WHITE BALANCE: Important or Overrated?

[@Alonnnz]

Finally learning some more from youtube. I was done watching tutorials / explanation vids since all youtubers are just repeating each other with newbie instructions. You're bringing it to a whole new level! Thanks for that

[@AtaSeddighMohammadi]

I haven't seen any content as high quality as yours ever. Never felt the need to skip some parts of your video to get to the actual content. very helpful. Thanks a lot :)

[@JohnPaquette]

I imagine a future standard gray rubber wristband product which is stain resistant. Killer content, Gerald. No fluff. Quick, clear delivery. Very helpful.

[@geraldundone]

Thanks, John! Much appreciated. 😃👍

[@ulrichmors574]

Hey Gerald , you should sell "neutral grey wristbands for video" ;-) - where is the "buy" button???

[@ElementaryWatson-123]

One of the misconceptions is the belief that the WB set on gray card is what you want. Of course, totally incorrect WB usually looks ugly (unless that's the intention). But the truth is that if you take two raw files from different cameras of the same scene and set WB on the same gray card, you will get different color results nevertheless. WB is not what makes the colors pleasing or not. My Nikon Z6ii is set at White AWB, as well as my Sony A7iii. Both result in different colors. But I usually don't care that Nikon's AWB is wrong, because the colors still come out great. I rarely ever change Nikon WB in LR. With Sony, it's a different story. The colors often don't seem right, and fixing WB usually improves that, but even after the fix, the colors from Sony raw files are still lacking. Bottom line, don't sweat WB, get the right camera.

[@DarkTrapStudio]

@@ElementaryWatson-123 Also, it depend on the Kelvin of the light, morning light would not make the same grey as the evening one.

[@zobotrombie]

I stumbled upon one of your videos recently and I just kept watching more. The value and knowledge in your content is delivered in an easy to digest way for guys like me who want to get into videography but can’t afford the proper education for it. Thank you so much.

[@SteveMayedaTV]

Now we are all getting gray shoe laces on our arm....You gotta start selling those

[@AcGtrNut]

I am wondering if anyone makes an 18% grey watchband...search time.

[@sigmundevensen3937]

Merch! Yes!

[@b29ak2007]

yeah he should totally start selling these

[@eigojiyouzu]

Yes, sell em, i'd rather buy them from you as im sure most of your viewers like to support what you do.

[@zyh8351]

Converse: (cough)I think I can help a lil

[@SrCarpi]

I bet X-Rite is going to start selling $85 grey shoelaces.

[@geraldundone]

👍😜

[@jeffzanin5503]

C$100, naturally. And no free shipping either.

[@niklasroste4512]

and thats by inch you know ;)

[@NewYorkerPEACE]

it's amazing they can sell that nothingness for so much. it's good to be the standard in the industry.

[@xsgtcrazyx]

uesjd c y

[@curtisjudd]

Helpful, practical question, answered! Thanks Gerald!

[@geraldundone]

Cheers, Curtis! 😃🙏

[@RockWILK]

Sometimes I feel guilty watching your channel. Like I snuck into a school and I'm watching for free. Always such awesome information. Thank you so much for sharing so much all the time.

[@pebmets]

Another great job. The shoelace idea is so simple it's genius. I often misplace or forget my gray card and then I end up scanning for something that is close to neutral. Keep up the great work presenting useful and meaningful information.

[@geraldundone]

Thanks, Phil. I do the same thing. 😜

[@stephenscharf6293]

Another great video, Gerald. Your explanations are, as always, accurate and very well-considered. For professional real estate and architectural photography, accurate WB is absolutely key, as we're usually using mixed lighting, ambient and flash. I've learned a number of tricks in post to deal with color contamination in PS, but having accurate references in-frame, especially for a sequence of frames, as one does for RE, Arch or product, is a big help to minimize shot-to-shot variance and having maximal color consistency through all the images in your assignment/shoot. As we used to say in Six Sigma, customers don't feel _averages,_ they feel _variation._ Cheers, Stephen

[@geraldundone]

Thanks, Stephen! Always love your comments. Great points as usual. Cheers!

[@ThisIsTechToday]

Dude. The Shoelace is BRILLIANT. I ALWAYS try to get custom white balance in camera with a gray card before I start recording. It has been way easier since then.

[@geraldundone]

Ha. Thanks! And agreed, way easier. 👍

[@grat2010]

Ah, there's the original "what is happening" I've been missing. Also, my husband's shoelaces about to get "undone".

[@geraldundone]

Clever. Very clever.

[@juanalvarado7794]

"What is up everybody!" 😂 sound familiar ?

[@dslrvideoshooter]

Brilliant intro. Glad its back!

[@geraldundone]

Ha. Thanks. Cheers, Caleb. 😃👍

[@qt31415]

and we're back~ :))

[@CountSorinsRealm]

Man at some point someone needs to create the KZbin DSLR video channels' squad where they all hangout at a round table and make different cameras fight to the death!

[@dathofilms]

I LOVE how you always address all possible upcoming questions what people will be asking in comments, and answering them beforehand :D thats experience!

[@geraldundone]

Haha. Thanks! I try. 😃

[@PaulKretz]

Haha, LOL, thanx for featuring me! I'm happy real Gerald is back! =)

[@HybridphotoPro]

Right on - Custom WB + correct exposure in the camera is the best way to go for image quality and for production speed.

[@ernolaunis]

I think you produce easily the most useful videos around the KZbin. I’m grateful. And I’m not hater when I say that I’m tired of life coaching etc even when the videos are about movie making. I like entertainment also but learning makes me more happy. Like Aristoteles said way back that people are in their most happiest state when they learn and they can use the skills with others. Thanks dude.

[@ernolaunis]

Don’t mean to say there’s anything wrong at all that KZbinrs speaks about their life. I’m just tired 😴 - I don’t mean anything negative. But the happy moment what I fell w/ this video was huge for me.

[@geraldundone]

Much appreciated. I enjoy being useful, so thanks for saying so. I agree with you about learning. Happy to help! Cheers 😃🙏

[@ginatinyverge9661]

Beware people, this channel is dangerously addictive.

[@olegstrekachev6734]

Thanks man! Finally someone who is checking his information before teaching others.

[@bradena.1194]

somebody should think of 18% grey lens caps

[@geraldundone]

That's a great idea! I love it.

[@MichaelSchagen]

The expodisc claims to be 18% transparent. Won't fit on your lens though without some tinkering and quite expensive for a lens cap. A white reflective object also has the advantage of giving you the ability to set a good whitebalance under dimmer light than the grey card or anything transparent at 18%.

[@jan.tichavsky]

Reminds me of the grey Pentax Teleconverters that look photoshopped in pictures :) www.pentaxforums.com/lensreviews/Pentax-Rear-Teleconverter-A-2x-L.html

[@mondotv4216]

Gerald Undone Old panasonic dv camera had a semi transparent white cap precisely for that purpose. Hate seting white balance on dslrs; so much easier with a dedicated set button on a video camera. The A7SII has to be in photo mode to actually set it.

[@MichaelSchagen]

@@mondotv4216 these can be used for whitebalance but not for exposure. I also don't understand why dslr's dont use the easier camcorder method to set custom white balance. Actually, on the gh5 it works very simmilar to camcorders.

[@lulumink0]

Best man explained the technicality of videography on the entire KZbin.

[@JonathanDyer651005]

I started watching one of your videos. Before I knew it I was bingeing. So clear, so straight forward, so damned good. Thank you for the excellent nerdy stuff, best resource I have found to date.

[@geraldundone]

Thanks so much for saying that, Jonathan. That's very encouraging. Cheers!

[@JonathanDyer651005]

Gerald Undone Still bingeing!

[@saadazzahrani]

I like your take on different things, you're quickly becoming my favorite youtuber.

[@geraldundone]

Flattered and thankful. Appreciate that! 😃🙏

[@MrWhiltetail]

I'm just learning about editing for action cam footage and barely know anything but you do a good job of being informative, clear and not overloading people.

[@geraldundone]

Thanks for saying so. I'm happy to hear that!

[@Film_Fog]

I like the approach of showing how it was tested so it can be verified. Good job.

[@Leprutz]

Yes of course, but still the fact he saw himself forced to do it is kinda dumb, because whotebalamcing a shot before you shoot is crucial. There is a rule that says: never doin post, what you can do during production. Andwhite balancing is a camera operators first job to do.

[@robinmayfair3068]

I’ve just discovered you for the HLG3 stuff, and I turned into the notification squad. Thanks a lot for sharing those really great nuggets of knowledge. Please keep doing what you’re doing!

[@geraldundone]

Thanks a lot! That's awesome to hear. Happy to have a new subscriber. Look forward to future comments! 😃🙏

[@VehicleVirals]

3rd video I've watched from you back to back and I gotta say your content is gold!

[@benarnoux]

My kids are upset because I took their laces, all of them. Don't they understand I have goals?????

[@geraldundone]

*Benjamin's arm is covered from wrist to elbow in a rainbow of shoelaces* - IT'S FOR SCIENCE!

[@JustDavidMinistries]

Gerald Undone 😂😂😂

[@momandjas]

Hihihi

[@KCSiebert]

Ben Arnoux The 2nd best reason to have kids, (so you can steal the stuff back that you bought..)

[@007bennett]

Thanks for this. I just ordered a18% grey card last night for getting better exposure in my z6 n-log footage but this video really shows I need to be making WB more a priority as well.

[@geraldundone]

That's a solid investment. 👍

[@lucasboyle959]

always good hearing an echo of your own thoughts/opinions

[@vistek]

Great test & demonstration! Bravo as always!

[@geraldundone]

Thank you very much! 😃👍

[@MichaelSchagen]

You're a beacon of evidence based reason in an ocean of regurgitated nonsense. Thank you.

[@geraldundone]

Thanks a lot, Michael! I really appreciate that. 😃👍

[@mribi]

My thoughts exactly!

[@freeandcriticalthinker4431]

Michael, evidently you are not a “current day hard left Democrat “!😉. Lol. Yea I agree with you, facts and reason are getting harder and harder to find these days.

[@niklasroste4512]

WoWeeii, great tip with the shoelace. Thank you sir, this will save much of my time in edit since i forget about WB over 30% of my shoots!

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

Wow, another 8000 subs in 2019 so far. Good job, you must be very excited.

[@geraldundone]

Thanks! It's pretty amazing, yeah. Very grateful. 😃🙏

[@DawidDoesTechStuff]

@@geraldundone Good luck for the coming year. :D

[@MHVideo]

He deserves milion+ that knowledge!

[@bhosterman]

All this time and I was trying to white balance picking white surfaces... DOH! Johny come lately here, but this has changed my world! Thanks for the video!

[@herurishardana5618]

This is awesome - thank you for the deeper dive on this subject.

[@adamn3917]

super super informative! thanks for taking the time to explain and share.

[@andreslinn69]

The intro itself deserves a like! Great info and video thank you 🙏

[@cwjonesII]

Ok, that shoelace idea is absolutely great!

[@lukasgrafbern]

Great video! The same applies to 16 bit TIFF by the way (as you sort of implied). I tested this a while ago, and while the results are better than with 8 bit JPEGs, drastic WB changes still are very destructive. Nowhere close to what's possible with RAW.

[@geraldundone]

Good note, Lukas. Thanks for that! 👍

[@LifeofPal]

This is very helpful. I printed a color chart to just test on gopro and yi 4k with different WB to see how well camera captures the colors and also to match both of these camera. I did certain test and it gives me new starting point. Getting correct skin tones was a huge issue in auto WB. Thank you so much for this, well presented and informative.

[@anthonyc1883]

Thanks, Gerald. Been living in fear of tackling white balance for...well, forever. Yes, tutorials abound, but I like yours.

[@MarkMorrow]

Excellent WB solution, love it. Made the back of my biz card a white/black/gray card. Always with me.

[@olano123]

Great video, thanks! I think many of us kind of now the difference between raw and .jpg when it comes to white balance, BUT i enjoyed and find it very useful to see practical examples of the limitations 8 bit and 10 bit log has. Also, well presented!!!

[@cameraconspiracies]

What is the song that plays after you subliminally planted seeds of doubt in our minds by potentially saying n'aright at the end leaving us to wonder which dimensional Gerald we are watching?

[@geraldundone]

Hahahaha. Oh that song... 😜 It's called Brenner by Falls.

[@CountSorinsRealm]

You have the Peter Gregg whitey balance card. What more do you want from us haha?

[@ddonald1845]

Haha Duuudeeee, nice to see you here !

[@cameraconspiracies]

@@geraldundone Thanks ;)

[@town3]

My first year I used the white card and dropper. Now I manual custom white balance also everything. It just seems to work better for me and I find that i have more flexibility to get the white balance and style at times that i want. Just me Like always G man great work.

[@Sal4Ro]

What a great idea, the shoelace is brilliant alternative to a card. I have a gray cloth type velcro Apple watch band that I'm going to start wearing more often on shoots; thanks for sharing!

[@williamcurwen7428]

Solid advice from Gerald. It is crucial to have a grey card free of illuminant metamerism. I find recording a white balance from the light falling on the subject at base ISO with an exposure at the mid grey point of the histogram works best. I have learnt that white balance works best in camera at the time of making the picture. Although I work outdoors with natural light, I am aware that most indoor domestic lighting has an unequal spectral distribution of colours, and it may be necessary to make recordings from a grey card in different areas within a scene.

[@BlackValve]

So a quick thing with the log footage. Please try this and see the difference for yourself! Add an adjustment layer and have it over top of the log footage. Apply your lut there, and then white balance the video clip from its Lumitri color(do this with the adjustment layer hidden or at least that’s what I usually do to start). Lumitri places the technical lut before anything, and if I remember right Lumitri is all 8 bit processing.This applies to highlight and shadow retention as well! Ever since we started processing this way in lumitri we saw a massive improvement in what a log video can do even when shot 8bit. It’s obviously not going to be as good as raw but the outcome will definitely be better than the log example shown in this video.

[@CondorCreative]

Dude I think Grey “UNDONE” wristbands are a great useful merch idea

[@DillonLoomis]

Excellent video. Learned a lot. I have never hit the "bell" for any other KZbinrs as I am on here enough as to not need notifications. You earned my first "bell" click! Lol you da man thanks for all you do for this community!

[@geraldundone]

Wow! Well I'm flattered. I appreciate it. Looking forward to future comments. Cheers! 😃🙏

[@alb4758]

Great video, Gerald. I just shot a two-day event at a hotel, and had to deal with tungsten, incandescent, as well as sunlight - all in the same massive boardroom. I set custom WB with my gray card ahead of time, so the shots vary when I moved around the room. I shoot RAW, so I was able to make them look consistent enough when viewed within a collection of 170 photos. Fortunately, I'm the only one who seems to notice that the room has different tint.

[@geraldundone]

I've been there! I sympathize. You're probably just more sensitive because you've been staring at them. Mixed light is tough, but it sounds like you approached it as best as you could without covering windows and turning off lights.

[@rosyaugust7095]

Hi Gerald Undone, This is great tips. I have been using Auto White Balance until I watch this video. Loved it. I hit the red bell and go

[@toxictabasco]

Great demonstration and explanation of the WB. And that trick with the shoe lace is cool. I use a grey cat for custom WB for indoor shots.

[@geraldundone]

Well-behaved cat. 😜

[@welcti]

Gerald sort of talked about it, but it is absolutely critical if you are shooting video with more than one camera that you have the white balance on a manual setting, and make sure it is the same on each camera (at least, assuming the setting is pretty much equivalent between the cameras). If you mess it up anyway (you can guess how I know/have ended up investigating this) you may have some success with something like the RE:Match plugin from Revision FX. As Gerald mentioned in the video though, you'll be kicking yourself for it - and after trying to deal with it once, you'll make sure you never make that mistake again. Something I'm going to try after seeing the shoelace trick, is buying a gray band for my watch. Seems like it would look better than the shoelace, and probably still work.

[@mediamannaman]

I shoot real estate stills as a contractor. My settings are prescribed and include using auto white balance and jpeg images (which is surprising). I shoot in ambient light only, bracketed shots so that my client can merge them into an HDR shot in post. I always look at the final images that they post on their website, and I have to say that I am amazed at how uniform they are able to get the white balance throughout the house with their WB adjustments. My point - of course it is better to shoot RAW when you know you will be adjusting exposure and WB in post, but in some environments (like houses with mostly neutral colors) you can make WB adjustments and still get pretty good - even professional - results even with jpegs. And sure, absolutely, white balance is usually very important to get right.

[@geraldundone]

Yeah, that seems totally reasonable. Thanks for sharing. 😃👍

[@SanoyNimbus]

Thanks! ... coming from video/TV (analogue era), I haven't had any difficulties to understand the need of and how to set white balance ... But after shooting digital stills (RAW) (and now video on both DSLR and mirrorless). I have become lazy. The white balance is pretty good. But, you helped me to clarify the importance of setting it proper while shooting video! I need to pull myself in the collar and start set the white balance!!! And also while shooting RAW, just to make it easier in post ... when you have a batch to process. :) Thanks!!!

[@geraldundone]

Appreciate this comment. Thanks for sharing your experience and use case. Cheers! 😃👍

[@picturef8]

Honestly, I get home , crack open a beer and see what you have to say . Love it

[@geraldundone]

Thanks for doing so! Happy you're liking the content. Cheers!

[@maexjan4416]

You only get this super explanation at this channel. Thanks gerald

[@carlculpepperimages]

Excellent info! Thanks for taking the time to do these tests and share the results. I usually like to stylize my WB a little, but it definitely helps to start out with an accurate setting whenever possible. I recently did some run and gun, outdoor vlog-style shooting with AWB, and I noticed it shifting throughout the takes. Next time, I'm locking the WB down first.

[@geraldundone]

Cheers! Yeah, I like to stylize it as well. White balance for vlogging is tough because of the changing environments. Understandable.

[@MichaelWTurner]

This is a good video. I try to always do a custom white balance, but sometimes when I'm running and gunning I forget. Then I'm kicking myself in post.

[@EugenioTrainer]

Hi, in my opinion, if you use the eyedropper to do the white balance of a JPG you will have a better result if you click on any part of the image with 128 of luminosity using "Curves" with the "GRAY" eyedropper.

[@osmancho3185]

This is the only content I'd pay for man!

[@my-max-media7621]

Awesome as usual. My opinion on why you might get better results with the shoe lace is because it's not as reflective as the card. Good work. Keep'm comin'

[@geraldundone]

That's quite possible, yeah. Thanks for the kind words! Appreciate the comment. 😃👍

[@rich8037]

Mate, these videos of yours are really first-rate. I've watched a few now and the amount of really solid, evidence-backed information you get into them is admirable - and it's all so clearly presented too. I'm trying to bring myself up from next-to-nothing to reasonably adept video all-rounder in a hurry (expanding an audio-recording business and wanting to hit the ground running) and I feel I've found a proper goldmine of information. Many, many thanks -and I'll visit your Patreon and make my thanks more concrete shortly: if we were on the same continent I would consider buying you a big box of beers or something but this'll have to do!

[@MichaelSchagen]

On my camera I think to have noticed that setting my whitebalance correctly in camera will also help with reducing noise in my footage. I suspect the built in noise reduction works best when all color channels are properly balanced.

[@JONCOR2004]

@Gerald Undone Short: White balance color picker should be done on the white card and the gray card is for exposure. Long: I love the explanation and though I agree with most of it, the one point I don't agree with is vital for the accuracy of the test. I remembered an old-school film instructor telling me about the black/gray/white card. Gray is to measure the exposure of your shot for skin tones (as in 18% gray card). Your custom white balance should be done on the white card. Though the gray card might work sometimes, it is not completely accurate. As I replicated this test I did two sets of files, one with a color picker on gray and one set on the white card. You can definitely see the difference, especially on the 2,500 K sample as the process does not overcompensate with red on the white card as it does with the gray. Thank you for doing this test as it challenged me to do my own and settle this for me once and for all.

[@Vernonchan]

That shoelace thing. Genius.

[@blainemarcano]

This was great! Very informative. Thank you.

[@TylerFroisy]

I wear a white lokai band on my wrist, never even thought of using it for this situation , thank you! 🙏🏻🙌🏼

[@Paul_Greenwood]

Really great video, super helpful! Love that grey wrist band and grey card on the shelf. Timeless content Gerald

[@ayechapin1]

I came across your KZbin videos because of my upcoming trip to Alaska to hopefully photograph the Aurora Borealis... I'm fairly new at this hobby maybe 2-3weeks into it and I'm trying to learn as much as possible about night photography etc.

[@kabassa]

I really like the fact that you have your own style making videos. Good job!

[@geraldundone]

Thanks for saying that. Appreciate it!

[@birdsofray]

Yes!! Well done, Undone!

[@oren.kirschenbaum]

As always, Gerald - great stuff, thanks!

[@greglaw3693]

Gerald, thank you sincerely for making this video. This information was extremely beneficial! One of the most overlooked objectives indeed. Oh, and the shoe lace concept...INGENIUS 😉

[@geraldundone]

Thanks, Greg! Really appreciate that. Thanks for saying so. 😃🙏

[@finnillson4808]

You can also use white balance creatively by boosting or favoring a particular temperature in camera, say during sunset or sunrise or blue hour.

[@geraldundone]

Definitely. Indoors too. If you only have a tungsten and daylight, but you want a blue light. Balancing to tungsten will make the daylight bluer and vice versa. And this still supports that you should be thinking about white balance while shooting. Great point! 👍

[@Rudraghosh]

Awesome indepth tutorials. Grateful ❤️

[@thomasjayprince]

This was amazing. love the way you went through this process. Very clear, concise, and helpful for the newb that i am. subscribed!

[@ChannelWright]

Another great video! Thanks!

[@kingkaamaofficial3900]

Thanks so much Gérald ! Like always .. you re the maestro 😉😎📺

[@Veptis]

If you shoot bRAW or cDNG on BMD cameras. Doing WB in he raw tab is better than using the eye dropper or the values below(now above in v17) the primary wheels. What changes is he clipping is no longer full white (or full grey), when highlight recovery is on or off.

[@RobbScholarTube]

Every video you make is fire G, give this man a medal!!!

[@specialized41]

Very useful information. Thanks Gerald !!

[@pavelperina7629]

I think that white balance is pretty good on camera as it retains some atmosphere in the photo and does not correct white perfectly but it's pretty close to color perception. But I can understand it's important for videos. My only white balance issue (Panasonic G80) is combination of snow, sunlight and shadows. Camera corrects sunlit snow to white and shadow and sky to "nice deep blue". My preference is slightly yellow and warm snow (sun is close to horizon so it's not perfectly white), slightly gray-blue unsaturated shadow and light blue sky with green tint that is closer to reality.

[@StreetsOfVancouverChannel]

bravo, Quantum Gerald... well done...

[@geraldundone]

That's a fun idea-- a quantum Gerald. I like it.

[@Maros_Mari]

Thank you, this was informative and to the point, motivating me to spend extra seconds to set the white balance properly.

[@PaulKretz]

It's a pity one can't use grey thoughts to set AWB, 'cause that's what some people always have with them.

[@Clickumentary]

This was really good. I consider myself advanced on settings but I have repeatedly made WB mistakes (and have always used auto for video) great stuff man!

[@geraldundone]

Thanks for saying that. I'm glad it's useful. 😃👍

[@jan-hendrikswanepoel3744]

This is really evergreen content, thanks 🙂

[@Photographicelements]

Some light bulbs, like those "photography lighting kits" have bulbs that start out at 5400K, but the longer the bulb is on, heating up the bulb, the color temperature changes and can drop as much as 1000K. When you film with a RED camera (using REDCode RAW .R3D), the white balance is just metadata and can be changed later, at any time, but you still use a color chart so the the color grading software, like Resolve, can immediately adjust colors, with menu option/name of color chart.

[@geraldundone]

Yeah, I noticed that exact thing when I used to stream with bulbs. If I jumped around the replay, I'd notice a pretty significant difference and couldn't figure it out until I stopped using those lights.

[@C3Motorsport]

You know who else shoots RAW? Polin...Jared Polin. :D Still the best technical explanations of photo/video on the 'Tube. Great vid, Gerald!

[@geraldundone]

Haha. Yeah, I think I read that somewhere--might have been on a shirt or something. 😜 And thanks, Jason! Much appreciated.

[@pedzsan]

Nice video. I think I knew everything in it but it is still very nice to have the demo and to confirm my beliefs. For me, I’m coming from shooting raw still photos to shooting non-raw video and I’m finding I need to think about a lot of things that raw shooters don’t bother with. I *think* not only WB but also things like the “picture profile” make a difference with non-raw video but not with raw photos.

[@geraldundone]

Definitely. Video is less forgiving in that way. It's important to slow down for a moment and just give yourself a minute to think and go over a checklist before hitting that record button.

[@saulmirandaaliaga]

Thank you very much for the video, Gerald. It was very helpful!

[@groovymotion5706]

Hey Gerald, great tutorial! My question is, why if I select a pure white area of an image, the white balance is completely off? Also, I only shoot in RAW and in Canon DPP I set auto light optimizer and under gamma I click auto and for some reason I have to set the contrast to -0.4 in all images.

[@geraldundone]

Good question. It relates a little to what I said about white being an intense combination of colours. It's harder to spot a colour cast because some of the wavelengths will be buried in the white. A more medium gray sample though will not have that luxury and the colour cast will be more obvious and thus more useful.

[@hautehussey]

Because pure white in your data has no color information. Even if it’s not pure white, if any of the R, G, or B numbers are clipped (maxed) then it will make a white balance correction inaccurate.

[@tomchurch]

Great stuff. Solidifies that I need to get WB right in camera. I don't know why, but that has been the one thing I mess up most often. Luckily not bad enough to ruin any footage...yet. Grey shoelaces - ordered!

[@geraldundone]

I think it might be a common challenge--part of the reason why I turned my tests into a video. It takes some practice, but it definitely pays off.

[@mxcrec]

A very informative and useful video, thank you.

[@spo5egy]

Shoelaces undone! Gerald, You are a genius.

[@lamontgilliland9664]

Brilliant!... lots of technical detail very clearly explained. Thank you : )

[@geraldundone]

Thanks, Lamont! Cheers!

[@dinoschachten]

Regarding the shoelace: I was 100% convinced that it served as an indicator as to whether we've come undone yet.