White Balance for Aquariums

[KeithB]

I just took a bunch of photo's at an aquarium and they came out bluish - obviously because of the white balance setting.  (I used Auto.)  I know that my wife's 720IS (which I got on your recommendation, Bob - it is a pretty good camera!) has a WB setting specifically for this.  My Digital Rebel Xt does not.  I shot JPEGS, so I am reluctant to change the WB on those, but I am going to another aquarium soon and am wondering the best flow.

I would guess it would be to shoot RAW.  I use iPhoto as my Raw converter.  What white balance setting should I use to correct this?  Does anyone know if DPP has an "aquarium" preset for RAW photos?

Thanks

[Bob Atkins]

There's no "aquarium" setting in DPP, but you do have a wide range of options which should get you close. you can use color temperature,or you can click on an area of the image which you want to be white.

I'd guess the closest auto setting might be "shade", since that's the highest color temperature (bluest) setting. I've never used the underwater setting on my 720is!

One problem is that color balance may vary depending on how much water you are shooting through. The more water, the bluer the image, so the color balance may be different for close and distant underwater subjects.

[KeithB]

Good point.
One note about the 720IS - it actually has *two* underwater settings.  One for taking pictures underwater when the camera is in an underwater housing, and another for aquarium shots.  I would bet that the aquarium setting is a little less blue.

Oh, and I checked out DPP, and found out that I cannot use the lens correction feature with my Digital Rebel Xt. 8^(.