Have I got the White Balance right?

[JohnRostron]

I took this picture on a fairly sunny day, but within a wood. The overall effect seems to be rather too brown.

I then used Adobe Camera raw to tweak the white balance. This is the best I can come up with, but I'm not really sure if I have got it right.

What do people think. I should add that the other pic I took on that occasion were mainly close-ups and showed no sign of white balance problems.

John

[kernowbhoy]

My very quick adjustment in Elements 10

[davidedric]

Hi John,

I don't believe in a "correct" white balance, unless it's something like a product shoot, when exact colour is critical. Of course you could get a grey card, but in a scene like this with a mixture of sunshine and shade, and with light bouncing of lots of different surfaces I would choose a wb and tint either to match what you remember seeing, or just to please. If there were something in the scene that you'd like to appear neutral grey, you can use the eye dropper.

Dave

[Shadowman]

Since you shot in RAW the end result is your own vision. I'd probably use Cloudy WB for a warmer look, Daylight would be second choice. Andy's edit added a bit more warmth and the contrast makes for a more pleasing capture. Without a point of interest in this particular scene, you are left with lines and forms and any effect you can get from the slivers of light on the trees.

[chauncey]

White balance is some that a lot of folks are obsessed with, a fair number of us use this method. http://xritephoto.com/ph_product_overview.aspx?ID=1257

As been said, the necessity is, IMHO, limited to product and portrait work, otherwise artistic license
rears it's head, more importantly...how do you remember the scene.

[TheBigE]

John,

Without being at the scene, I cannot say which one is right....if I was to guess, I would say #2 is probably closer to the reality than number 1. As has been indicated, if you want to know truly then Color Checker Passport and Monitor Calibraiton is the way to go...this will reach as close to technically correct as possible. I have just recently started using this method, so I am by no means and expert. However, it gets me close but sometimes produces a result that I do not find pleasing.

Which bring me to my next thought is WB can be a tool for the photographer to convey what they feel and looks right in his eye....in your photos both images convey a different feeling to me. The first more softer than the second, in my opinion. In the end it is a subjective opinion by those viewing the photo and it creator. Go with what you feel works best in the end.

[Manfred M]

First of all, let's define what "correct" colour balance is. The definition I've been taught; back in the stone ages in the colour wet darkroom was:

1. Your white point should be white, black point should be black and neutrals should be neutral;

2. Skin tones should look "right"; and

3. In the case of a commercial shoot, the company's logo should be the correct colour.

Of course, in this image, I don't see any logos, skin tones, whites or neutrals.

What makes this image so difficult to colour balance is that there is nothing in the image that we can judge absolutely. The only "blacks" are probably in the shadow details (and when I look at those, I would say too much red and too little blue), but I see no other places to base my colour decisions on.

The issue is to get what looks right to you.

[Downrigger]

I agree with Dave and Manfred - "correct" is important and useful mainly for commercial or scientific imaging. One can use a color check device (per William's post), and I do sometimes, to get "correct" color, but I only use that as a starting reference point as I work with an image.

That said, I think your "tweaked" image looks about right for color fidelity, but in some ways I prefer your first image for its glow and ambience. The good news is: you have infinite choices. The bad news is: you have infinite choices.

[JohnRostron]

Thanks to all these helpful correspondents. I should first mention that there was not any obvious subject because the photo was one of record, part of a diary I keep of the wood.
I think that my second effort is about as good as I can get. I appreciate your various comments on white balance. It is just what looks good!
John

[Simon Garrett]

I don't think the OP mentioned whether his screen is calibrated and profiled (sorry if I missed that).

I assume so, as there's not much point in worrying about colour accuracy without colour management, including a calibrated and profiled monitor (using a hardware colorimeter).

[george013]

John,

When I read the exif, you used manual WB. Is that true, where you aware of it and based on what?

George

[IzzieK]

I side with Erik here on his comments about the two shots giving different moods. I myself personally like image #1 because everything I want to see is there but the warmth of the sun prevalent in the shot. But #2 has another feeling of more colour just like how I see scenes outside of my dining room window right now...

[JohnRostron]

I don't think the OP mentioned whether his screen is calibrated and profiled (sorry if I missed that).

My monitor has been hardware-calibrated (with Spyder), but not recently!

When I read the exif, you used manual WB. Is that true, where you aware of it and based on what?

My camera saves both Jpeg and Raw images. The first image was the original saved Jpeg, the second was opened in RAW and the White Balance adjusted there.

Thanks also to Izzie for your usual helpful comments.

John

[george013]

My monitor has been hardware-calibrated (with Spyder), but not recently!



My camera saves both Jpeg and Raw images. The first image was the original saved Jpeg, the second was opened in RAW and the White Balance adjusted there.

Thanks also to Izzie for your usual helpful comments.

John

Have a look at your camera settings and set WB at auto. Unless you know exactly what you're doing.
George

[Brev00]

Colors and exposure make a curious duo. The second version, your corrected raw, looks too bright which makes the colors seem pale. When you work on the white balance in raw, also try different picture controls (landscape will give a contrasty, bold look while neutral might seem airy by comparison) and play with blacks and exposure sliders. I find it is not just simply the white balance selection that will get me the palette I want, but the whole interplay of sliders and selections. I would look at different picture controls first for this picture and then modify the others.

[IzzieK]

In ACR, I used to play with the different WB selection but always ended up with using the sliders. Now for some reason, I do not look at that option anymore and just play with the sliders to my heart's content until my image looked stupid and so I put it back to default. It is how one learns. It was how I learn... I just love sliders...

[JohnRostron]

Have a look at your camera settings and set WB at auto. Unless you know exactly what you're doing.
George

My camera is set at Auto White Balance. I went back to the original RAW file which gave the colour temperature (for image #1) as 7100. The white balance setting in ACR was As Shot. Setting this to Auto produced a file with colour temperature of 4200. My custom setting was 5050. Looking at the deepest shade I could find in my preferred version, this gave RGB values all around 35. There is nowhere that I regard would as 'white'. I do have a grey card, but I never thought to use it there!

I tried playing with sliders, as Izzie and Larry suggested, but I still think I have got what I want.

John

[george013]

My camera is set at Auto White Balance. I went back to the original RAW file which gave the colour temperature (for image #1) as 7100. The white balance setting in ACR was As Shot. Setting this to Auto produced a file with colour temperature of 4200. My custom setting was 5050. Looking at the deepest shade I could find in my preferred version, this gave RGB values all around 35. There is nowhere that I regard would as 'white'. I do have a grey card, but I never thought to use it there!

I tried playing with sliders, as Izzie and Larry suggested, but I still think I have got what I want.

John

This is what the exif viewer tells me

White Balance {0xA403} = manual (1)

I don't know if it is usual with your camera that a colortemperature is shown when shooting auto. There may be 2 fields: 1 telling the way WB was made and 2 the colourtemperature that was used.

George