V1.02
Thom Hogan’s Complete Guide to the Nikon D300
Page 332
photographer can tell you that they usually do). You’re also
going to be moving back and forth amongst those locations
and don’t want to miss a photo opportunity because you were
trying to figure out white balance. Worse still, there are more
than five locations, so you can’t simply store each one into
one of the presets.
You can run around prior to the service and capture custom
white balances for each of the locations, taking a picture with
the correct white balance at each. Now, as you move from
location to location during the wedding, you can quickly grab
the white balance from an image you’ve already taken instead
of having to go through the entire gray card reading method
of setting white balance. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really save
an enormous number of steps on the D300, but it is
convenient enough to be effective in actual practice
(moreover, you don’t have to keep getting your gray card out).
Remember, once you’ve assigned preset values into
d-0
to
d-
4
, either via measurement or reference image, you can
quickly recall any of these by simply choosing a white
balance of
PRE
, holding down the
WB
button and using the
Front Command dial to navigate to the preset number.
Note: Practical field tests show that
PRE
works more consistently
using a neutral gray card than it does with a white card (the
Nikon manual suggests either). A neutral gray card should,
by definition, generate a correct exposure and has no color
cast. A white card is often underexposed as compared to
the eventual scene and sometimes contains a colored
pigment to make it appear “white.” Use Manual exposure
mode and a gray card and follow my instructions, above.
Use a white card only in a pinch.
Tip:
You can use slightly colored cards to make the overall color
balance warmer (redder) or cooler (bluer). Just pick a light
version of the color you want to remove from the scene. For
example, to make a warmer (redder) rendition, use
Pre
and
measure on a light blue card. To remove green from
fluorescent lights, try using a light green card. If you don’t
want to go to the trouble of making your own cards, do
