July Monthly Challenge - "Manual White Balance"

interesting one, for me i use the white balance quite a bit as a jpeg only shooter, i'll use it to correct for what i see at the time or use it to boost autumn colours, most of the time i will use the presets while outside choosing one that fits like cloudy or daylight etc when auto is not doing it, for some interiors i'll use the K adjuster which i guess you are refering to as the full manual adjustment because there are some pretty weird light combos out there, one specifically had me jiggling about quite a bit, i was shooting from inside my garage at night which has daylight flo tubes, outside there are streetlights with who knows what colour tints, the fox i was shooting was right in the middle of these two light ranges, i got it close but had to go into the amber green red thingymejig (what is the correct name for that setting, the one with the colour adjustment graph) and take out a bit of green.

moon i always adjust manually to 4000k

one of the other fun things is to use the white balance to change the time of year with the addition of colour correcting gels, something i know how to do but havent done much of at all, good reason to try it again

 

Color Temp set @ 10000K. I'm surprised I didn't see more 'bang'. Photo taken under full early evening sun.



EDIT:
Alright, Alright, I'll try this again. Having now learned that Full Sun and Color Temp at 10000K is what it's supposed to be. Back to the drawing board and try again.

 

When things go wrong we learn and improve, still a nice effort, Caladina, this is my first attempt, this the reserve behind my back yard, white balance was set at cloudy and because I felt the image was a bit bland with just greens and browns, I converted it to black and white, lens used is my new toy, a canon, 75 - 300mm.
This was taken from my back-door steps in the afternoon sun

 

A bit of a trick that can be worth exploring, and it is pretty easy to do. For sunrises and sunsets, to add a little more red and warm up the image.


First off, the camera is set to AWB. Sunset with a bit of cloud around the hills behind us.



Okay, now set the camera to "shade", and as we can see, the image becomes a little warmer.



It is easy to play around with, and of course it depends on the subject. This one is a little hard for us to do at the moment as I leave for work in the dark, and return home in the dark.

Gary

 

Nice image, Gary, I like to use a yellow lens filter to achieve this effect.

 

What a difference a day makes. Color Temp set @ 2800K this time. Thanks for the challenge, now I like both WB extremes.

 

When I remember Craig, I change the AWB when I am shooting a sunrise or sunset.

The effect does depend on the sunrise or sunset. This one is only a so so outcome. Sometimes it works really well. Also, no need to carry filters, you just need to remember to change your white balance afterwards.

And thanks for the comments about the image.

Gary

 

I agree this is a more correct way of achieving the result, on the flip side I do this when it is a bit darker and over-cast to add more yellow to the image, I carry 3 filters all the time with me, yellow, a neutral density and a circular polarizing filter.
When I use film I have the a red one as well but this is getting away from the intended purpose of the challenge. in that context you are correct, Gary.

 

I was out and about today and this was at a little enclosed bay near my home -in the afternoon sunlight.
The first image was taken with auto white ballance at 6000 kelvins and the second white balance setting on cloudy which was 5400 kelvins I think I like the first one is better or if it fits in with the challenge take an image of a grey card and use that as a custom setting.

 

To be honest the theme for this months challenge didn't really appeal to me but for some reason the dismal cloudy day with period of rain and an occasional sunbeam fired up a few gray cells so I grabbed the camera and tripod and headed for the car - then I put them down and went back for the car keys. Anyway, I slung the camera in the passenge footwell, jumped in and off I drove to this nearby church. I picked up the camera and the ..... damn! I'd left the tripod sitting in my drive. So, apologies for the mis-matched shots as I managed to twitch the lens zoom ring while I was changing the WB.
The rain stopped for a minute and a hazy sunlight graced the scene so I made these two images while I had the chance and then headed home - fotunately to find my tripod still lying on the drive - lucky me.

The first image was made using Auto WB and the second one I wound the WB down to 2500 to give the shot a much needed boost - no attemp at finesse you will note.

Auto WB


WB set to 2500

I wouldn't normally shoot in JPEG mode and I am surprised how 'cold' the Auto WB is even. I will have to check that out on the camera tomorrow,

P.S. I forgot to add that the only post-processing was to do a quick perspective correction.

 

This month's challenge is a bit of a learning curve, you only get out of it as much as you put in, the fact that you went to the trouble of having a go at it, you are aware now of what can go wrong getting to the place and problems with the camera, are things that are now in the back of your mind. The next time you do this, your photography trip will be more enjoyable with less issues. My I suggest you have another go at it and see what difference you get.This is all part of the joy of photography.

 

Craig, as I mentioned in my first post I've been a life-ling film shooter and my twelve year spell in the digital world never really floated my boat even though I was well paid for some of the work I did (actually its 10 years this year since I abandoned digital) I quickly learned to shoot everything in RAW mode and PP in Photoshop so I never really explored in-camera WB but I felt I had to do something for the challenge. I'll see if I can come up with something a bit more imaginative before the end of the month.

 

This is good Keith as it is getting you out and about, This is what the monthly challenge is all about.

 

Ohm, the colors in the first one look warm and quite real, of course I haven't seen them, but they seem very accurate to me.

In 2800K white balance photography, it looks bright, but the above looks more natural.

 

Craig, you've got a lot of gray in the first image, and the forest looks good. The photographs of the Bay, both look quite good, but I like the second one better, it seems a little warmer to me.

 

Gary, thanks for the trick, I'll try to apply it. You are right about remembering what you have been doing, I lost a day of a trip by not looking and realizing that I was shooting at 3200 ASA.

 

Keith, the photographs you got are fine, although the first one looks more real, the second one seems that autumn has arrived, the colors are much warmer.

 

I have spent almost the entire month of July in Torredembarra, I have only gone to Barcelona to visit doctors, for my wife and myself. And now I'm starting to have internet.

This month's theme is a bit atypical, I had never used it, I normally have the camera in automatic. In analog photography only the yellow, red, green and blue filters, to highlight or diminish a range of colors in black and white photography.

The first book on RAW development that I read, in the first chapter it talked about monitor calibration and I had a hard time reading it.

For this month I took three series of photographs, I will send the one of the light bulb, because some flowers came out somewhat shaky, I shot at 1/15 and a 100mm manual lens. And the last one in Torredembarra, a building in which the differences are small.

The first is with Auto White Balance, the next is with Daylight Balance, and the third is with Tungsten Light White Balance.