Adjusting for White Balance Question

Simon Wyndham · March 11th, 2005, 01:39 PM

White balancing is often over emphasised. One needs to remember that when you white balance you are taking away colour. For example if you were to film a sunset and white balanced on a card in the warm orangy glow of the sun, you will take away those very colours that you wanted to video in the first place.

White balancing is useful in mixed colour temp settings such as the one Walter mentioned or on sunny days with areas of shade visible (they will look a lot cooler than the rest of the picture). White balancing would also be useful for a situation where light is changing all the time such as shooting a scene all day long and wanting to keep the colours as constant as possible.

Often is is sometimes easier just to use either the tungsten or daylight preset.

The important thing is to remember that you aren't necceserily trying to make white look white in your shot. Your aim is to try and reproduce the colours as you see them as accurately as possible (special effects withstanding). Often if you look at white it isn't really white. If you know what colour temperatures are present in various situations, on the larger shoulder mount cameras you can set the kelvin number to your exact requirements and don't always have to rely on a whitecard balance so that colours can be reproduced more accurately.

Jan van den Hemel · March 11th, 2005, 04:41 PM

That's very interesting. I'm shooting with a Canon XM1 and during the last shoot I did, the light kept changing (alternating clouded and clear sky coming through the windows). The color correction afterwards was quite a task because every shot was different.

Simon Wyndham · March 11th, 2005, 05:58 PM

Yes, that can be a problem. The colour temperature will go higher (bluer) as the sun is clouded over.

This is why the idea of lighting sometimes needs to be clarified to non video people on a shoot. They wonder why things have to be setup because 'the light looks good as it is'. But they don't realise that on days such as when the sun is clouded over, then comes out again, that it can be a nightmare to keep looking constant in editing. Even worse when it is actually during a shot.

For a run and gun some use auto white. Auto functions do have their place, although as much as possible I would prefer not to. But in constantly changing light where it may change drastically during a shot, and there are no light control setups to speak of it may sometimes be the only solution.

Simon

March 11th, 2005, 04:41 PM	#17
Jan van den Hemel Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: PAL land Posts: 87	That's very interesting. I'm shooting with a Canon XM1 and during the last shoot I did, the light kept changing (alternating clouded and clear sky coming through the windows). The color correction afterwards was quite a task because every shot was different. __________________ J.

March 11th, 2005, 01:39 PM	#16
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	White balancing is often over emphasised. One needs to remember that when you white balance you are taking away colour. For example if you were to film a sunset and white balanced on a card in the warm orangy glow of the sun, you will take away those very colours that you wanted to video in the first place. White balancing is useful in mixed colour temp settings such as the one Walter mentioned or on sunny days with areas of shade visible (they will look a lot cooler than the rest of the picture). White balancing would also be useful for a situation where light is changing all the time such as shooting a scene all day long and wanting to keep the colours as constant as possible. Often is is sometimes easier just to use either the tungsten or daylight preset. The important thing is to remember that you aren't necceserily trying to make white look white in your shot. Your aim is to try and reproduce the colours as you see them as accurately as possible (special effects withstanding). Often if you look at white it isn't really white. If you know what colour temperatures are present in various situations, on the larger shoulder mount cameras you can set the kelvin number to your exact requirements and don't always have to rely on a whitecard balance so that colours can be reproduced more accurately.

March 11th, 2005, 05:58 PM	#18
Simon Wyndham Trustee Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Malvern UK Posts: 1,931	Yes, that can be a problem. The colour temperature will go higher (bluer) as the sun is clouded over. This is why the idea of lighting sometimes needs to be clarified to non video people on a shoot. They wonder why things have to be setup because 'the light looks good as it is'. But they don't realise that on days such as when the sun is clouded over, then comes out again, that it can be a nightmare to keep looking constant in editing. Even worse when it is actually during a shot. For a run and gun some use auto white. Auto functions do have their place, although as much as possible I would prefer not to. But in constantly changing light where it may change drastically during a shot, and there are no light control setups to speak of it may sometimes be the only solution. Simon