Custom White Balance

[jim2083]

What is the best way to set a custom white balance on my Canon T1i? I understand how to go about setting it but how do I tell the camera what is white as any picture is all "blue" washed out.

My photos are turning out extremely blue :fish2:, my LED fixtures are about 15K, and I am assuming that this is causing the photos to so blue. I have read about a white balance card but I am a bit confused as it would do me no good as I would have to submerge it under the water. Correct?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I just got some new corals and would love to take some great shots of them.

 

[Recty]

Put your white balance card in a ziplock bag if you're worried about it getting wet. The one I saw was plastic already so I wouldnt have been worried about putting it in a tank.

Or just set it besides your tank where the aquarium lights are hitting it, do your custom white balance and then take tank pictures.

My preferred method is shooting in RAW instead of JPEG and then using Photoshop to set the white balance.

 

[Reef Bass]

+1 for shooting in RAW and setting white balance / color temperature during post. Easier, faster and more accurate.

 

[KCMO Reefer]

+2 for raw and post processing. Love Lightroom 3!!!!

 

[jim2083]

Can I use the software I already have, like Windows Photo Gallery editors, or do you recommend getting the Adobe Photoshop?

 

[Recty]

I'd recommend getting either Photoshop or Lightroom. Lightroom is the cheaper of the two, but it's all about making adjustments, not able actually editing pixels like drawing a circle onto your image or what not.

You probably just need adjustments, so it would be cheaper for you.

If you dont want to spend multiple hundreds of dollars to do what you want though, you can download GIMP, it's a free image editor and it lets you set a white point.

 

[TruReef]

Did your T1i come with 2 CD's? I just got a T3i and it did. One disk has Digital Photo Professional and several other programs on it. The other disk is instructions on how to use these programs. DPP is a great program and very easy to use. Shoot in RAW and use DPP to convert images into JPEG's as well as adjust white balance, contrast, color saturation and many other variables.

 

[jim2083]

Did your T1i come with 2 CD's? I just got a T3i and it did. One disk has Digital Photo Professional and several other programs on it. The other disk is instructions on how to use these programs. DPP is a great program and very easy to use. Shoot in RAW and use DPP to convert images into JPEG's as well as adjust white balance, contrast, color saturation and many other variables.

Why yes it did and they have been sitting on my desk top since I got the camera months ago. Thanks for pointing them out.

 

[rogerwilco357]

I have heard where a white dish plate is sometimes used to help with setting the white balance , instead of placing the card in the tank use the white plate? correct me if i am wrong..

 

[returnofsid]

I use a white, styrofoam picnic plate, inside the tank.

Well, I used to use this. Since upgrading from a Rebel Xt to a Canon 7D, I haven't had to set a custom white balance a single time. Shooting probably around 100 tanks, since buying the 7D, it's a much "smarter" camera and has got the color perfect, every time, using Auto White Balance. Recently, I've started shooting everything in RAW, so setting a white balance has become a moot point.