raw and wb

Elaine

For folks who shoot raw at weddings, do you just leave it on auto WB all day and adjust later, or do you try to keep up with changing the WB settings as you move throughout the day?

joshhuntnm

Elaine wrote:

For folks who shoot raw at weddings, do you just leave it on auto WB all day and adjust later, or do you try to keep up with changing the WB settings as you move throughout the day?

I try to get it right in the camera, but don't sweat it too much if I forget. Love the RAW

Swartzy

Color space in LR is NOT the same in CS.....even using a calibration target, I find once in PS they still are much different, despite as advertised...yes, the monitor is calibrated..yes the sRGB color space is set correctly so both programs supposedly use the same.

So.....shooting in RAW will afford you an easier time of color correction. I typically will shoot in AWB. Inside with flash though, I will gel the flash to better match the ambient. Outside...AWB (I personally think Canon does a great job in AWB).

Just remember Elaine..when you shoot in Jpeg (this whole notion of getting it right in camera..uggggh..don't get me started) basically the camera is burning those settings into your images (i.e. highlight priority, noise reduction, picture styles with associated sharpening/saturation, etc. not to mention dumming down the file to 8 bit losing an additional a great deal of detail and color space).

Elaine

Swartzy wrote:

Color space in LR is NOT the same in CS.....even using a calibration target, I find once in PS they still are much different, despite as advertised...yes, the monitor is calibrated..yes the sRGB color space is set correctly so both programs supposedly use the same.

So.....shooting in RAW will afford you an easier time of color correction. I typically will shoot in AWB. Inside with flash though, I will gel the flash to better match the ambient. Outside...AWB (I personally think Canon does a great job in AWB).

Just remember Elaine..when you shoot in Jpeg (this whole notion of getting it right in camera..uggggh..don't get me started) basically the camera is burning those settings into your images (i.e. highlight priority, noise reduction, picture styles with associated sharpening/saturation, etc. not to mention dumming down the file to 8 bit losing an additional a great deal of detail and color space).

I haven't shot in JPEG for about 1 year and have no plans to return. I'm all about the raw, especially for a wedding. I usually try to adjust WB in camera so I have less to fix later, although I often end up tweaking it anyway. I recently read an article where someone suggested just sticking with AWB for an entire wedding, just to eliminate something from the plate since it can be changed later. Just wondered what most folks around here do. It makes sense to gel when necessary. Thanks for the feedback!

PS - I hadn't heard about the variances between LR and PS. So, which do you stick with?

Swartzy

My common workflow starts with getting WB close in LR, then sync images in a particular series...providing I'm going after the same type look such as formals. Many shots I stretch out with processing and use a plethera of presets to begin with. The shots all the same (sync'd) then get color correction in CS and I'll simply drag the curves layer (or whatever is done) onto each image of that series. This way the coloring is the same throughout. I leave the camera in AWB all day. It seems everytime I do a "custom" it gets changed in post anyway.... Sometimes you may simply want to warm up or cool down a series.....LR makes life easy that way.

Scott_Quier

Like you, I shoot RAW all the way - it's the only way!

I try to set the camera to AWB before the wedding. Don't always manage to do so. At the same time, I try to remember to change it for changing situations. For example, when I'm doing outside portraits, I try to set the WB to match the ambient.

Above all, I try to remember to shoot gray targets whenever the light/location changes and use that to help me adjust the WB in post. Or, you can use the white cotton shirt of one of the guys in the shot. But, it's got to be a good cotton shirt - all else may get you close but won't be quite right.

Blurmore

I shoot RAW and AWB and edit in Lightroom. I use sRGB colorspace and unless my photos are getting some sort of "art" treatment (or major healing/cloning) they no longer see the PS window, I'm all Lightroom. I work on a color calibrated monitor. For a set of pictures taken under the same conditions I make a preset from the most neutral exposure, apply the preset to the whole series, and micro adjust from there. I also no longer concern myself with the WB being "mathematically" correct (by shooting a target), I go by eye, and print with color correction off, and it serves me well.

Scott_Quier

Blurmore wrote:

I shoot RAW and AWB and edit in Lightroom. I use sRGB colorspace and unless my photos are getting some sort of "art" treatment (or major healing/cloning) they no longer see the PS window, I'm all Lightroom. I work on a color calibrated monitor. For a set of pictures taken under the same conditions I make a preset from the most neutral exposure, apply the preset to the whole series, and micro adjust from there. I also no longer concern myself with the WB being "mathematically" correct (by shooting a target), I go by eye, and print with color correction off, and it serves me well.

Nice information - a lot I can put to use.

The part about the target - I often forget to mention that I have partial color perception deficiency (partially colorblind) so I have to rely on the numbers more than many.

BTW - Lightroom is in my near future - mostly 'cause it will make batch processing so much easier.

jeffreaux2

My workflow is similar to that of Blurmore.

Shooting RAW...
I typically use a custom white balance (from a white target) at time of capture. The reason is because if I am using a flash it will usually be gelled. Remember when gelling your flash you are changing the temperature of the light from the flash. Therefore, whatever Canon...or Nikon's processing might figure into that Auto white balance will be incorrect. Two white balance settings NOT to use when gelling a flash are..."AWB"...or "Flash".

Another REALLY good reason to shoot a white target for a custom white balance is....

If you take a shot at a white target with the camera set to AWB under incandescent light the resulting image that shows on your LCD will be a strange yellowish to orangish color. No surprise there, right?.....so now with that image pulled up on my lcd I flip open my Phoxle flash match gels (they reside in their flip book on a white background) and select the one that appears to be the closest match to the color of the image on my lcd. For the same trick, a LEE or ROSCOE can be laid on a piece of white paper and compared to the LCD. This isn't a perfect way to match, but it will get you VERY close. I usually end up actually using the next denser CTO than the one that matched my white balance target shot....but hey...I like warm images! It's better than guessing.

I also use LIghtroom. I will choose a single photo from a part of the day that was taken under whatever lighting conditions and make minor adjustments to the white balance. If all the shots taken in that same lighting condition used a high ISO I may also adjust the noise out of the image. Then....using the "synch" feature in the library I apply that adjustment to ALL of the photographs taken in those same lighting conditions. Easy as Pie!

Scott you are gonna love Lightroom for large batches. It is THE tool to edit RAW images from events and the like. I went from 30-50 hour edit time to a new record of 7 hours. It gives me more time to spend later with "special treatments" on photos of significant import to my clients without cutting into the bottom line. It's one helluva tool!

Shima

I do a lot of things that Jeff does... custom white balancing when possible... fixing in Lightroom w/ RAW's as needed (I too only shoot in RAW).... love the sync feature in lightroom for when I've got a good white balance groove going. I find my colors to be more true by being able to shoot in RAW and more easily correct later.