Proper white balancing of a video camera or digital DSLR is the first step in assuring your footage will look great. Most people just set their camera to auto white balance and pray for the best. Professionals know better, and always do a manual white balance before serious shooting. But what if you want more creative options instead of just shooting a plain old white card? One trick is to put a colored card in front of the camera and set it's white balance to the card. If you want to warm up a shot, put a bluish card in front of the lens, set your manual white balance to it, and the camera will shift the colors of your image towards warmer tones to help compensate for the reading of the blue card. Conversely, if you wanted to cool down a shot, you would use a yellowish card.
Download our FREE "White Balance Calibration System' and give it a try. All you need is a color printer, and some white paper or white card stock, and you can have your very own custom white balance cards.
Good Luck & Happy Shooting!
