Effects of white balance in a C5050

[wetman]

Just thought i'd post this to show the difference between white balancing the C5050 and not.

White balance:

No White balance:

These were taken at about 45 feet. I used the sign itself as a while balance baseline - it is a white plaque. I've found it makes a huge difference to the colors the camera sees. I actually bought a white slate to use as a card down there. Makes a huge difference on shots that you dont use a flash on (but doesnt apply at all to the ones you do use a flash on).

steve

 

[Dee]

Great visual example of what while balance does.

 

[txwombat]

Does the C5050 have white balance settings like the Cannon A-40? - ie. the ability to set it to 'Cloudy Day' - which from what I've heard is the correct setting for underwater photography? or do you do it manualy?

 

[wetman]

It does have several presets. But the fact is, if you are taking shots without a strobe, i've found white balancing to whatever depth i'm currently at is essential. In cuba, i was white balancing every 10 feet or so and it did make a noticable difference. Even if you dont have a white card to take down with you, can white balance to whatever is "whiteish" and it should be close enough to ok that it will be an improvement. There is a white balance mode in the c5050 that lets you take a picture of something that is white and that becomes what the camera adjusts to. Thats what i used in the example above - i took a white balance reference shot of the actual plaque itself. Before that, every picture i was takeing took on that greenish hue. After that, the pictures looked far more natural. (you can see some in the ontario forum on that same dive actually in this thread: http://www.scubaboard.com/t35070/s.html (not great examples of color but at least its not the super green that i would have had)).

If you white balance deep, and leave it at that and then take a shot shallower, your shot will take on a reddish or purplish hue.

Here is an example of that:

This first pic is about 70 feet to the bottom so in our water up here it gets very greenish. I actually used the light brown sand on this one as a white balance reference and the colors came out rather decently true. (both taken saturday)

This next shot is without changing that setting at maybe about 20 feet or so on the upline at the end of the dive:

As you can see, the camera has compensated down below for the missing reds and given a half decent representation of the wood etc even given that i didnt use a true white as a reference (just forgot my card).

But since the camera was compensating still for all the red it was missing at the bottom, then at around 20ish feet since more red is present it was actually over compensating.

As i mentioned before though, this is all meaningless if you're taking closer flash photos - the flash will provide all the light thats needed and the cameras default white balance will be exactly whats right for that white light.

steve

 

[DJ69]

But what happens when the sean contain more colors, not just a white plaq with black writing ?

 

[wetman]

Oh, that was just to demonstrate a difference between not modifying the camera to adjust for light at depth and then adjusting it to get a truer white. All it does is tell the camera how much to compensate for differenent colors in different lighting conditions and the camera then takes that information and adds more of whatever colors it needs to make the colors that it sees more accurate.

This picture for example:

Although the picture is bad, it does show an unretouched section of brown rusty colors. Browns have a lot of red in them and the camera brought that back itself. Thats the same wreck as the one just before the persons head above. Had i not white balanced that at depth i doubt you'd see any brown in that and it would all just have a bluish or cyan/green overall color. Just as the plaque picture when from a greenish hue to white (its true color) the brown would also have made a similar change.

If you have a digital camera, you'll be surprised at just how much improvement it makes even at 10 foot intervals. Not knowing what film cameras are about, i have no idea what you'd have to change there (likely a physical filter or something).

steve

 

[sailor025]

What happens if you white balance at 60' and then decide to take a flash shot at 60'. Do you have to change the white balance to auto or make any other adjustments?

rodney

 

[wetman]

You know, its good you asked. This is what happens. This shot was whitebalanced at that plaque at around 40-45 feet. It may have been about 5 feet lower. I did put the camera flash on at that point and forgot to set the white balance back:

As you can see it does the same thing as if you've come shallower. There is more white light and the camera is still compensating for what it was set for at that depth which is missing most reds. Once you add the white light, then there is red again in the image and the camera doesnt know that so it not only puts in the white light, but it adds its own red in as well.

steve

 

[tie]

You can also shoot in RAW and adjust later, no?

 

[wetman]

Absolutely. I look at it as a tradeoff space, time and convenience though. The raw format stores exactly what the camera sees before it adds its processing factors (things like white balance etc.) However, because the files are larger it takes longer to store them even on reasonably fast memory. This is a good point though, the jpg storage of an image is after that processing stage. But if you're reasonably confident that the image being stored is accurate enough for your tastes then you can store them in jpg format and not be "losing" too much. Also, some people dont bother post processing and just take the images right out of the camera as they are - they'd have to translate them from raw format. Also, even though i took 4 gigs worth with me on my last trip, i dont think i'd have enough space to store the shots i took on what i had. I've been more of a quantity vs. quality kinda guy in the learning stages of this photo stuff. Shoot enough, some are BOUND to come out OK!

steve