Wildlife Photography across the Water: White Balance

Thursday 27 August 2009

White Balance

White balance is one thing that can throw an image off, I remember when digital first came out there were generally 2 pieces of info banded about, The first was to slightly under expose and the second was to leave the camera set to AWB (average white balance), Now we all know that under exposing an image and adjusting the exposure in processing will bring grain out and slight over exposure is the way to go but the AWB thing is still something i see people leave set, Personally i don't like AWB and much prefer to shoot with 'sun/daylight' set, Now adjusting your white balance in processing is one thing that doesn't damage the image at all so you can set it really to what you want and adjust it afterwards-no problem, The problem with leaving it in AWB is when shooting early/late in shadows and in winter when the sun is low in the sky-A camera with AWB set ill tend towards the blue/cool end of the spectrum and your images will need the white balance adjusted or else they will look like they have a colour cast, I shot a couple of years ago with a group in wales at a falconry centre early one cool morning, I noticed that some people there had their cameras set to AWB and that the feathers on the buzzard had a blue tinge to them-easily adjusted in PS but unless you realise this then you tend to let it go thinking that was how things were on the day-it was not the case, in fact there was nice light and a very autumnal feel to the scene-See above image
Here is an example taken a few years ago in France-springtime and the first early purple orchids were out, This image was shot on a damp morning in the shade just as the sun was coming up

You can see it has a very cold feel to it-the colour temp that AWB gave was 4700k, Now you can see the difference with the colour temperature adjusted to 6500k which happening to be a preset of cloudy

This is how i remember the orchid to look-like exposure the camera doesn't always get things right
White balance is very easy to adjust,you can use the presets in the drop down box such as daylight/cloudy/shade etc or you can use the slide bar under the presets and adjust the white balance until it gives the desired effect

I have always said that if you give 20 photographers the same image to process you will end up with 20 different images-white balance is one of the reasons why

Dave

1 comment:

Graham30 August 2009 at 12:07
A very interesting piece. White balance is something that is largely overlooked by photographers including me - depth of field and shutter speed occupy the thoughts, but not WB.

I use a manual setting for all of my stuff as recommended to me by Danny Green. Seems to work, and if you've seen some of his stuff recently, you'll agree !
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Bio's

David Courtenay, a self taught wildlife and nature photographer, has been capturing images for over 30 years. He has had a passion for wildlife since early childhood and remembers being glued to the television whenever Survival, Wildlife on One and other natural history documentaries were shown. In the 2006 he swapped his established career for the life of a wildlife photographer, such a move demands a measure of uncompromising passion and commitment.

David has travelled extensively throughout Europe as well as spending more than 7 months in India working with local guides and trackers in search of Bengal Tiger, Asian One horned Rhino and Asian Elephant. He has also photographed Wildlife in Australia, Malaysia, Thailand, Sumatra, Africa, Canada and America. Working closely with Conservation companies he tries to raise funds to help Wildlife that has been put on the endangered list by poaching and habitation loss

Martin Dyer has had a passion for avian wildlife since childhood, particularly raptors. Photography was also another keen interest and it was with the specific availability and control of the whole process that digital offers that Martin was then able to combine the two in 2003. Based in the UK, Martin is a regular visitor to Scotland, specifically the Isle of Mull to watch the Eagles resident there. Other trips to Europe and around the UK are usually part of Martin’s agenda in a typical year.

However, as a firm believer on making the most of the local patch, Martin has spent a lot of time and hard work creating a wildlife garden which is reaping the rewards with many new species and varieties of wildlife. A keen member of a number of wildlife photographic groups, Martin is keen to expand his portfolio into other areas of wildlife, and has already established a wide portfolio of images of fungi.