White Balance

[vshelley]

When photographing in my daughter's house under halogen spotlights my photos come out with an orangey cast. I have tried every different white balance, but always the same. I know if I use raw then I can fix this problem in photoshop, but I would prefer to get it right without doing this. Can anyone help with which white balance I should use. I've not had the camera long and don't know how to use the custom balance. Would this help the problem. Thanks.

[J H Foto]

Re: White Balance

What camera are you using..?

[Thndr_strck]

Re: White Balance

Are you using flash? Could the pictures maybe be under exposed?

[tesarver]

White Balance

To use the custom balance, you need either a white card or 18% gray. You 1st that a photo of the 18% gray card under the lighting conditions you are taking the photo. For there, you select the custom white balance and it will ask you to choose the photo you took of the 18% gray card. Once you select it and set it, you should be good to go for taking your photos for the correct WB in that lighting condition.

Tom

[Undercrank]

Re: White Balance

It would be useful to see a shot or two as well, if you can.

Custom balance should work. It's a technique typically found in some professional contexts, like advertising and catalogue work, where everything needs to stay the same from shot to shot. Indoor nighttime shooting is a genuinely good reason to capture in RAW, even if you use flash. Getting neutral whites and greys in software will correct all the tones if the main lighting source is constant in all areas of the frame.

Some cameras have software built-in that will process (and correct) RAW files to JPEG very successfully. Does yours?

Hope you can get it sorted ok.

[Papathanassi]

Re: White Balance

Try setting the Kelvin to, between 3000 and 4000 to take the shot again! This should take the Orange cast out.

Papa.

[vshelley]

Re: White Balance

Hi. Thank you for your replies. I will try using the custom balance and see what happens. I am using a Canon EOS1100D. (Hoping to upgrade soon, can't decide between the 7d and 60d.) I was using flash. I don't think it's because they are underexposed. I have attached a couple of photos. One before and one after pp. Thanks again. Vi.

[Undercrank]

Re: White Balance

The exposure looks good. You've done a good job with your correction, Vi. Bounced flash can pick up a cast from the decor and throw it all over the subject. Perhaps that's part of the problem here. Next time you could try shooting RAW+JPEG, if you can, and seeing what you can get in software.