DIY White Balance Filter

If any of you are a reader of my blog, follow me on twitter or just generally know me, you will know that I am big on DIY photography. I do like the feeling of satisfaction you get when you make a photo using something you have made, the sense of achievement if nothing else.The most recent of my DIY products is a white balance filter.

All it is is a Pringles lid with grease proof paper inside, a very simple little thing but it works so very well.

To use it is nearly just as simple. All you need to do is get your new tool you have made and put it in front of your lens and take a picture of your light source and set that to your custom white balance (WB) or use it to set in post production this will get you the correct colours for the scene you are photographing.

Using this for for the last month I have found that if there is a very even light on your subject then you can get away with just shooting the scene, this comes in very handy in some situations when you can't get to the position of your subject E.G if you shoot sports and can't get to the players or a concert where u can't get on stage.

Now for the good bit. Just because you have the correct WB doesn't mean it's the most aesthetically pleasing for your image, sometimes the correct WB just looks to cold and that it has a blue colour cast to it. This is where you can use your gels for WB, usually you would be putting these coloured papers over your flash to make them the same colour as your ambient light. You can also use your gels inconjunction with your WB filter to adjust the colour cast to get a more pleasing look. Using your knowledge of colour temperature you can tweak the WB for the best look. Mostly I would use the blue filter to make my image warmer just how much is up you depending how warm you want it weather you use a 1/4,1/2 or a full CTB. I haven't had the situation to use it but you can use the orange gel (CTO) to make the WB colder

In testing there is not a lot of difference when using the filter like other bought models however, there is a slight difference of around 3 kelvin, if I was doing product shots were the colors had to be spot on I would use a grey card but for everyday use this is ideal for me. Here is a link to my website all the sport photos were taken using the WB filter. Also the link to my G+Profile were you can find all my social media links