What is The Best Way to Colour Balance, With White or Grey?

MH7 wrote on 4/8/2021, 2:05 AM

Okay, so this question might’ve been asked before a similar way, if so, I apologise, but if not, I’m curious as to which is the better way to colour balance, with white paper or a grey card? When looking on the net there’re various opinions on this. I’m colour balancing a video in Vegas Pro 18 and I just would some answers on this. Although, I guess it could be like the net and I’ll get various. But it’ll still be good to see what the community here thinks, which way the majority falls. I look forward to any answers anyone can give to help with this.

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MH7 wrote on 4/10/2021, 11:41 PM

Don't ask -- it's based on densitometer analog voltage. Trust Uncle Ansel. and learn photography.

(Never met Adams, but I worked for Mickey Pallas).

So, it’s basically, get whichever one works best for your situation (kinda thing)?

Grazie wrote on 4/11/2021, 12:28 AM

So, it’s basically, get whichever one works best for your situation (kinda thing)?

@MH7 - Yes, and read widely on the subject. I just reached over to my right and picked up my edition of “Color Correction for Digital Video” - Hullfish and Fowler. I keep dipping into it and I still have even more Pennies dropping into place!

RogerS wrote on 4/11/2021, 1:07 AM

I would recommend an Xrite gray card as it's also usable for white balance. 2 in 1 functionality is handy to have. Cheaper 18% gray cards are only an exposure reference.

MH7 wrote on 4/11/2021, 1:25 AM

So, it’s basically, get whichever one works best for your situation (kinda thing)?

@MH7 - Yes, and read widely on the subject. I just reached over to my right and picked up my edition of “Color Correction for Digital Video” - Hullfish and Fowler. I keep dipping into it and I still have even more Pennies dropping into place!

I kinda figured that was the case. Hmm...that sounds interesting. It sounds like you’re quite enjoying it. And, whilst it might not be the industry standard, I found out my grey iPad cover is about 28% grey.

RogerS wrote on 4/11/2021, 1:29 AM

The palm of the hand, at least for people of European descent, is about 1 stop above middle gray.

Used palm +1 in the film days for tricky situations.

As long as you have a known reference you could use custom zebras with it, assuming your camera has that feature.

Musicvid wrote on 5/14/2021, 11:24 AM

I thought to add one note to this discussion: The most common question I got is, "When I white balance on someone's teeshirt, my pictures (video) turn out too red." The reason is UV excitement, which can occur from white balancing on cotton, from fabric brighteners, on teeth, even eggs.