The best 18% grey card.

[Joe F.N.]

If your ever concerned about white balance and/or exposures on whites, there is one bird out there that you can focus on, to give proper readings and that would be a Ring-billed Gull. Most photographers are happy using AWB (Automatic White Balance) when shooting outdoors and this will give desirable results, 90% of the time. When something very special shows up and you have the time, it may pay off to manually adjust the settings. This gull is as close to an 18% gray card as you can find in the wild. When I arrived on the board walk, at Lynde Shores, and saw this one sitting on a rail, I thought it would be a good time to test it. When I did I found out that the AWB gave the same results. I didn't gain anything but it was gratifying to discover that the camera was kosher. This isn't always the case when lighting conditions are off.

Here is the gull on the rail.

http://joenoordman.smugmug.com/Images-chosen-for-posting-on/Picks-of-the-Week/i-XPZ7Lbj/0/O/2011-11-070008.jpg

http://joenoordman.smugmug.com/Images-chosen-for-posting-on/Picks-of-the-Week/i-Pd5H677/0/O/2011-11-070007.jpg

Here are two more taken at the same place.

http://joenoordman.smugmug.com/Images-chosen-for-posting-on/Picks-of-the-Week/i-L5GvFN8/0/O/2011-12-020013.jpg

http://joenoordman.smugmug.com/Images-chosen-for-posting-on/Picks-of-the-Week/i-zwzwswp/0/O/2011-12-020005.jpg

BTW. Never use AWB when shooting indoors.
Sheesh! Another lesson when no one asked for one. :rolleyes:

[Bluesbird]

Those are great. I love the details in the gulls eye in the 2nd shot and I lost my heart to the chickadee!

I'll bite.....I am all for another lesson. I tend to use AWB all the time even inside. I have tried changing the setting for incadescent light but it doesn't seem to improve the white balance especially with a flash. What should I be doing?

[Joe F.N.]

Those are great. I love the details in the gulls eye in the 2nd shot and I lost my heart to the chickadee!

I'll bite.....I am all for another lesson. I tend to use AWB all the time even inside. I have tried changing the setting for incandescent light but it doesn't seem to improve the white balance especially with a flash. What should I be doing?

Hi Vanessa,
White balance is set according to temperature (not ambient but light temp.)
and measured in 'K' (Kelvin). The range is from 2500K to 100,000K. The lower the number the colder (bluer) the look. Higher the number, the warmer (red)
the look. Flash units lean toward blue and this will cancel out the orangy look we get when shooting inside, without a flash. The compensations that the camera has built in for, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Sunny etc. are nothing more than changing the temperature settings on the K scale. These are general settings but often don't work under most conditions when shooting indoors without flash. Our eyes do it automatically but cameras can't. Since all models of cameras do it differently, you'll have to go to the manual you got with yours and look up the chapter, "Setting the White Balance."
If you shoot in RAW (and you should) and haven't set white balance you can do it in the RAW program you use for Jpeg conversions. There it will have a Kelvin slider that will give you a proper colour balance.
If you shoot in Jpeg, you're euchered. No returning from what was shot.
I hope this helps a little.

That brings up another question. Who shoots in RAW exclusively?

Joe

[Bluesbird]

Hi Vanessa,
White balance is set according to temperature (not ambient but light temp.)
and measured in 'K' (Kelvin). The range is from 2500K to 100,000K. The lower the number the colder (bluer) the look. Higher the number, the warmer (red)
the look. Flash units lean toward blue and this will cancel out the orangy look we get when shooting inside, without a flash. The compensations that the camera has built in for, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Cloudy, Sunny etc. are nothing more than changing the temperature settings on the K scale. These are general settings but often don't work under most conditions when shooting indoors without flash. Our eyes do it automatically but cameras can't. Since all models of cameras do it differently, you'll have to go to the manual you got with yours and look up the chapter, "Setting the White Balance."
If you shoot in RAW (and you should) and haven't set white balance you can do it in the RAW program you use for Jpeg conversions. There it will have a Kelvin slider that will give you a proper colour balance.
If you shoot in Jpeg, you're euchered. No returning from what was shot.
I hope this helps a little.

That brings up another question. Who shoots in RAW exclusively?

Joe

Thats the only thing that saves me is that I always shoot in RAW and always adjust the WB as you suggested if needed.

[Diamond Lil]

I shoot in RAW exclusively

[echo3]

Thats the only thing that saves me is that I always shoot in RAW and always adjust the WB as you suggested if needed.

That actually made sense....thank you Joe!