White Balance

[IslandCrow]

OK, I'm going to start with the questions early. I'm sure I'll have plenty more by Sunday as I do the rest of the reading and digest what I've read so far. I've always known about white balance, but never really put it into practice. One of the things I've always wondered about, though, is the pros/cons between using white balance filters (like this) and using white balance cards (like this). Obviously one of the pros of the latter is price. Are there situations where using one is better than the other? I guess the cards may be a bit tough to use in aquarium photography. Which brings me to my last question (for now). Are there any special considerations when photographing aquariums? I.e. do we even want to custom white balance given we're used to looking at our tanks through pretty blue light?

 

[BCinYa]

Hey; Thanks for the questions (and the outline for our chat) about white balance.

There seems to be a significant amount of interest in white/color balance so I'm going to shift the course's itinerary around a bit and we'll go over color balance this Sunday.

Both of the pieces of equipment are indeed useful for different situations. Although, a white sheet of paper would do everything the card would do at a small fraction of the price.

I have & use both and find them to be of limited use when photographing aquariums (more on this, Sunday). So, don't run out and buy one if aquariums are the only thing you are going to be photographing.

I have some more typing to do about this, look for it on Sunday.