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Auto White Balance, Nature and why not to do it!

Guy Mancuso

Administrator, Instructor
I see some serious sweet talking going on here. The kicker is the little Angel.:ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:
 

jonoslack

Active member
Well now you know a good setting for your shots and if you are in AWB ever again you have a home base that you can adjust to that looks good to you.

I think the lesson I've learned is that simply trying to white balance with the dropper (or changing to a preset like daylight) after using AWB might not be all you need to do. It is a combo of changing the WB and adjusting the tint. If you have a few minutes to play around wanna come up with the numbers in Lightroom :angel: some of us would really like you.
HI There
Unfortunately I don't have the latest version of lightroom . . . BUT . .
I do have ACR 4.wotsit, (doesn't that give the same values as lightroom). It's the same for the D3 files as Aperture. Best I can do I'm afraid!

Mind you - you should't have a problem finding out - just shoot a D300 file with the Daylight setting, and then open it in lightroom and look at the settings.
 

cmb_

Subscriber & Workshop Member
Jono -

Do the preset values in Aperture differ from the in-camera settings?
You stated the Daylight in-camera comes up as 4891K -5 tint.
If you select the Daylight preset are the numbers the same?

- Charles
 

jonoslack

Active member
I thought the values Jono posted were the preset values.
HI Chris
the 4981 and -5 are the preset daylight values in Aperture - and also in ACR as far as I can see (they should therefore be the same in Lightroom), but as you pointed out with your Leica value check - they may vary (interesting that these are the same for Aperture and ACR). They may also be different for the D300 (which Terry has).
 

jonoslack

Active member
Obviously I'm not very good at it. :rolleyes:
Of course you are - who could be better :toocool:
However, in between writing these messages, I've been trying to deal with a rather nasty data problem in Middlesborough . . . so I'm not terribly susceptible to the idea of downloading the latest version of Lightroom and installing it!
 

Terry

New member
Of course you are - who could be better :toocool:
However, in between writing these messages, I've been trying to deal with a rather nasty data problem in Middlesborough . . . so I'm not terribly susceptible to the idea of downloading the latest version of Lightroom and installing it!
I will do this, don't worry. I thought you had kept Lightroom up and running. Good luck fixing the other problems.
 

jonoslack

Active member
cmb_ = Charles

True for C1, Lightroom, ACR, Aperture . . . :salute:
HI Charles
I'm really sorry - it's late and I'm stupid! (I really should know by now)
In that case, it makes one wonder whether, although the leica values seem to be interpreted, the Nikon values are 'hard coded' into the raw files and picked up by the raw converter, just like a custom white balance would be?

P.S. now you'll be in Terry's good books . . . . how about NX, Bibble . . . . :)
 

robsteve

Subscriber
Jono,

Interesting to see and thank you for posting.

For completeness, it might be interesting to state the approximate time of day for the shots. Also, which RAW converter.
When I was shooting a lot with the DMR, I would choose a manual setting of 5300k on the DMR. I am a little more lazy now and just choose the sunny WB setting and fine tune in post.

Robert
 

etrigan63

Active member
HI Charles
I'm really sorry - it's late and I'm stupid! (I really should know by now)
In that case, it makes one wonder whether, although the leica values seem to be interpreted, the Nikon values are 'hard coded' into the raw files and picked up by the raw converter, just like a custom white balance would be?

P.S. now you'll be in Terry's good books . . . . how about NX, Bibble . . . . :)
I'll be able to help you in Bibble very shortly Jono.
 

robmac

Well-known member
I like jono's approach. You take the shots and you know each will be say 5500K and close to what was seen at the time of the shoot vs, on AWB anywhere up and down from that temp. Thus you have a fixed known starting point. Much like differential GPS - you need a known fixed starting point.

After some time your brain will start to envision what a dawn, dusk, etc., scene will render like at 5500K vs. what your mind's eye remembers - making tweaking the WB in post that much easier.

As an aside, has anyone ever compared their AWB results to what an incident color meter kicks-out?
 

jonoslack

Active member
I like jono's approach. You take the shots and you know each will be say 5500K and close to what was seen at the time of the shoot vs, on AWB anywhere up and down from that temp. Thus you have a fixed known starting point. Much like differential GPS - you need a known fixed starting point.

After some time your brain will start to envision what a dawn, dusk, etc., scene will render like at 5500K vs. what your mind's eye remembers - making tweaking the WB in post that much easier.

As an aside, has anyone ever compared their AWB results to what an incident color meter kicks-out?
Hi Rob
I thought it was your approach!:salute:
To be fair, I'd been doing it ever since I got the M8 - just not with any Nikons, but I quite agree - it makes life a great deal easier . . and more sophisticated!

The Olympus E3 has an incident WB meter, and it certainly does a much better and more consistent job under these sort of conditions.
 

etrigan63

Active member
A daylight photo shot AWB with my M8 registers 5628K, Tint +22. Bibble 4.9.9b standard Daylight is 5700K, Tint -3.
 
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