WB variations across lenses

divamum

Going slightly nuts here - editing a wedding from 3x different cameras and about 5x different lenses. I understand why the WB's from one of the cameras is different (set manually instead of auto), but I am BAFFLED why there should be such a huge variation between lenses. It's driving me nuts, as I'm having trouble getting sequences - shot with different gear - to look uniform. I can use exactly the same thing for my white (in this case, the groom's or the father in law's shirt), and get completely different balances that look NOTHING alike.

Thoughts? Suggestions for making it look great as part of a series/set?

:thumb

pathfinder

Painful. Having to color correct different images from different cameras differently in the same wedding sequence will be painful.

Are the cameras all from the same manufacturer, or are Canon, Nikon, or other camera brands involved here?

Are these lenses all from the same manufacturer, or are they lenses made by different manufacturers? I have always thought some of my Sigma lenses were warmer than their Canon equivalent. Not wrong, just slightly warmer.

I have to ask, no one used different filters for their flashes did they - like a CT to 1/2 CT flash to warm their electronic flash?

If a white balance in Lightroom , from the same spot, results in different images created with wildly different color balances in your images, then you may have quite a task roping them in to all match. Sounds like a good reason to create a custom color profile for each camera body before shooting another wedding with a Color Passport. But I don't think that all help with the situation you are in right now.

Diva, you can't be the only wedding shooter who has used more than one camera and body and lenses, so lets see if some of the wedding shooters can give us there ideal of how to deal with this issue.

One reason some folks shoot their weddings in Black and White, maybe….

ziggy53

Yes, each different body type can have a somewhat different rendering of colors and each different lens design can also have different colorations. Lens differences also tend to follow manufacturer lines.

You should be able to build a different profile for each camera body and lens combination and use those profiles to yield a good starting point. How you save and apply the profile will vary according to the software used.

To provide better consistency for the formal images I use a Photoshop plugin, Pictocolor iCorrect Portrait, to provide color neutral blacks, whites and grays/greys, as well as balanced flesh tones (via a memory color).

Additionally, I may apply some "Match Color" in Photoshop during changing ambient conditions or for studio strobe vs speedlite/speedlight flash lighting.

http://www.pictocolor.com/portrait.htm

http://help.adobe.com/en_US/photoshop/cs/using/WS0DECAB01-C01F-4498-A12F-18B94EC9DACF.html
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-editing/match-color/

divamum

All Canon bodies. All Canon lenses except for the Tam 24-70. All Canon flashes. No filters. Some were shot ambient, some flash.

Here are two shots which demonstrate the problem (both were set to AWB at the time of shooting):

5dII/ISO 3200/200mm/2.8 (70-200is II) - WB in LR = 5810/+7 - I like these skintones and it's representative of what I saw at the time






7d/ISO 2000/27mm/4.0 - Tamron lens. If I set it to the same WB, as the above, this is what you get




If I eyeball it to try and make the wall paint approximately "match", it's 2595/-1

ziggy53

divamum wrote: »

... Some were shot ambient, some flash. ...

The first image is using a compact flash, which typically produces 5500-5800K color temperature.

The second image is totally ambient lighting, and obviously around 2600K color temperature.

Once you find the appropriate color temperature to apply to a particular set of images, save that as a profile and apply it to all similar images shot with the same lighting.

You have a lighting problem, not a body or lens problem. (Of course once you understand the "what" and the "why", and how to correct the images, it's not such a problem at all.)

divamum

Speak to me of how I make a profile... it's probably worth taking the time to learn how to do this and saving time in the end, cause this is driving me NUTS!!

ETA: I of course use copy and sync to apply settings to related photos; that's how I always edit in lightroom. The problem is that this is SO inconsistent even that's not working as per my usual workflow :-/

divamum

PS The irony is that the ones that were ambient were usually because the flash simply didn't pop lol Fortunately, I try whenever possible to use my flash as fill, not sole source, so they're still useable shots even if a little underexposed

perroneford

Yep, this is one of the reasons I moved to capture one. That software makes it easy to create color profiles for your lenses and cameras. LR has some basic tools to do this. Fundamentally, you white balance to the camera and lens combo thinks is right, then manually adjust it in LR. Then save that correction as a preset (5D2_50mm). Then filter your photos by body/lens combo, and apply the correct preset to it. This should get all your photos to a base level of sameness.

Then you'll just need to make adjustments for flash/no-flash, etc.

-P

divamum wrote: »

Going slightly nuts here - editing a wedding from 3x different cameras and about 5x different lenses. I understand why the WB's from one of the cameras is different (set manually instead of auto), but I am BAFFLED why there should be such a huge variation between lenses. It's driving me nuts, as I'm having trouble getting sequences - shot with different gear - to look uniform. I can use exactly the same thing for my white (in this case, the groom's or the father in law's shirt), and get completely different balances that look NOTHING alike.

Thoughts? Suggestions for making it look great as part of a series/set?

arodney

ziggy53 wrote: »

The first image is using a compact flash, which typically produces 5500-5800K color temperature.
The second image is totally ambient lighting, and obviously around 2600K color temperature.

I'm with you on this one. No way this much difference is attributed only to the lens.

Solution: Shoot raw, set all cameras to Auto WB since this is only a starting point for the finals and WB has no effect on the raw data so you can set it anyway you wish. AWB will get you there 90%+ of the time, you'll always need to do some seasoning to taste (usually with Tint/Temp). Copy and paste also works to affect multiple images needing the same WB tweak.

divamum

arodney wrote: »

I'm with you on this one. No way this much difference is attributed only to the lens.

Solution: Shoot raw, set all cameras to Auto WB since this is only a starting point for the finals and WB has no effect on the raw data so you can set it anyway you wish. AWB will get you there 90%+ of the time, you'll always need to do some seasoning to taste (usually with Tint/Temp). Copy and paste also works to affect multiple images needing the same WB tweak.

Which is EXACTLY what produced the two comparison images above (the manual WB was set by my second on a 3rd camera, and is a separate issue from what you see in the images above, both of which were taken by me) - my 7d and 5dII were both set to AWB (typically what I use, since I always shoot raw).

I think ETTL flash may be the main culprit here (and, frankly, this is the FIRST TIME in 4 years of shooting I have ever had cause to question it and think maybe manual would have been a better choice!), but there is definitely a colour shift between the lenses as well. I'll see if I can find some similar-settings shots. In the meantime, I am (painfully indeed, Jim!) hacking through through this wedding having to effectively manually set the WB for each shot, since syncing doesn't yield consistent results in this setting. Eek.