White Balancing Made Easy

As many of you know I'm the owner of OneTalentSource.Com, however, I'm also a photographer. Although I haven't been shooting for long I quickly moved to digital when the Canon 10D was introduced to the market. With most DSLRs you have the option to use "preset" white balance settings or you have the option to create your own custom white balance. The 10D also offers the ability to set your color temp. by kelvin degrees, but that's not within the scope of this review, that's just me bragging on another fine Canon product :)

While I love some of the presets, others fail terribly, so 99% of the time I'm setting custom white balance. Which is fine, I shoot everything manually anyways, so why not have a manual white balance as well. The problem I ran into was getting an accurate custom white balance in different lighting conditions. Sure there is the gray card, but it's bulky and hard to use in certain lighting conditions. Then there is the "white" piece of paper, again, doesn't work for most situations. Then I've also heard everything from using a Pringles can lid to coffee filters to face masks. Now, can you imagine the professional photographer that shot your wedding or your childs portraits whipping out a coffee filter and putting it over his lense. Would you wonder just a little bit on the results your going to receive? I know I would. However, none of above things work "accurately", but I must say, in my testing, the coffee filter rig was the closest I came to for all lighting situations.

After suffering with not getting a nice white balance under different lighting conditions I once again went on a search for a product, method, miracle or whatever that actually worked. Finally I found it!! It "is" the Holy Grail of white balancing tools in my opinion and I can't believe not everyone has one yet. The product I'm referring to and praising is the ExpoDisc. This inexpensive white balancing solution is a MUST HAVE for every digital photographer. I was amazed with the results I was getting whether I was shooting on location or in the studio, I was getting accurate and consistent results every time. Best part, it's the size of a lense cap and snaps on and off as such. How quick and easy is that!!

Below are two photos I took that show what my Auto White Balance produced and then what the ExpoDisc produced. See below

Model: Amanda OTS ID 2951
ORIGINAL PHOTO	EXPODISC PHOTO

Now one might say that the "ORIGINAL" looks the most accurate. Perhaps if the young lady in the picture was indeed fair complected and was wearing faded clothing. However, if you look closer, you'll notice the ExpoDisc photo produces a much more vibrant photo with more saturated colors in both her clothing and her skin tone. This model has a very nice golden brown tan which is presented accurately using the ExpoDisc.

I shot these two photos in the studio using the same lighting, exposure, etc. The only two differences are 1) Her Expression 2) The use of the ExpoDisc on the second shot. That's it. I selected to use the studio as my example/demo for this article because that seems to be the one lighting condition that is the hardest to white balance for. At least it was for me personally. There is a HUGE amount of information at the ExpoDisc website from other professional photographers that provided additional tips and tricks for using this product. For example, I have found that when shooting with the Canon 10D in the studio I have to white balance using the ExpoDisc four stops underexposed than what my light meter reads.

So, what is the ExpoDisc, what do I get and how much? Great questions and the best answer I can provide is to visit their site and see for yourself what your getting and what other professional photographers from around the world have to say about it. I get absolutely nothing from ExpoDisc for writing this article. Rarely am I as impressed with a product as I am with this one and I simply want to spread the word. This is a fantastic product!!

Now don't get discouraged when you visit their site and see they have one for every lense size there is :) Since the ExpoDisc fits like a lense cap, it only makes sense that they did it this way. Personally I bought one for the largest lense I have and then just hold it over the top of my smaller lenses. I have found that I have received results as accurate as the lense it is meant to fit by doing it this way.

In conclusion all I have to say is you need to visit the ExpoDisc website and pick up this product. Use the banner below to find your way to their website!!