How often do you set your white balance?

[BowerR64]

Latley ive been using this slave flash and it seems the w/b is off when using it. Do you have a technique you use to set your w/b?

what about outside?

[downtrodden]

I'm still a noob in digital photography.. but i *TRY* to set the white balance anytime i change major lighting conditions- i switch between AWB and custom and flash. I have not needed the others yet. This may be over kill, but if my W/B is off i can't tell.

If i go inside i set my custom white balance if there is something nice and white in the room, then when i go back outside i look for something white and if i cannot find something suitable i just set it to auto. Come to think of it, i don't use the flash.. so i don't use flash W/B.

That's just me though- and i am a noob. But seems to work well for me.

[BowerR64]

I use my flash more now with the slave then i did. It really works well but ive noticed some things. Say i setup a white foam board as a back drop and i use that to set my wb the colors come out different then if i set the wb with the subject there. I shot a guitar that is blue and it seems to reflect the blue onto the backdrop and made the wb a bluish color.

I was looking for the technique you use to set it mainly.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y191/BowerR64/guitar/CanonA510.jpg

[downtrodden]

Wow.. that's weird.. i've never had that sort of problem i've noticed- All i do is point it at the whitest object in the lighting conditions i can find and click the set button. It usually works, but sometimes the color through my LCD won't look quite right so i'll try a different white object. Usually a wall works well and then i set it and take pictures.

Are you pointing the box at the guitar when you set it? the way i understand it is only white should be inside the center box when you set your W/B.

But that's as far as my understanding of the white balance really goes. Sorry icannot be of anymore help than that. I've also never used a slave flash. But i know if you're going to use a flash you have to sample your white balance with the flash. it will "snap a picture" to set the balance. if you then use your flash your WB will be off. so the flash needs to fire with the camera setting the WB. try that if you haven't.

Goodluck. Let me know your results because i was thinking of buying a slave flash.