Note from a lighting guy:
Every photographer should look up a light bulb maker (GE, Phillips,
Sylvania/Osram, etc.) and find the "spectral distribution" charts for
various light types. These are much like a histogram for a light bulb.
Only tungsten and daylight are smooth across the rainbow.

http://www.gelighting.com/na/busines...ion_curves.htm

You may not be able to judge the color without a comparison but if you
can identify the basic type of lights you'll know what your up against.
White balance just shifts the overall color perception and doesn't
account for the true nature of the source.

Richard Reid, LC
PS LEDs are comming...

On Jan 24, 10:45 am, acl wrote:
Magnusfarce wrote:
This took place in a large gymnasium-type building set up with decent
lighting, but honestly, I never thought to look up. (Guess I need to get
into the habit.)

If I can find out, I'll post. In situations wherel ighting can be properly
identified, can a filter be used to restore neutral white balance, or would
that be done better through the camera WB settings? Should I be able to
look at a ceilinglightand identify its type by color, either now or with
practice?I don't know if people can judgelightcolour accurately, I certainly
can't. You can white balance using a white/gray card (your camera has a
setting called custom WB or something like that), or by using predefined
settings.

Using a filter (instead of just WB in camera) will have the advantage of
reducing the imbalance in exposures between different channels [thus
noise in one of the channels], but the disadvantage of requiring higher
ISOs or exposure times (or faster apertures). If you don't understand
this paragraph, ask!



- Magnusfarce (OP)

"acl" wrote in message
roups.com...
Magnusfarce wrote:
Thanks, I'll look into that. May have more questions as a result.

- Magnusfarce
Changing metering pattern doesn't affect white balance, only exposure.

Were you shooting under fluorescentlights?- Hide quoted text -- Show quoted text -