Manual White Balance Adjusting . . ??

[Zorrr2]

Good morning all . .

I seem to remember someone posting a write up about how to adjust your White Balance under water so you can get better shots. Any reference to this would be greatly appreciated !! THANKS

 

[Dee]

What camera are you using? Basically, you calibrate your camera with something white, usually your slate, at the depth of your photo.

The procedure to do this varies with each camera brand...

 

[Zorrr2]

same set up . .

 

[Zorrr2]

Tim down at Coco View teaches a course on UW Photography . . and he is stong into using no flash . . he gets you to adjust your white balance at depth with something white (like you said) . . then shoot your pics.

Now what I am trying to understand is the "BUTTON SEQUENCE" to achieve this . . ??

 

[Dee]

OK, let me see....push these buttons...

OK/Menu
If you have WB on your shortcuts, use that. If not...
Mode Menu
Picture Tab
Right arrow, down one to WB
Right arrow, scroll to the bottom to the 'flower', just under custom
Right arrow.

At the top of the screen you'll see the 'flower' and One Touch WB. Aim your camera at something white, making sure the whole screen is covered.

Press the OK button.....NOT the shutter!

Now press OK/Menu twice to get out of the Mode Menu.

It sounds like a lots of steps but if you put the WB on your shortcuts, it actually only takes 4 steos to set it.

Most of my WB shots are in shallow water. In that case I'll use a patch of sand to calibrate rather than fumbling with my slate, even though the sand may not be exactly white. Try it and see if you like the results.

 

[Zorrr2]

THANKS DEE !!! Will give it a try !!

OK, let me see....push these buttons...

OK/Menu
If you have WB on your shortcuts, use that. If not...
Mode Menu
Picture Tab
Right arrow, down one to WB
Right arrow, scroll to the bottom to the 'flower', just under custom
Right arrow.

At the top of the screen you'll see the 'flower' and One Touch WB. Aim your camera at something white, making sure the whole screen is covered.

Press the OK button.....NOT the shutter!

Now press OK/Menu twice to get out of the Mode Menu.

It sounds like a lots of steps but if you put the WB on your shortcuts, it actually only takes 4 steos to set it.

Most of my WB shots are in shallow water. In that case I'll use a patch of sand to calibrate rather than fumbling with my slate, even though the sand may not be exactly white. Try it and see if you like the results.

 

[scubaaaronh]

I just used sand in bonaire for all my pics down to 40 feet, below 40 ft i used my slate as the color came out better with it down that deep. I did use the flash on close ups. but just the onboard flash, no strobe.

i have a 5060 and have it set on my shortcuts and its only a few quick steps to adjust it. After doing it a few times you just do it with out thinking about it. Jsut make sure you adjust every five feet.

 

[ScubaJorgen]

Good morning all . .

A seem to remember someone posting a write up about how to adjust your White Balance under water so you can get better shots. Any reference to this would be greatly appreciated !! THANKS

It is a good idea to use manual white balancing. The alternative is to adjust colors of your blue photos in programs like Photoshop cangry:. However, in the latter case you have to blow up the red signal in the photo, which is hardly present. Blowing it up also blows up the noise with the same factor, resulting in less quality.

By using the manual white balance, the blowing up of the red signal is done in the camera, somehow. Maybe by adjusting the gain of the red pixels in the CCD or so. Anyway, the result is much better! I once visisted a lecture of a professional uw photographer, who did some experimenting with it, using a high quality SLR. He tried both ways (manual white balance and Photoshop). Using manual white balancing gave better results .

Does anybody know how the Oly's are doing using manual white balancing? Does it give good quality pictures?

 

[justleesa]

Check out Gilligans gallery. He works a lot with MWB

 

[Gilligan]

I have an article here about manual white balance. Keep in mind you also need a software program to adjust the photos afterwards as shown here
An article written by Craig Jones using photos taken by Alex Mustard explain and show results using manual white balance with a color correction filter.