User Manual

Balance Tab
Space
Use this menu to select the color space of the source image, if it is known. This can make the
correction more accurate since the node can take the natural gamma of the color space into
account as part of the correction. If the color space that the image uses is unknown, leave this
menu at its default value.
Method
The White Balance node can operate using one of two methods: a Custom method or a color
Temperature method.
 Custom: The Custom method requires the selection of a pixel from the scene that
should have been pure gray. The node uses this information to calculate the color
correction required to convert the pixel so that it actually is gray. When the correction
is applied without an effect mask connected and the LockBlack/Mid/White checkbox
enabled, the node white balances the entire shot.
 Temperature: The color Temperature method requires that the actual color temperature
of the shot be specified.
Lock Black/Mid/White
This checkbox locks the Black, Midtones, and White points together so that the entire image is
affected equally. Unchecking the control provides individual controls for white balancing each
range separately. This control affects both methods equally.
Black/Mid/White Reference
These controls appear only if the Custom method is selected. They are used to select a color
from a pixel in the source image. The White Balance node color corrects the image so that the
selected color is transformed to the color set in the Result Color Picker below. Generally, this is
gray. A color that is supposed to be pure gray but is not truly gray for one reason or another
should be selected.
If the Lock Black/Mid/White checkbox is deselected, different references can be selected for
each color range.
For example, try to select a pixel for the black and white references that are not clipped in any
of the color channels. In the high end, an example would be a pixel that is light pink with values
of 255, 240, 240. The pixel is saturated/clipped in the red, although the color is not white.
Similarly, a really dark blue-gray pixel might be 0, 2, 10. It is clipped in red as well, although it is
not black.
Neither example would be a good choice as a reference pixel because there would not be
enough headroom left for the White Balance node.
Black/Mid/White Result
These controls appear only if the Custom method is selected. They are used to select the color
that the node uses to balance the reference color. This generally defaults to pure,
midrange gray.
If the Lock Black/Mid/White checkbox is deselected, different results can be selected for each
color range.
Chapter – 85 Color Nodes 1899