Auto White Balanced Image 
Custom White Balanced Image Recently, I had the opportunity to take some photos in the John Hersey High School gymnasium. Anyone who has ever tried to take photos in there knows how difficult it is to get a decent image because of the gym's use of the yellowish sodium vapor lighting. Not only is the lighting hard to work with, but flooring, bleachers and walls in the gym have similar color tones as well.
Sodium Vapor lighting contains very little if any elements of white light. So no matter how hard you try to white balance your camera for it, it doesn't work very well.
Look at the top photo. This is a typical shot taken in the gym using "Auto White Balancing" with the Nikon D3 camera. I've had the chance to see photos from other photographers who have tried to shoot in this gym and many end up like this.
But look at the shot in the second photo. This was taken with the same Nikon D3 camera while using custom white balancing. You can see it's a huge difference. Look at the wall behind the drummer. You can see it's supposed to be off-white. That's not the case in the first photo!
Even though the white balance has been corrected, the gym still has an overall yellowish look to it because of the other things in the gym. The bleachers are of a yellowish color (you can see the bleachers in the far right of the image.) Then look at the floor... because it's a yellowish colored wood, it makes even the corrected photo look yellow! Then add in the yellow walls and even the yellowish wood on the back of the piano... you get the idea.
Now, consider that the overhead gym lights cast a yellowish light too... it's a nightmare! It's a very difficult room to take a good photo in!
I've often wondered who designed the color scheme in this gym. What were they thinking! But regardless, the new Nikon D3 came out on top of it all and with a little photography "know how" I've conquered the lighting in this difficult room!
Sodium Vapor lighting contains very little if any elements of white light. So no matter how hard you try to white balance your camera for it, it doesn't work very well.
Look at the top photo. This is a typical shot taken in the gym using "Auto White Balancing" with the Nikon D3 camera. I've had the chance to see photos from other photographers who have tried to shoot in this gym and many end up like this.
But look at the shot in the second photo. This was taken with the same Nikon D3 camera while using custom white balancing. You can see it's a huge difference. Look at the wall behind the drummer. You can see it's supposed to be off-white. That's not the case in the first photo!
Even though the white balance has been corrected, the gym still has an overall yellowish look to it because of the other things in the gym. The bleachers are of a yellowish color (you can see the bleachers in the far right of the image.) Then look at the floor... because it's a yellowish colored wood, it makes even the corrected photo look yellow! Then add in the yellow walls and even the yellowish wood on the back of the piano... you get the idea.
Now, consider that the overhead gym lights cast a yellowish light too... it's a nightmare! It's a very difficult room to take a good photo in!
I've often wondered who designed the color scheme in this gym. What were they thinking! But regardless, the new Nikon D3 came out on top of it all and with a little photography "know how" I've conquered the lighting in this difficult room!
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