2004-11-25

WhiBal White Balance Reference Card

The WhiBal white balance reference card is a fantastic tool for getting your white balance right when it really matters (e.g. fashion or product photography, difficult lighting conditions, etc).

It's a little business-card-sized bunch of cards that you take a reference photo of in each lighting situation you're shooting in. One card is white, one black, and two are grey. When you get back to your computer to edit the photos, you can set the white and black point of your image to recreate the correct exposure and contrast, and use one of the grey cards to set the colour balance of your image.

This tool is not just for digital photographers - film shooters can benefit too. If you shoot negatives, you can make test prints of your reference shot to get the right colour filtration for neutral output. If you shoot slides, you can't directly modify the white balance of the slides later, but if you need to scan them you can use the reference shot to ensure you scan your good shot with the right exposure and colour corrections.

If colour accuracy is important in your photography, or if you're just sick of mucking around in Photoshop trying to get skin tones to look natural, WhiBal could help you. And it's only about USD$45 (USD$50 outside US).

WhiBal Cards