Issues with setting white balance

[TheMikey]

Hey everyone, I purchased a Nikon D5000 with an 18-105 Lens before I went on an overseas trip and now that I'm back, I've decided to try my hand at taking some aquarium shots.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to get the camera to calibrate the white balance properly. I've tried everything I can to customize it (coffee filter, white lid under lights, taking pictures of sand, etc.) but the camera just gives me an error "Cannot set white balance; try again." or something.

Does anyone have any tips of how I can get this done? Or should I just rely on post-processing?

Thanks for the input,

Mike

 

[Misled]

just rely on post-processing

That

 

[Flems]

Are you just putting the white object near the tank? The whole frame must be white if my understanding of Nikons WB features are correct.

 

[Reef Bass]

Shoot in RAW. White balance in post.

 

[Brett9917]

Shoot in RAW. White balance in post.

Using the same response Misled gave...

"That" lol

 

[Misled]

Deja Vu!!!! :lol:

 

[TheMikey]

Thanks all, I figured shooting in RAW was probably the answer after doing a bit more digging. In the manual it says that if the light is too intense/bright or too dim that the camera may have issues recognizing the white balance.

 

[Misled]

The other problem is at different places in the tank, the white balance will be different. The blue spectrum penetrates the water column better than the other spectrums.

 

[Brett9917]

Deja Vu!!!! :lol:

I think Yogi Berra said it best-- It's like deja vu all over again
:rollface::rollface:

 

[maroun.c]

MAke sure the area where you're setting the WB is not to bright as in that case the camera fails to set the WB.
+1 on working the WB in post processing as the WB will vary in different areas of the tank.