Comments

craftech wrote on 1/28/2006, 7:34 AM
Randy,
IMO the Blue Cards are way overpriced. They may be OK if the lighting doesn't change much, but I shoot stage productions mostly and no matter how many times I try manual white balance it doesn't work well so I end up using the tungsten setting which I can shift to warmer or cooler with the camera's white balance shift control (VX2000).

What kind of camera do you have?

John
Randy Brown wrote on 1/28/2006, 7:51 AM
We have 2 Canon XL1S' (which has an AE shift but not white balance shift) and one Sony Z1 (adding 2 more soon).
In a situation where the lighting varies I would probably go with an auto setting but 2 cam interviews I never do. I certainly agree that they are WAY overpriced for what they are!
Seems like someone here once mentioned going to an art supply store and buying a certain light blue poster board (that was cheap) that worked well.
Thanks John,
Randy
Jay Gladwell wrote on 1/28/2006, 8:41 AM

Randy, send me your e-mail address (click on my name) and I'll send you some 8x10 color chips you can print out and try. They do the same thing the Warm Cards do.


FuTz wrote on 1/28/2006, 9:06 AM
Two pieces of gel they use for lights on the sets.
CTB and CTO.
One is blueish, thoe other is orange. They're used to balance tungsten and/or sun sources on sets.
You want to warm up the image? Point your cam on a white sheet of ordinary paper (or towards a white wall) and slowly put the blue gel, gradually, in front of the lens (yes, it'll be out of focus ; what's important here is to controll the amount of blue you put in the image ). Do your white balance at each attempt. Want warmer? get the gel more in. A little less warmer? simply pull it out of frame a little.
The same to get your image cooler, but with the warm gel.

I've always been seeing guys do it this way. And last year, a public TV station bought these marvelous cards that stay at the bottom of the cases since then... still brand new.
The intention was probably good but in these situations where people mostly do reports, documentaries or other kind of shoots that are "on the move" and where you usually don't lose time, these cards simply aren't used.
If my rememberance is ok, it's been discussed here on the forum (or maybe another forum after all). Maybe try a Search ?
tbush wrote on 1/28/2006, 9:35 AM
Randy, check out Light It Right by Victor Milt for lighting techniques

http://www.vasst.com/product.aspx?id=d36b1c4e-0bad-4e52-ae18-51b10f22fcfd
Jay Gladwell wrote on 1/28/2006, 9:36 AM

In run-and-gun you don't always have the time to mess with lights and gels--may not even be any lights/gels to mess with! So the cards can come in handy, just one more tool in the arsenal.

Granted, if you're on a set with lighting instruments you can control, then it's an entirely different story!


FuTz wrote on 1/28/2006, 10:20 AM
: )

Hence: the back of your call sheet and a 4"x4" piece of gel all in your back pocket...

mjroddy wrote on 1/28/2006, 11:37 AM
Hm.... I love my Warm Cards. I find them to be an invaluable part of my kit. I have found that, for the kind of work I do (cable commercials), they work exactly as advertised.
winrockpost wrote on 1/28/2006, 3:45 PM
Dont use warm cards, but I have a set of gels thats kind of a sample pack, 10 or 12 different ,held together with a rivot, fits in your pocket. Bought it years ago at a cam store, searchrd google but cant find it.
This little thing is pulled out quite a bit when shooting with a monitor,
I dont know where to get it,, helpful as hell aint I .
Randy Brown wrote on 1/28/2006, 8:19 PM
Wow thanks guys,
Point your cam on a white sheet of ordinary paper (or towards a white wall) and slowly put the blue gel, gradually, in front of the lens (yes, it'll be out of focus ; what's important here is to controll the amount of blue you put in the image ). Do your white balance at each attempt....
It seems it would be really hard to match 2-3 cameras this way...no?
Thanks Futz!

Randy, send me your e-mail address (click on my name) and I'll send you some 8x10 color chips you can print out and try. They do the same thing the Warm Cards do.
Yea Jay, thank you very much!!!!


Randy, check out Light It Right by Victor Milt for lighting techniques.
I've been trying to decide on this one or Walter Graff's offerings.
I think I'll go with your suggestion; thanks tbush!

Thanks again everyone,
Randy

FuTz wrote on 1/29/2006, 12:47 AM
Then put the gel right onto the white paper sheet and have your cams framed the same way.
Too cold? More blue gel into the frame.
Spooky : you will need a bigger piece of gel then.
When you match cams, they're side by side pointing at the exact same thing, not already on the set with the interviewee sitting and waiting...

You're welcome, by the way...

GlennChan wrote on 1/29/2006, 11:10 AM
GAM, Lee, and Rosco make sample gel books / swatchbooks (or jungle books) you can use for this purpose.

You can get these at:
theatrical equipment houses
rental houses (I got mine free from these places)
B&H are showing some of the swatchbooks for one cent.

2- Personally, I'm not a big fan of warm/cool cards. When you watch TV, your eyes will white balance to the material on the TV. The vast majority of consumer TVs have a very high color temperature, so whites will appear blue-ish in relation to other things (like room lighting, which typically has a color temperature of rougly 2800K to 5000K depending on the kind of lighting). Your eyes will "white balance" that color difference away.

So if you trick the camera's white balance, that effect may not really translate to the end viewer. While the viewer is watching warm material, their eyes may white balance that off until everything looks white/normal/not-warm. And then when it cuts back to normal material, it may appear slightly cool (only if the original material was pretty warm to begin with).

If the warm/cool effect is subtle, then the audience may not see the effect at all.