ClearWhite white balance filters for optimum color in digital photography

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What if my lens filter size is larger than the diameter of the open circular area that transmits light through the ClearWhite filter?

As long as your lens filter size is 95mm or smaller (between, and including, 25mm to 95mm filter size) it will work perfectly. Your lens filter size does not have to match the ClearWhite center circular area size.

What if my lens filter size is smaller than the diameter of the open circular area that transmits light through the ClearWhite filter?

As long as your lens filter size is 25mm or larger (between, and including, 25mm to 95mm filter size) it will work perfectly. Your lens filter size does not have to match the ClearWhite center circular area size.

Isn't the use of a white balance "gray card" or "white card" just as good as using the ClearWhite filter?

Normally the use of white balance cards depends on post-processing of the image in order to obtain a "neutral" color balance. There are at least a couple reasons why this is not a good idea: 1) If you're shooting JPG or TIF format files in your camera, any kind of post-processing color correcting will be a destructive process and, even worse, disturbing color-crossovers will commonly occur especially if the colors are corrected to a substantial degree and 2) Whether you're shooting RAW, JPG or TIF, your straight "proof sheet" colors may look wildly inconsistent when you're using any method of white balance that depends on post-processing. Particularly if you're showing a client direct results of the "shoot", good consistent colors straight from the camera will look far more professional and will also give you an edge when it comes to fine-tuning and optimizing your important images.

What is a "color-crossover"?

A "color-crossover" occurs when a file is color balanced during post-processing. This very unfortunate and unpleasant result will be especially noticable when a moderate to extreme amount of overall color balancing is done to a JPG or TIF file in any software program, such as Photoshop. The problem is not inherent in RAW file color balancing. Color-crossovers usually result in images which cannot yield good or acceptable prints. An example of a color-crossover is a wedding shot of a bride in a pure white dress, taken in warm tungsten light, using the JPG format in the camera and setting the camera's white balance preset to, say, auto or daylight. When this warm image is color balanced in a software program, reducing the overall amount of orange or yellow color in the image results in the wedding dress appearing excessively blue, while everything else in the image looks normal. The use of the ClearWhite filter assures that the image will be close to neutral (or close to the photographer's vision) at the time of exposure, so that very little, if any, destructive color balancing need be done in post-processing.

If I only shoot RAW format, can't I just adjust white balance in my RAW processing software?

Shooting in RAW format certainly gives you the ability to adjust white balance for each individual image in your RAW software such as Adobe Camera RAW, but imagine shooting 100 images on a trip using only RAW format with NO white balancing filter, only auto white balance or the camera's built-in presets. This set of 100 images will very likely show colors that run the gamut from excessively warm to forbodingly cold, making it necessary to adjust the white balance for each individual image. Worse yet, imagine showing this set of images to a client before the colors have been adjusted to at least some degree of consistency throughout the set. A very unprofessional and time consuming approach! If the RAW files are to be converted to JPG files, the white balance of every image will have to be corrected before the JPG files are created in order to eliminate color-crossovers and quality loss. Bottom line - keep it clean and simple - use a good white balance filter such as the ClearWhite to get the colors right from the start.

Can't I just use the camera's built-in auto white balance setting?

Even with the most modern camera technology, the operation of the auto white balance feature will never be as accurate and consistent as using a good white balance filter. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the camera's auto white balance is often influenced by the actual colors of the subject when it tries to obtain an accurate white balance. Methods such as the ClearWhite filter, however, actually measure the color quality of the light source and are not influenced by the colors of the subject. The result is a proper white balance which will yield all the subtle nuances of the colors in your images.

Is the ClearWhite white balance filter easy to use?

Photographers who have used the ClearWhite filter in many different kinds of photography (from landscape work to portraits to high-end sport truck photography) have reported that the ClearWhite is extremely easy to use and may be the easiest of all the white balance methods. The ClearWhite was designed primarily for ease of use, accuracy and durability.

What does saturation have to do with white balance?

Basically nothing. White balance refers to the neutrality of the light color illuminating the subject. It does not specifically refer to the "whites" of the image but rather all of the range of values in the image since the light source is what is being "balanced". This means that grays, blacks and whites in the image will appear neutral (or very close to neutral) and other colors will have proper relationships and will be rendered cleanly and clearly. Saturation has essentially nothing to do with white balance despite some articles on the net and in magazines referring to this.

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