Custom white balance Yeh or Nay

[adpfam]

:cool2:im looking to take my noob camera skills to a higher noob level. can anybody shed some light on getting better shots with setting the white balance with a gray card underwater. for example if im using a manual strobe at say 60 feet annd set the white balance using the card is it safe to say that i wont have to touch the settings on the camera and strobe , providing i stay at the same depth and distance from the subject. Any experiences with white balace would be more than appreiciated

 

[herman]

This one is easy, white balancing is for non strobe lit work. The function of white balancing is to compensate for the reduced red light that is filtered out by the water....if you fire the strobe you just put all that red back in the near field (area lit by the strobe). If you balance without the strobe then fire it, you will have excess red in your photos. The strobe puts out full spectrum...white...light so there is no need vary the white balance. Leave the camera in auto or daylight white balance when using a strobe. Now if you turn the strobe and camera flash off then yea, set the white balance and as long as you stay at that depth you are good to go, change depth and you need to rest it.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

And I would only add to Herman's astute comments the notion that it would not be necessary to carry a gray card, which would not serve any other dive purpose. Use a small white writing slate when you want to white balance. That way you can also use the slate to write "Say cheeze!" on. // ww

 

[doctock993]

Why not just shoot RAW and deal with white balancing/ exposure in post processing?

 

[herman]

Because you can't correct what is not correct to start with. Granted you can make it better but still but the better the original the better you can make the final project.

 

[adpfam]

thanks for all the great insite and knowledge. i was looking for a better way to take pics uw i am continualy frustrated at having to take several shots be for dialing in the proper light from my strobe. i would love to try raw hoverver that is only available in my topside equip. right now i have a sd700is with S&S y27 strobe . i use a custom sync cord adapter , which also blocks the cameras flash , i think it cuts down on backscatter ( see Pic)should i continue to use this setup or allow the slave unit on the strobe to sync the strobe so that im getting light from both sources . i also use cs3 but that only fixes only so much from nooby pics

 

[herman]

Leave it covered unless you are doing macro with little to no distant background otherwise you will increase the amount of backscatter in your photo. If your camera has a histogram option, turn it on and learn to use it. It is the best way to determine if you have the correct amount of light in the photo. .

 

[scottfiji]

Exactly what herman said