Custom White Balance

This changed my world, you guys.

If you shoot with a DSLR and your white balance is on auto, then listen up.

Custom White Balance will change your shooting immensely – especially if you are ever shooting inside and get that orange glow from artificial light.

There are tutorials all over on how to set your white balance depending on your camera.

Your DSLR sees in grey tones so its best to use a grey card – but white works too.

This is a picture taken inside my house during the evening with the ceiling fan light on. The ceiling fan gives enough light that I don’t have to use the flash but my pictures have an orange tint (auto white balance)

That picture looks like a blob right? It’s a white blanket – inside with the ceiling fan light on still.

Take a picture where the whole frame fills with white/grey. I used a blanket but you can use a piece of cardstock or buy the fancy stuff online.

Select custom white balance on your camera and tell it to use this picture. Now your white balance is set based off that image (in this case the blob above).

Watch this video for a more detailed explanation

After setting my custom white balance here is the same picture (no editing done)

It looks like I am using natural light. So bright.

Here is the same picture with the white balance settings on my camera – this was for indoor.

This really helps with outdoor shoots too when the light gives off a really cool glow (blue).

Make sure you reset your white balance when you change light settings – or you will still be shooting based on the lighting of your previous setting.

Here is a final look at the difference custom white balance can make in your pictures.

Crazy, right?