Does White Balance Matter?

[@dance2jam]

Martin, I always appreciate your covering a topic few others hit the way you do. The examples are terrific, so please keep them coming. Cloudy vs Shade with the model in white - is a tough one. Shade is just a bit too warm for my taste, but I can see the appeal. I'd have to play with cloudy a bit for my own taste to see if I could get it where I picture it. Thanks again.

[@Twobarpsi]

I always try to keep WB "correct". I will definitely try playing around with different temperatures now. Solid advice Martin! I definitely liked the warming effect of the cloudy setting, in those daytime shots.

[@PDKfotografie]

Topvideo, Martin. Thanks. I like this kind of content.

[@The_Hero_Is_Back]

This was absolutely outstanding. Thanks very much, Martin.

[@hywel3143]

Thanks Martin! Amateurs like myself often lack the confidence to play artistically with key variables such as WB. Personally I love the Cloudy option here. Also, Cloudy often looks great in combination with the A1, M1 WB shift tip you mentioned in a separate video…

[@janedagger]

Even with the horrid monitor on my laptop... for the second photo with the model leaning into the glass... I agree with you, the tungsten color is much more interesting and 'feels' more realistic. I've been mucking around with balance in camera and practicing on digi photos with gimp. So far i'm not editing my own photos yet, I'm forcing myself to work incamera only to try to learn what the frack is possible and what I'm doing. Thank you, again, sir !

[@sharkusify]

Great take on a topic that many photogs including myself tend to overlook. Shooting in raw and getting a technically correct WB satisfies alot of people but this approach is quite refreshing as in the first portrait there were several that were differnt but still great. In the second example I particularly liked shade WB. I'll experiment with this as I enjoy portraiture.

[@andreak4280]

i like the daylight & cloudy settings best in outdoor images- agree, 5500k is clean and always looks nice to my eye in a lot of scenarios but as you said, depending on the setting a little bit of warmth ads to the mood and setting nicely but not too much! I always try to work with various kelvin temperatures for my mood of the images I want overall - the beauty & ease of digital cams & editing!! thanks for another great tutorial. I always learn something here! 🙏🏼🫵🏼 🌟🌟 🌟

[@Klamarphotography]

Excellent video!

[@jonfletcher147]

Excellent as per! shade for me, subtle difference from daylight through to shade, but prefer those subtle warmer tones.

[@JaredTremper]

I agree in particular the first outdoor wedding shot needed a bit of warmth. And yes, the more we get that white balance right in camera the more likely it is we will have a great end result. Critical to that is knowing how one’s camera will determine WB if using auto or other WB settings like cloudy. Of course, assuming RAW, one can do a lot in post-even more with subject layers that can subtly adjust skin tones without affecting the rest of the image.

[@robmcd]

Love playing with white balance. Did a wedding reception recently and used a CTO the whole night!!

[@bimosunupoernomo7120]

What do you mean by that I

[@robmcd]

@@bimosunupoernomo7120 Maybe Martin can make a video if there’s enough people interested; but I make my flash shoot orange light on people making them look like oompa loompas but then I set my WB to tungsten. It’s to match my flash colour temperature to the room colour temperature.

[@Steve-jl8pq]

Another superb video that gives you a new perspective on white balance

[@cotswoldphotographers]

I like warmer photos as well so would have gone for a very similar look. Not to say that for a specific look I wouldn’t go for a colder look in certain situations 👍

[@onemanband3579]

I liked them all brother. Informative as always, thank you.

[@johnbethell8666]

Shade, on the examples you gave! Excellent video, thanks.

[@eddyhate88]

thanks for the great explanation. i would put the color temp at 7000k right between cloudy and shady i feel cloudy could be a little warmer but shady is a bit too warm, right smack in the middle could be the sweet spot.

[@jasonbodden8816]

Fantastic vid.

[@MartinCastein]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@johnarmstrong5727]

I am not a portrait photographer and tend to use cloudy wb on my d600 / d7000 over 90% of the time for every thing from landscapes to macro. I think cloudy is the setting I like best on your portraits but shade works as well , thanks for another excellent video.

[@Cotictimmy]

Cracking video Martin - lots of information. 😀

[@TimMer1981]

Great video, as always. Very useful, very clear and straight to the point with clear examples. A lot of channels could learn a lot from you. :)

[@aeyb701]

The wee magic wand icon is a game changer.

[@aeyb701]

:)

[@fleischliebe430]

you are the MVP(hotgrapher) on YT

[@crawford323]

When the balance right, each color is allowed to exist and not be over-washed by a dominance by another tint or shade. Excellent study.

[@bluestarcesium]

I liked the shade the best, but being a wedding picture the full sunlight could be preferred by the clientele.

[@jph364]

For a while now I set my camera to daylight, where it was auto-warm before. I have the idea it helps making the adjustment in LR to the way I like it, and photo's are consistent (allowing me to duplicate to similar photos). So a blue hour photo is blue for instance. What is your thinking about this setting in camera a fixed value or you prefer auto? Thanks for your very insightful videos!

[@MartinCastein]

it works for some instances but there are many that it doesnt as well. For instance at night its too warm often especially if you want cold tones. its too cool for shade areas as well, so its ok for some things sometimes.

[@Elisha_the_bald_headed_prophet]

I would be interested to know a foolproof way of setting white balance (whether accurately or artistically) without a calibrated monitor.

[@miles-thesleeper-monroe8466]

Very informative I'm developing my skills and trying to understand wb. Does my camera setting only affect the jpeg and can i do all my tweaks post from raw instead?

[@MartinCastein]

it will affect your jpeg permanently, for RAW it will show in edit when you load the raw file but it doesnt affect what you do after, so it has no real effect on your raw file as such. But its nice to see closer to. your finished image on your camera.

[@bananaman-zd4lq]

Do you know of a good guide on color management? I use an m1 MacBook Air, supposedly the screen covers around 100% of srgb with a low delta e but the image I see on the back of the camera looks different. I shoot jpegs in srgb on my Z6II so I think they should look the same, unless the camera screen is inaccurate. Also, when I change the color profile on my Mac screen to srgb, it looks different from the default profile, and the jpegs still look different from the camera screen(the camera screen also seems different from the viewfinder image btw).

[@lianvandenheever6387]

Cloudy

[@MartinCastein]

agreed

[@TheStorytellingDad]

Martin, what’s your opinion on using white cards or color checkers for calibration? Overkill or something that’s just an another way of editing?

[@joopruck924]

Yes, I would like to know that too.

[@MartinCastein]

Hi! I don’t and won’t use because I don’t want accurate colour I want the look I want. If you NEEd accurate use card but if you are doing something more artistic then it’s useless.

[@bananaman-zd4lq]

you can use it as a starting point to start from somewhere neutral and then adjust from there

[@MyRackley]

@@bananaman-zd4lq It's more useful if you're making a video or montage, and are looking for consistency. Having said that, I set my studio lights and camera settings to 5600K. My home lighting is 5600K too, which is not the most popular choice! This is my reference, and it seems to work for me. Which doesn't detract from the advice given by MC in any way.

[@nicepeeps1]

The wedded couple, at 7:43, do you not worry about the blown-out sky and floor, behind them?

[@MartinCastein]

No, blue sky would be really distracting and white looks much nicer. I’ve covered this in a video somewhere but I can’t remember which one. I should probably do a video about it. Basically I feel that you have to think about colour palette too. Solid blue sky gives you nothing more than solid white but blue gives you a strong distraction.

[@gary0078]

Didn't film have one white balance, that was daylight?

[@MyRackley]

Every film had its particular qualities. Fuji was famous for its greens. I took some beautiful pictures in the Seychelles on Fuji Provia film. There was also Tungsten film.