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White Balance 187

5.22.4 CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE
Custom White Balance is the control you use when you have a non-
standard lighting source (such as halogen), or a mix of white, incandescent,
fluorescent, ultraviolet, and you-name-it type of lights illuminating your
subject. Or when you’re under fluorescent lights that are a non-standard
shade of green, or under a soft-white bulb which is a non-standard shade of
red-orange. The way Custom White
Balance works is pretty ingenious:
you aim the camera at a nearby white
object (that is lit with the same light
that is falling on your subject),
preferably a white wall or a piece of
paper. (Neutral grey works too.)
Then you invoke the Custom White
balance feature, essentially telling the
camera, “Here! I’m showing you a
white piece of paper. Add whatever
tint you have to add, or remove any
tint you have to remove, to make that
piece of paper look white!” The
camera will measure which of the
rainbow colors it sees, and then it can
compensate automatically for the
rainbow colors it doesn’t see. It will
make the right choice every time
except in the most extreme sources of
light. It’s a great tool.
To Use Custom White Balance:

1. Go to Menu  4  White
Balance  Custom Setup (the
very last option) as shown in
Figure 5-43a. The screen in Figure 5-43: The Custom White
Figure 5-43b appears. Balance Control and its associated
2. Do as the screen says! Fill the screens.
screen’s center circle with your