I was recently looking through the achieves of this blog and ran across a series of posts I wrote two years ago on the topic of white balance. And it occurred to me that I should link them together somehow and decided to just create a post that does just that. So here goes….+
Archive for the ‘White Balance’ Category
Double Processing a Single Raw File–Different White Balance
This image is a composite of two different interpretations of the same raw file. One with a cool White Balance to enhance the blues and greens in the sky and foreground grass. The other version is a warm White Balance to enhance the coat of the horse. I outlined the technique for Double Processing a Single Raw File in yesterdays post.
WB Part4: Setting Camera White Balance
In previous posts in this series I’ve talked about what white balance is and how it can be used creatively, both in the field and in post production. In Part 1 we noted that if the camera’s WB setting matches the color temperature of the light hitting the subject; white, and all other colors, will be rendered correctly. And that we could change the mood or fell of an image if we intentionally used an “incorrect” WB to render the image warmer or cooler. But if colors can be accurate or intentionally changed which is correct? I addressed this question in Part 2 and gave two different approaches or strategies that can be used to determine which WB setting to use: Accurate and Creative. And in Part 3 we discussed how shooting in the raw format allowed for greater flexibility in setting any WB after the shoot. And that when shooting in jpg the photographer needed to pay more attention their camera’s WB setting during capture.
In this post I’m gong to discuss ways to determine what your WB should be set at. Read the rest of this entry »
WB Part3: When Should White Balance be Set?
In Part 1 of this series on White Balance we defined WB and in Part 2 talked about using WB to control the colors in our images. If the WB setting matches the color temperature of the light hitting our scene we would get accurate rendering of the colors in the scene. And if the camera WB setting did not match the color temperature of our light source the image would be rendered with a color cast. And that as creative we photographers sometimes want to purposely shift the colors in the image to control the emotional content of the image.
You may have noticed that in Part 1 the example images had the WB set at the time of capture and that the example images in Part 2 had the WB adjusted during post processing (during the raw conversion step). This leads to the question, “What is the best time to set WB and are there any advantages to doing it during capture or in post production?” The answer is that it depends on the file format you are capturing your images in, jpg or raw. But before we answer the question lets take a look at the differences between jpg files and raw files. Read the rest of this entry »
WB Part2: What’s the Correct White Balance Setting?
In the first part of this series on White Balance we learned that the look, feel, and/or mood on an image can be changed by using different WB settings. Here are three different versions of the same image:
The original is a raw file shot with the camera’s WB set to Auto. The center version was converted from the raw file using a setting of “As Shot”. And this pretty much matches the gray color of the overcast day when this image was made. The other two are from the same raw file but the one on the left had a much cooler WB set and the one on the right had a much warmer WB set during conversion. These images all have a different mood to them. So you may ask, which one is correct?
When it comes to selecting a WB there are two very different strategies or approaches that can be followed: Read the rest of this entry »
WB Part1: What is White Balance?
The color of light is measured by it’s color temperature. Outdoors, ambient light changes color temperature throughout the day. It is warmer (yellower) before sunset and just after sunrise. In the open shade of mid-day it is cooler (bluish).
Our eyes compensate pretty quickly for different color temperatures. A piece of white paper will appear white to us when viewed in either warm or cool lighting conditions. However, the sensor in our cameras, left on its own, is not so lucky. A picture of a piece of white paper taken in open shade will render quite bluish; while another picture of the same piece of white paper, taken near sunset, will be rendered yellowish. Read the rest of this entry »