Quick Tip: How to Set Custom White Balance on a Canon DSLR

[caption id="attachment_7157" align="alignright" width="300"] Learn how to get your colors to be as neutral as Switzerland. (Bad history joke sorry)[/caption]

While many beginners are busy figuring out how to make proper exposures with their new digital SLR cameras, the element of color is often forgotten, lost, or not even realized at all.  While nailing down basic exposure technique is key to getting started in photography, getting accurate color is also critical.  AWB (Auto White Balance) algorithms have improved greatly on DSLRs over the years, but so have auto exposure modes.  If you are really struggling to still figure out manual exposure and metering, it is OK to leave your white balance setting to "AWB" or one of the generic settings such as "Daylight" or "Incandescent."  Shooting RAW files and fixing your White Balance in post-production is another option as RAW files contain enough information to fully adjust color without impacting image quality one bit.  However If you are interested in achieving perfect color straight out of the camera, you should be measuring and setting a Custom White Balance for each lighting situation you encounter.  I understand that anything "custom" is usually complicated and intimidating, but setting custom white balance is actually very easy.  So here are step by step instructions on how to set custom white balance on a Canon DSLR. In the future I will cover setting custom white balance for other cameras.

1. Get Neutral

You will need a neutral target in order to set a proper custom white balance. Basically you are telling your camera, "Here this is a neutral target, base all color rendition off of this."  Don't worry this isn't expensive or complicated.  Honestly all you need is a white piece of paper, a Gray Card, or a "Calibration Target"  I prefer either two of the later options as they are guaranteed to be truly neutral.  White paper varies in color, but is usually fine to use in a pinch.

2. Photograph your Target

Set your camera to Program, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, or Manual if you are comfortable enough.  Getting a proper exposure of your target is critical.  Right now you are taking a picture that your camera will use as a "base" for determining what neutral tones are under the given lighting conditions.  A target shot that is too dark or too bright will result in an inaccurate measurement by your camera.  Additionally, it is important to photograph your neutral target under the SAME lighting conditions that you will be photographing in.  If you move to another location with a different source of light, the color temperature changes, and you will need to set your custom white balance again.  Be sure to FILL the frame with your target.  You want your camera to be able to measure an entirely neutral scene, so don't include any edges.  Here are examples of a bad and good  calibration photo.  It is important to note that it doesn't matter what white balance you currently have your camera set to.  Your target may come out very blue, green, or orange.  This is ok!  You are only telling your camera what tones should be neutral.

[caption id="attachment_7147" align="aligncenter" width="480"] BAD! The brown color of the chair will skew the measurement your camera makes when setting a custom white balance.[/caption] [caption id="attachment_7152" align="aligncenter" width="480"] GOOD! Fill the entire frame with your target.[/caption]

3. Get into the Scary Menus of your Camera

Looking at all the options and confusing words in a DSLR camera menu can be a little intimidating for a beginner.  You certainly don't want to mess something up and not know how to change it back.  You can always reset your camera to factory defaults, but to avoid all of that wasted time, I have included a couple pictures of the Canon menu that will guide you through this process.  Don't fret.

[caption id="attachment_7153" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Get into the second "Red" Menu and select "Custom White Balance"[/caption]

After selecting "Custom White Balance" in the menu you will be prompted to select a photo.  If you are following the steps I am laying out here, the last photo you took should be of your target. (See above.) Use the set button to confirm.  You should be prompted with this screen next:

[caption id="attachment_7154" align="aligncenter" width="480"] Your Canon DSLR will prompt you here. Select the photo of your calibration target and select 'OK'[/caption]

Your camera explains it all here.  It is using the "WB data" from the target image you just captured in order to determine what tones should be rendered as neutral colors.  Scroll over to 'OK' and hit the 'SET' button on your camera and you are finished!  (Almost)

4. Set WB to "Custom"

Don't forget even though you have told your camera to measure a custom white balance, you need to SET your camera's white balance to "Custom/Preset"  This can be achieved one of several ways depending on what model Canon DSLR you have.  If you go through the menu you should see something like this:  (Depending on what DSLR you have, you can change your white balance a number of ways)

[caption id="attachment_7155" align="aligncenter" width="408"] The "Custom/Preset" Icon is the one that looks like a circle in-between two triangles and in the case of this menu, is the second to last option.[/caption]

5. Important Things to Remember

-Remember that light temperature changes as the day goes by and the sun starts to set.  Different artificial/indoor lighting sources will also have different color temperatures.  If you change the lighting you are shooting in (or it changes on you naturally) you will have to redo your custom white balance.

-Fill your frame with the target you are using.  You don't want any extraneous information being used by your camera.  Although DSLRs have gotten pretty advanced, they still don't think like humans.  Your camera isn't going to say "Hmm I see this white balance target, let me ignore whatever else is in the frame"

-In very mixed lighting conditions involving flourescent lights, sometimes you won't be able to get a perfectly neutral custom white balance.  Certain high-pressure sodium vapor lights (many street lights use these) are just so orange that your camera may not be able to be balance it as neutral.

-If you are having trouble with any of this, we offer a class called "Understanding your DSLR III: White Balance and Composition" that focuses on teaching you about white balance, how to set a custom white balance for your specific DSLR, and how the different elements of design can impact your photographs.  It is a class targeted towards people who are still new to photography, but understand the basic principles of exposure/metering.

If you need help with anything I covered here or just have a general photography question, shoot me a line: [email protected]