Method of WB adjustment

When you guys cannot get the White Balance correct in camera; How do you correct it in software?

mdaddyrabbit wrote in post #16528072
When you guys cannot get the White Balance correct in camera; How do you correct it in software?

The best solution is to shoot in Raw, because with Raw there is no "built-in" White Balance. You set it in your Raw processing software, although some of that software uses the image "metadata" to set a White Balance "starting point".

If you are shooting jpegs, well, correcting a "bad" White Balance can be challenging, although you can definitely make "progress" using either Raw processing software (such as the Canon Digital Photo Professional, Lightroom (or Adobe Camera Raw that comes with Photoshop/Photoshop Elements) or image editing software that typically has tools for adjusting colors.

Tell us what software you are using and we may be able to help!

But, seriously, if you are shooting scenes where the colors and the lighting are "challenging", look at shooting Raw!

Even with Raw shooting it can be helpful to set a proper White Balance, either using an in-camera preset, or setting a Custom White Balance...!

If you absolutely 'cannot' (i.e. not possible) to get it correct in-camera, then it may be that the scene 'needs' multiple WB adjustments.

Of course 'need' is subjective there, but without going into details, I do sometimes apply different WB to different parts of the image (shooting in raw). How depends on the software I'm going to use and what needs to be done.

I don't worry about getting it right in camera at all, other than vague ballpark so the histogram is correct. My D700s do a good job, but my main method is Chad from Happy Fish who does it for me. Otherwise it's by eye.

Neutral target card if I remember to shoot one and it is possible to do so (during a performance some strangely uncooperative performers object to my taping the card to their nose).

Finding an object in the photo that I hope is neutral.

Getting a good skin tone for the most important person in the photo - the one most likely to complain.

A wing and a prayer.

I use LR and raw to adjust WB. I don't do any color critical work. Therefore I use the WB picker in LR to get a suggestion and then correct it based on the desired feel for the picture.

Ultimately, white balance can have a "correct" look, and a "pleasing" look, and it's up to you to decide which is more important.

Shooting a sunset or other late evening scene? Your gray card may tell you that the scene is supposed to look much cooler than it really is, and correcting WB as the software wants it will negate the effects of evening sunlight. Often times, I will make the shot even warmer in tone then as-shot.

The only time when WB is genuinely useful to get absolutely right is indoors or under artificial light sources in general, a balance that is too warm or cool, or too green/magenta can make the whole photo look ugly in these cases. An exception being strobes, strobe flash is almost always 200~400k too cool when it is your only light source, in my opinion (dunno about speedlights).

I have had some good success in really mixed artificial lighting with an Expodisc. A bit of faffing around but delivers great colours once the WB is calibrated. I get quite indecisive sometimes when trying to settle on the correct WB in LR, but thats probably just me.

mondie wrote in post #16529537
I get quite indecisive sometimes when trying to settle on the correct WB in LR, but thats probably just me.

Must be just you.....

Sarcasm aside, I agree with the above about indoors. Often you get some mix of lighting or just a narrow spectrum and that is were it can become tricky and I certainly seem to have less leeway in getting something that looks OK.

Reminds me I want to look into gels.

When shooting indoors, I'll tend to let the flash be the predominant lighting, and just set the WB to either "Flash" or just leave it at "Auto", but then I don't do studio work!

I guess that when you are in really mixed lighting it can be difficult to find a WB setting that works for everything in the scene. Thats when I tend to go with the HSL sliders in LR. Of course they are global, but it is not that hard to add saturation back where it is needed using the local adjustment brush. I don't remember the correct name for the tool, but it's were you click on the little symbol top left of the sliders and can click and drag up and down on the image to change the Saturation of the colours under the mouse pointer. Works with Hue and Luminance too.

Alan

TAT, Targeted Adjustment Tool.

I usually look for something in the image that I know is supposed to be a neutral gray. Photoshop Raw has a tool for making it neutral. Levels in Photoshop has a gray eye-dropper. This technique works well enough for me most of the time.

tzalman wrote in post #16531182
TAT, Targeted Adjustment Tool.

Tat a be the one!

tzalman wrote in post #16528473
Neutral target card if I remember to shoot one and it is possible to do so (during a performance some strangely uncooperative performers object to my taping the card to their nose).

Finding an object in the photo that I hope is neutral.

Getting a good skin tone for the most important person in the photo - the one most likely to complain.

A wing and a prayer.

This is pretty much how I do it, for situations where I CAN'T get it right in camera.

Often, when processing images from a performance with colored/mixed stage lighting, I'll use the picker/dropper on a (mostly) neutral area to correct WB, then I'll move it halfway back to where it was. That will preserve a lot of the "feel" or "ambiance" of the performance.