How can I keep white balance consistent when photographing products of different colors?
Asked 6/9/2014
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2 answers
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I’m shooting product photos and the color balance shifts from shot to shot, especially with different-colored items. I’d like a workflow that gives consistent, accurate white balance without manually correcting every image. What setup and camera/post-processing steps help keep white balance consistent across a batch?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
12y ago
2 Answers
16
Don't use auto white balance - choose a color temperature that looks well and stick to it (or use a gray card if the color accuracy is important)
Close all the windows - the daylight color changes based on weather, if possible use only flashes and photographic color balanced lights, if you must use normal indoor lights try not to change light bulbs, if you must choose another bulb that is exactly the same as the one you replaced.
If you are using fluorescent lights, use only shutter speeds 1/60, 1/30 or 1/15 in the US and 1/50, 1/25 or 1/15 in Europe - fluorescent lights blink, the blinking rate is the AC power frequency (60Hz in the US, 50Hz in most of Europe), the color and power of the light is only consistent if your exposure covers complete cycles (I wrote about this on my blog a while ago here)
Originally by user2481. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user2481
12y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
For consistent product color, keep the lighting and white balance fixed.
- Turn off Auto White Balance. Set a manual Kelvin value or use a custom white balance.
- Use controlled lighting only if possible. Mixed light causes color shifts, so close windows and avoid changing bulbs. Flash or photo-balanced lights are more consistent than daylight.
- If color accuracy matters, include a gray card/white-balance card in a reference shot under the same lighting. In RAW processing, use the eyedropper on that card, then sync that white balance to the rest of the images.
- Shooting RAW makes this much easier because white balance can be corrected non-destructively.
- If you don’t have a card, you can sometimes click a neutral light gray area in the image with the WB dropper, but a gray card is more reliable.
- If using fluorescent lights, be aware they can flicker and shift color. Use shutter speeds that cover full AC cycles: about 1/60, 1/30, 1/15 in 60Hz regions, or 1/50, 1/25, 1/15 in 50Hz regions.
In short: controlled light + manual WB + RAW + a gray-card reference shot is the most consistent workflow.
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