lets talk white balance..

[AHHthatsJDMyo]

Who adjusts their white balance manually and who just leaves it on auto? What are your opinions? I was told when I got my camera that the auto white balance setting is pretty spot on so other than knowing what white balance is I have no clue how to correctly adjust it manually.

[Michael.]

White balance goes by Kelvin temperatures which are a measure of light color and output. Think HID's. You have different types of light like tungsten, fluorescent, etc, all of which put out different colors. So you gotta adjust manually, the temp to match that or else the whole picture will basically look like the color coming from the light.

Auto does do a damn good job at this, but sometimes you gotta tweak it a little more.

[SaturnTypeR]

Auto depending on event. But the 7d can do kelvin and I have yet to play with it.

[yerrrrrrpp]

it depends on what im shooting. like for example, portraits (with flash mostly): i set to "cloudy" just cause i like the way it makes the skin appear soft and smooth IMO. "auto" is used for on the go situations where i dont really have that much time to adjust accordingly. i always experiment with WB, never know what you can make of something by adjusting little things.

[Jake2k]

Mine's almost always stuck on "flash" because I use strobes so much but I try and change it to match what I'm shooting in because it's one less thing I have to worry about in post. Also I've noticed that when its in "Auto" I will sometimes get slightly different colors with the same set of photos and I prefer them to all be the same.

[Michael.]

Also I've noticed that when its in "Auto" I will sometimes get slightly different colors with the same set of photos and I prefer them to all be the same.

This!

Especially if you're at an event/show where you have a lot of sky, I run into this at air shows, at which point I always have it on Sun.

[skunkdSiR]

I use AUTO and adjust accordingly.

[AHHthatsJDMyo]

i understand what it is. just wondering if im the only one who always uses auto. im going to have to play around and figure it out

[The Chimichunga]

It's best to get it as close to correct as possible. In all honesty though, if you have it set completely wrong, as long as you shoot RAW you can completely fix it later in Photoshop. Basically, I just set it to a manual color, that way even if the white balance is completely wrong on every picture from a set, they're still the same amount of wrong.

[.:Chris:.]

I usually just shoot RAW if it's something that matters. Otherwise, I adjust to one of the presets. I don't use Auto on a regular basis.

[JJFreshyZC]

This!

Especially if you're at an event/show where you have a lot of sky, I run into this at air shows, at which point I always have it on Sun.

+1 here.. especially if it is an indoor event. Take some test shots, pick a temp and stick with that. Makes it easier to adjust them all in post.

James

[AHHthatsJDMyo]

good input from all. thanks guys.

[btuner]

I shoot auto everything

[.:Chris:.]

I shoot auto everything

Yeah, but your camera has that "perfect mode"... isn't that what you called it?

[btuner]

something like that

You back in tampa now or still up in jax?