 Alvin C. Lopinot |
Digital White Balance In one of the photo magazines there was some information on the use of "warmcards" to obtain better digital exposures. Warmcards are available from warmcards.com. I would like to know if anyone has used them and are they worth the money. Thanks.
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Sean T. McCready |
I'll start by saying I haven't used "Warmcards". However I have used a piece of white cardboard to adjust the white balance of a digital camera for the environment I was shooting in. This gives you a true color balance for the light condition you are in. My preference with digital is to capture the image as true as possible and then use Photoshop or whatever program you prefer to manipulate the image (i.e. warm up the color tones). That way you have an accurate original and you can then warm or cool to your hearts content. Any white piece of paper will do and it's a lot cheaper. If you really wanted to, you could find some light blue pieces of paper... and make your own set of Warmcards. I'd save my money and buy more memory for my digital camera instead.
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BetterPhotoJim.com - Jim Miotke  Contact Jim Miotke Jim Miotke's Gallery |
I agree with Sean. The company has a very nice Web site but (even though they might disagree) the product seems more for video production. Most importantly, $45 for the set seems a little excessive - at least to this do-it-yourselfer ;-)
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Wing Wong |
Hmm... when your digital camera is used to perform a white balance for a scene, you are determining what is the base white reference point. A warm card is one which will convince the camera that the scene has a particular color cast and to correct for it while taking the picture. Ie, giving the image a slight red cast to "warm" it up. A slight blue cast would likewise "cool" it down. The problem with this is that this "warming" will get removed when you perform an "auto-levels" in Photoshop. So it ends up being a waste of money. If you want to warm up an image, you can do so in Photoshop with the Variations option and adding some red/magenta to the scene to add "warmth". :) Saves you $45 with cards you can probably print on your printer at home.
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Daniel E. Schwarz Carigiet |
I see your points and basically agree. But I got to play with a set recently. among other things, I do medical photography and I recently borrowed a set of Warmcards from a colleague on a shoot. Of course you are all correct about the auto-levelling of photoshop. Yes, it will remove the warmth, but it will do exactly the same to an image "warmed" by a filter (which the white balance of the camera will work against and try to correct anyhow while shooting if oyu leave it on Auto). But... What I liked was the fact that they gave me a consistent point of colour reference, in a nice, non-reflective, unbreakable (nearly), washable (and sterilizable for operating theater use) form. sure I could do the same with a piece of paper, but that gets to be a mess. I liked the cards and I've oredered a set for myself for digi-photography. It isn't the solve-all solutions for every case and every situation, but there are situations where you want consistency and it's nice not to have to balace the levels in post production too much, once you get used to the cards' effect. I say borrow a set and play with them a bit. They're nice.
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