White Balance setting for Light Tent
- Thread starter unkyjohn
- Start date
Fred Kingston_RIP
Senior Member
Do both and tell us what you see... It's a light tent, it ain't like you're gonna miss the shot... or an extra shot is gonna cost anymore money... 
Auto works surprisingly well with artificial lighting. But if you're not thrilled with the results you can always pick up a gray card for around $5 at any camera store. In fact, they make "super deluxe" versions of gray cards but they don't work any better than the $5 cardboard cards do.
Last edited by a moderator:
Don Kuykendall_RIP
RIP :(
5500k is basically daylight. I would bet that Auto will work great. Try it on auto, then daylight and then Custom and see which works better. Post your results here and share your results with the class.
5500°K is essentially daylight (reflected light from a blue sky is actually around 6000°K) but that is close enough. The flash white balance on most digital cameras is also around 5500°K so you could try that. If you want to know what white balance to use, then you have a couple of options. First, get an 18% gray card, set your white balance to 5500K and photograph it. Look for a color cast, though it will be subtle and the LCD is not the thing to use to judge color since it is at best an approximation of what the actual image looks like. Second, you can use the white balance calibration, (if your camera has one) again using an 18% gray card. That is the most accurate way of doing things and it is what I do with my homemade light tent.
What is the actual color of the background? Auto WB is noticeably more magenta (about 10CC) than the other two.
STM's absolutely right, an 18% gray card is the way to adjust the WB to match the specific lighting system you're using. The only thing I can add is to not be fooled into buying a "fancy" gray card and get the no-frills $4 card at your local camera store. Beware, there are a number of unscrupulous manufacturers tapping into the desire for photographers to have the best of the best will sell you a $25+ gray card with bells and whistles that work no better than a cheap $4 gray card.
Last edited by a moderator:
Firstly, the printing on the back cover of a magazine is far from critical enough to be trusted to be neutral gray. I suggest you go to a camera store and spend $10 on a Kodak 18% gray card or order one online. Also, the reason your white background is turning out gray is due something called the "inverse square law". In photography, the inverse square law means that when you double the distance from a light source, you reduce the light by the distance SQUARED. In other words, when you double the distance of an object, in this case your background, you reduce the amount of light received squared. That means that it is 2[SUP]2[/SUP] or 0.5[SUP]2[/SUP] or 1/4[SUP]th[/SUP] the light, which equals 2 stops. That is why your "white" background actually appears gray. In a light tent, this distance does not need to be much. If you want a white background you need to ensure you are lighting your background as well as your subject.
Rexer John
Senior Member
If something should be white, anything from white, through grey, to almost black is correct as long as there's no colour hue.
The only thing varying is the brightness of the "white".
STM is of course absolutely right, but I think his explanation may be confusing to anyone already struggling with the light falling off at the rate of inverse square from the light source.
People using flash are usually most aware of the inverse square law but it applies to all light from all sources.
If you don't get the science bit, STM's last sentence is the best place to start, then read the rest of his post again.
You've probably already got it, but shout up if any of the jargon in his post is going over your head.
The only thing varying is the brightness of the "white".
STM is of course absolutely right, but I think his explanation may be confusing to anyone already struggling with the light falling off at the rate of inverse square from the light source.
People using flash are usually most aware of the inverse square law but it applies to all light from all sources.
If you don't get the science bit, STM's last sentence is the best place to start, then read the rest of his post again.
You've probably already got it, but shout up if any of the jargon in his post is going over your head.
Last edited:
I totally agree with this but my pocket-size WhiBal gray card gets used much more often than my cardboard card simply because it is easier to carry with me. IMHO it was worth the extra cost.
(I realize we are talking about a light tent here so carrying is not the issue, but I'm just saying...)
Last edited:
Michael J.
Senior Member
Follow the book is never wrong. But to put your personality into photos sometimes we have to try other ways until we are satisfied what we thought about which result we would get.