Video Color – It’s a (White) Balancing Act
Has your video ever turned out with a blue, green or orange tint?
While your eye can compensate for the surrounding light and filter out colors cast by different types of light, your video camera can’t. You can dramatically increase the look of your video by simply compensating for different light sources. The good news? This is one video issue that can be fixed fairly easily, with no extra equipment or cost.
If you haven’t paid attention to the white balance settings on your video recorder, you are in for a real eye opener. Proper white balance is the key to correcting some of the most common problems that keep your video from looking true to color, bright and crisp.
So what is white balance on a video camera? Basically, it compensates for the difference in intensity, or temperature, of the light in which you are shooting. Sunlight, cloudy days, candlelight and fluorescent and tungsten lights all cast your subject in different light. So varying the white balance can compensate for these lights to keep your subjects looking the way they are supposed to.
Your camera may be set to the auto setting by default-and in some cases that will be just fine. Other times you’ll want to experiment with other settings to see how you can improve the exposure. Since mixed light settings can pose some of the biggest challenges, you should also play with the manual setting. It can come in handy in situations like shooting on a bright day with your subject under a shade tree.
Here are some typical settings that may be on your camera.
Auto or Automatic White Balance (AWB) is the default setting of most cameras. Works for both indoors and out.
Indoor setting – (symbolized by a light bulb) compensates for the lower light.
Fluorescent (its symbol is a long rectangle or a fluorescent tube) can be used if your videos are too green or when in fluorescent light.
Daylight (symbolized by a sun) Adjusts for direct sunlight.
Cloudy (symbolized by a cloud) is a little warmer than the daylight setting and is best for use outdoors with indirect sunlight.
Shade (symbolized by a house with its shadow) gives your image a very warm color. This is perfect for shooting on a partly cloudy day when most of its light is coming from the sky instead of direct sun. Also try it when your shots feel too bright.
Manual puts you in the driver seat. You can typically set this by zooming in on a white object-next to your subject, a piece of white paper or a really white t-shirt, for example. Then hold the button while the white balance sets.
Settings vary from camera to camera, so check out the dreaded “manual” to learn more about your model or just play around and see how much better your videos can be!
Author: Jay Gross
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Smart cooker
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