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Auto White Balance
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ClearWhite Filter
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Daylight Balance
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Comparison of three versions of Yucca, Red Rock Canyon, Nevada using unaltered jpg files. The image on the left was shot using the camera's auto white balance. This results in colors that are too cold (toward cyan-blue), mainly because the quality of light late in the day and the bright reddish color rocks fooled the camera's interpretation of a proper white balance. The image on the right was shot using the camera's daylight white balance mode. In this case, the result was an image with excessively warm colors, saturating the subtle shades of green in the Yucca with too much orange. The image in the middle was shot using a custom white balance derived from the ClearWhite white balance filter. Note the clean rendition of colors - the clarity of the greens in the yucca, the blue in the sky and the subtle browns of the hillside and background cliffs. See the testimonials page for comments and more comparison images from users of the ClearWhite filter. Click here to order. Worldwide shipping!
Simplify your digital workflow and get superb color balanceIntroducing the ClearWhite white balance filter. This filter is used to obtain an accurate white balance in your digital camera, regardless of the type of light conditions. The colors obtained from customizing your color balance with this filter are clean and neutral. No more guessing with your camera's white balance presets which are almost always far from correct! If you're shooting jpeg or tiff formats in your digital camera, the use of this filter will minimize or eliminate destructive color correcting and disturbing color-crossovers, and if you're shooting in RAW format, this filter will minimize or eliminate post-processing color balancing and will help maintain good clean colors from the moment the image is captured on your camera's sensor. Obtain the highest quality digital files with a minimum of destructive manipulations. The standard 4" x 4" size ClearWhite filter will fit any lens filter size from 25mm to 95mm and all sizes in between. You don't even have to remove your lens shade! Accurate, durable, fast and easy to use ClearWhite white balance filters. |
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Traditional photographers who use color film are concerned about the quality of the color that the film is capable of reproducing. With film, we had a wide choice of materials: Fuji Velvia (for brilliant, very saturated colors), Fuji Provia (good clean colors, very neutral color rendition), Kodak Ektachrome (perhaps slightly cool colors, moderate contrast and good detail in highlights and shadows), Fuji Astia (low contrast color film with great highlight detail, clean but not overly saturated colors) and much more. Basically we could choose a film that is well balanced in terms of the color and saturation that we like and that matches the types of images we shoot.
In digital photography however, we use a sensor built into our camera to capture an image, instead of film. Although different kinds of sensors and processing algorythms will yield slightly different color results, we are pretty much locked into our equipment and we must yield to the results that our particular camera/sensor are manufactured to produce. Fortunately, digital cameras have various settings and capabilities which allow us to capture and output images with varying color balances and, to some extent, various degrees of contrast or dynamic range. The usual camera settings are, however, based on an "average" range of images taken under specific lighting conditions. More often than not the built-in camera settings do not yield good color results over a wide range of different light sources (daylight, twilight, sunset, tungsten, etc.).
The use of a good white balance filter is an enormous help to the photographer who is concerned with producing images with the proper color balance right from the moment of capture, streamlining the digital workflow and reducing the amount of destructive manipulations. If we are shooting JPG files in our camera (and a huge majority of commercial photographers do) we must be even more concerned with getting the right color at the moment the shot is taken. Any color manipulations in programs such as Photoshop will be a destructive process - you'll lose delicate nuances of color with each color-correction that is done to the file. In addition, disturbing color-crossovers can and will occur with JPG or TIF files that have not been properly white balanced from the start. Add to that the workflow issue and the possible need to show clients the images immediately after a shoot. If the client sees images that are overall clear and cleanly saturated with the proper colors, the benefits are obvious.
Even if we shoot RAW files in our camera, the use of a good white balance filter assures that the color of our images will be very close to perfect right from the start, with little, if any, time required to color-correct the images in our preferred RAW software developer (such as Adobe Camera Raw, Photoshop Lightroom, Bibble Pro, Capture One Pro or ACDSee Pro). Aside from the time-saving factor, there are other benefits to getting the proper balance of colors right from the start. As Ansel Adams once said, "I am content to be precise". That was a philosphy that shouldn't be lost even in the digital age, where we can so easily turn to a multitude of methods for manipulating images and overlook the basic essentials of starting with a good concept and clean execution right from the start. Using a good white balance filter to obtain the correct color balance for the particular lighting situation is like loading our camera with the perfect film every time!
Please visit the Frequently Asked Questions page for more information.
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Auto setting
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ClearWhite filter
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Shade setting |
Above images courtesy of Jeff Steinwand. www.sportruck.com . White balance tests performed with a Nikon D70s digital camera using (L to R) the camera's auto white balance preset, the ClearWhite filter color balance, and the shade preset. In this example, the ClearWhite filter gives the most neutral and accurate color by far. The Auto and Shade settings were useless here as the colors are far from correct. Actual color of truck is a beige-tan color, closest to the ClearWhite rendering. Actual color of the dirt was very slightly warm (reddish). See the testimonials page for user's comments and more comparison images. View images from a recent San Francisco assignment using the ClearWhite filter.
These filters are individually hand-crafted, hand-dyed and calibrated for use in any lighting condition, even tricky lighting indoors. Every ClearWhite filter is tested "on camera" against a calibrated master standard to assure that the color transmission is within a tight tolerance of +/- 50 Kelvin. ClearWhite white balance filters are made from extremely durable, impact-resistant satin-surface acrylic in 4" x 4" squares. These 4" x 4" square filters will fit any lens filter size from 25mm to 95mm and all sizes in between. It does not matter if your lens filter size is smaller or larger than the circular opening of the ClearWhite filter's black foam coating. Custom sizes are also available for a small additional cost.
Extremely easy to use, they are simply held up in front of your lens and pointed at the predominant light source when setting your camera's custom white balance. You don't even have to remove your lens shade! The highly diffuse nature of these filters takes into account the actual color of light hitting your subject. The surface on one side of the filter is coated on the perimeter with non-reflective, soft pure black foam, so that there is no danger of scratching your lens, or obtaining an inaccurate color balance due to reflections from behind the camera. Because of the smooth uniform density of these filters they are also ideal for accurately determining the amount of lens vignetting (darkening toward the edges of your image) and can detect dust or problems with your digital camera's sensor (something that can't reliably be done with white balance cards or cheap alternatives to high quality, calibrated white balance filters). Other methods used to obtain custom white balance, such as those found on many photography forums, are either too cumbersome, highly inaccurate, non-uniform or unequally responsive to different spectral qualities of light. Using a plain sheet of diffuse plastic to set your custom white balance will not be as accurate as the ClearWhite filter under a variety of lighting conditions and can easily be off by as much as 1,000 K or more! In fact, tests comparing the ClearWhite filter to other white balance filters (some costing from 2 to 3 times as much) show the ClearWhite white balance filter is the winner with more neutral colors (better balanced colors) in nearly all lighting conditions.
Every ClearWhite white balance filter comes with instructions for use, including charts, white balance strategies, a simple Quick Guide to start getting perfect color results immediately, a protective sleeve, a hand-checked quality control label and a removable soft black neck strap. These filters are available at the low price of $49.95 each (plus shipping). Click here to order. Worldwide shipping! Every ClearWhite filter is guaranteed to meet or exceed your expectations or your money will be fully refunded (minus shipping) if the filter is returned in good condition within 30 days of purchase. Speed up your digital workflow! ClearWhite white balance filters - the smart, easy to use, low cost solution to achieving accurate, clean and clear color from your digital camera.
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