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Home: Video University Forums: Digital Photography for Videographers:
Another DIY project

Shadow
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Jun 15, 2007, 11:20 PM

Post #1 of 7 (669 views)
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Another DIY project	Can't Post

After posting about white balance issues I had a few suggestions from some VUers - thanks!

I was looking at buying an expodisk type of product, then decided to be weird, go to the grocery store and look for something that came with a white-ish lid. I bought a small container of trail mix.

So as I'm having a tasty trail mix snack I decide to try out my fake expocap. Here's my results. Note that I was in av mode and didn't bother that the pic was out of focus - the issue was colour here.

The image on the right is the correct colour. I'm going to test this out on Sunday in daylight with someone wearing a white shirt. It took about 10 seconds to do the custom wb, if that.

I also tried the same test using the top of the lightsphere and it did the same thing. Looks less dorky than a food container lid, actually... they pretty much look the same. Wink

If I can only get a filter that corrects for the look of "ok, I'll pose for another photo for you but really I was watching Law & Order and the commercials are over and I would just like to go back to watching my show now so could you please hurry up and take the photo, thanks"

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(This post was edited by Shadow on Jun 15, 2007, 11:22 PM)

Sparky
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Jun 16, 2007, 1:03 AM

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Re: [Shadow] Another DIY project [In reply to]	Can't Post

For as many years as I can remember the Pringle's lid has always been one of the options for setting WB. Also ... a coffee filter.

I had a V-5000 (I think that was it) Hi-8 camera many years ago (17). The lens cap was a translucent white. All you did was leave the lens cap on, point it toward the light and hit the white balance button.

My problem with adjusting the wb on the fly with photography is that I know I'll forget to change it and end up having to do it in post anyway.

I'm working on a wedding right now where I had approximately 30+ photos in the bride and bridesmaids prep room. I corrected one photo, copied, selected the rest of the photos and pasted ... less than ten seconds.

If I completely trusted myself to change the wb every time I changed location then it wouldn't be a problem ... but I don't.

Shadow
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Jun 16, 2007, 10:27 AM

Post #3 of 7 (627 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Another DIY project [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

For as many years as I can remember the Pringle's lid has always been one of the options for setting WB. Also ... a coffee filter.

Ha ha! I actually looked at Pringles lids thinking they'd be great but they're clear. I did have an option to buy a big vat of crisco. So you just shoot RAW and never worry about w/b? The 10 seconds fixing isn't too bad. I'm not a photoshop wizz so it would probably take me all bloody day to fix the colour.

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Sparky
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Jun 16, 2007, 12:30 PM

Post #4 of 7 (623 views)
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Re: [Shadow] Another DIY project [In reply to]	Can't Post

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For as many years as I can remember the Pringle's lid has always been one of the options for setting WB. Also ... a coffee filter.

I haven't had pringles in a long time, but they used to be more of a white color.

Yes ... always shoot RAW.

I don't use Photoshop, but rather Digital Photo Professional (comes with Canon cameras) or I use Bible Pro. You don't need to be proficient ... just open the eye dropper, click in a white area that looks good and you're done. Doesn't get easier than that.

Shadow
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Jun 16, 2007, 12:49 PM

Post #5 of 7 (619 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Another DIY project [In reply to]	Can't Post

In Reply To

I don't use Photoshop, but rather Digital Photo Professional (comes with Canon cameras) or I use Bible Pro. You don't need to be proficient ... just open the eye dropper, click in a white area that looks good and you're done. Doesn't get easier than that.

Is it that easy with the digital photo professional?? Thanks for the tips Sparky. I've been doing each photo individually. So you can probably guess why I wanted to figure it all out before it went to the computer stage. :)

Yeah, pringles lids are clear now. My little boy likes them so we usually have some kicking around.

Cheers,
Heidi

p.s. I wanted to name our dog Sparky, but we ended up with Quinnie instead.

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Sparky
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Jun 17, 2007, 12:08 AM

Post #6 of 7 (602 views)
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Re: [Shadow] Another DIY project [In reply to]	Can't Post

Heidi ...

I need to clear something up. I didn't mean to imply that I don't use photoshop at all ... I just don't use it for color correcting, exposure and basic adjustments. That's all done in DPP. You don't need Lightroom, Bibble and all the other stuff. Those are good programs, but DPP will get you where you want to go and it doesn't cost you anything since it came with your Canon.

THEN (in DPP) ... you will select all your files and do a batch conversion to jpegs. TRUST ME ... if I can do it then you're safe.

If you have DPP then you need to go to DPP Tutorials.

Work through the projects. It's MUCH easier than it seems.

(This post was edited by Sparky on Jun 17, 2007, 12:16 AM)

Shadow
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Jun 17, 2007, 1:08 AM

Post #7 of 7 (594 views)
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Re: [Sparky] Another DIY project [In reply to]	Can't Post

Thanks for your help Sparky!!

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