WB looks accurate to me.

If you are shooting in JPEG format, you might want to consider turning down the colour saturation parameter via the menu system on the 350. With those 2 particular fish the standard setting often gives over saturation IME.

Using the on-camera flash gives unrealistic shadows.
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Postby Sharkky » May 13th, 2007, 3:44 pm

I use a Jobo color test chart. It's practically indestructible plastic, 18% grey on one side, greyscale and colorscale charts on the other.
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