Do you LOVE AWB (auto white balance) as much as I do? I NEVER change that setting in my camera (I lied, only when I shoot with studio lights do I ever even touch that dial and when I do, it goes from flash to auto and back again). I have never used any other of those pretty little symbols before and custom, yikes that sounds kinda scary!

Although Photoshop and Lightroom, even Elements, are great tools for correcting white balance, I am continuing my mission to make life easy (or easIER). I had tossed around the idea of using a gray card, or some sort of custom white balance tool, for a while. I would edit in PS and get what I thought was the perfect “balance” but would always question how accurate it really was. So I bit the $40 bullet and purchased this.

There are a couple ways you can use this little tool of goodness.

Here’s how!

My first set of shots looked like this (these are all SOOC) and shot with AWB (auto white balance)

VERY cool! (and I don’t mean awesome, or cold) Easily fixable? Sure. Messing with some sliders in LR and I would be good to go and would get pretty close.

Instead I used my gray card. I took this shot of the card itself.

There is a super cool WB tool in Lightroom (and ACR) and here is how it works.

When you click on this dropper tool in either of these programs, you use a  perfectly 18% gray piece of goodness that, when clicked, will change everything about your pictures white balance. Now, there is not always something perfectly gray in your shot, enter the gray card.

When I pull up my gray card shot and click right there in the center, my picture changes in an instant! I copy the settings I have just applied and paste them (to these three pictures in particular) and check out the difference with once click of a button.

Cool right? Well warm and White Balance perfect.

Now there is another way you can use this tool, in a way that eleviates the whole copy paste functions.

Let’s check it out!

I snapped this picture.

Again easily fixable but I want to eleviate steps so I break out the gray card.

Here is where you need to pay attention. Don’t get intimidated. I am going to make you use the CUSTOM function but its ok, I promise!

All you have to do is quick take a picture of your gray card (like this).

Now, go into your cameras functions (this is how it looks on my Canon 5D Mark II) and select Custom White Balance.

Your camera will automatically take you into your picture previews. Select the picture of your gray card and click ok. Go back into your functions and make sure you change your white balance selection from auto to custom, and your done. And SHOOT!

(she just LOVES when Momma pics up a new gadget…bwwwaaahh)

Every shot that follows will use those tiny bits of white balance information. You don’t need to do the process again until you change to a new location with different lighting conditions.

Get to working out your gray matters!

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Filed under: Cool Finds, Fix It's and How To's by Gina