Jun 15 2009
Manual White Balance Settings
In photographing art objects, the lighting conditions will change depending on the light source. When photographing with celluloid film, we use filters of various colors to balance the color of the light to the specific nature of the film being used (daylight or tungsten for example). With digital photography, it is important to have the correct white balance setting. Without the correct white balance, the colors in the image will not be right.
Every time the lighting situation changes, the white balance should be checked and reset because the amount of light that falls on an object that’s one meter from the light source is far greater than the light striking the same object from 2 meters away. If the lights are moved closer or further away from the subject, reset the white balance. If the lights are rearranged front to back, reset the white balance.
Digital cameras have various pre-configured white balance settings that can easily be selected from the menus (check your camera’s manual for the proper way to access the white balance settings). These are factory settings for certain situations such as bright daylight, sunsets, cloudy days, fluorescent or incandescent lighting, etc. None of these settings are completely suitable for the precision required for our purpose without a lot of time consuming alterations in computer software, so a manual white balance setting is necessary for true color representation. After all, the color of the product is one of the most important aspects that we’re trying to show off in the photograph.
White balance can be manually set by pointing the camera at a neutrally colored object under the exact same lighting as the subject and pressing the appropriate button combination. The most common neutral colored object is a photographic grey card. They’re commercially available at most high quality camera stores. A grey card reflects exactly 18% of the light that strikes it. This is a decades old photographic standard.
Other neutral objects can be used as substitutes for the grey card such as an even grey back ground cover or the boards of an old fence or old asphalt paving (not new black asphalt). Just look around for something that’s not bright, not dark and neutrally colored.
Set up the camera on a tripod and arrange the lights. Before the art object is placed in the scene, place the grey card exactly where the object will be. Then use the camera’s menus to set the white balance, making sure to fill the camera’s measuring zone with the grey card. Take a good careful look at the display screen to quickly judge the colors and the effects of the setting you just made. Once set, the white balance can be ignored until the lights are moved or rearranged. Any object placed in the same spot will have proper colors in the final image.
If you have any questions, please ask.