White Balance

[tag]White balance[/tag] is important and camcorders have to be tuned to the particular color of the light in which you are shooting. Otherwise some colors, such as flesh tones, look wrong.

When your camcorder knows what color white is, all the other colors will be accurate as well. This adjustment is usually done automatically but you can get better results by doing it manually especially when indoors.

It is generally accepted that the two main light sources encounted by filmmakers are [tag]tungsten lights[/tag] rated at 3200k and daylight generally measured at 5600k so many camcorders have these as preset white balance options. Simply select the daylight option or tungsten option as appropriate.

Different light sources such as midday sun, sunset, fluorescent bulbs all have different color temperatures and this affects the way your camcoder displays color. An incorrectly balanced scene will appear reddish or blueish depending on the color temperature. So it is quite prudent to reset your white balance whenever conditions change to get correct color in your video.

The exact procedure varies from camcorder to camcorder but basically you enter the Menu then White Balance then Manual Mode.

Point and focus on a sheet of bright white paper and position yourself so that the paper fills the frame. Ensure the white paper is lit by the light that you plan to shoot in so as to balance your camcorder accurately.

Follow your camcorder’s manual to set the [tag-tec]white balance[/tag-tec] for the current lighting conditions. You will now have the optimum setting for shooting your videos with the correct looking colors.

Take a look at this useful video for more information on white balance.

Filed under: video production

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