RAW....Yellow?

ShannonHeat

Help! My RAW images tend to look a little yellow! I've tried all I know in cs2, but am a baginner user. I have no idea how to get that color right. Any suggestions?:scratch

gus

Open it in RAW...& grab the slider at the top called "temperature" & move it to the left.

digismile

What program are you using to convert your RAW files? Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)? You can also use to white balance tool to help set your White Balance/Temperature.

In ACR, you can open multiple files, set the white balance, exposure, etc. on a single image and update the rest with the identical settings. This is useful for updating a bunch of photos with the same/similar lighting conditions, i.e. no need to set each picture one at a time.

ShannonHeat

Thanks, getting the hang of it......lots of trial and error

pathfinder

Shannon,

It should be rather easy to get good color balance if your images are RAW files.

Open a shot of the bride in the Adobe Raw Convertor, and you should see a box that rather looks like this - this is a couple of versions previously of the ARC, but it really still looks rather similar.

Find the little eyedropper that is on the left side of the dialogue box somewhere - it is in the left upper corner in thise version I am showing here - and click on the eye dropper to activate it and then click on a white area of the brides dress that you know is white but not completely blown out. This should set the white balance for your image. If you find it looks as desired, you can then use that same setting for all your images, or repeat using the eyedropper again if the lighting changed between images.



To use the same setting for each image, click on the box where it says Camera default and choose Use Previous setting and you are done.

This image also shows how to set your white point ( Exposure) and black point (Shadow) to maximize contrast and color settings.

Addendum -

I found a more recent dialogue box of ARC demonstrating setting white balance with the eye dropper - it is better to click on something that you KNOW is grey, but that can be hard to find, and we KNOW a bride's dress or a groom's shirt is usually white, so that is why I suggested the bride's dress. If you have a true neutral gray in the image, that would be even better to click on.

ccpickre

I've noticed that when I shoot RAW with auto WB, no matter what lighting situation I'm in, my CR2 (Canon XTi) come out yellowish.

But when I open them in CS2, the light setting says "as shot" I believe. Choosing different settings and they are adjusted.

I think it's just a RAW thing (not that I know what I'm talking about). Cause EVERY RAW comes out yellowish, but with tweaks in color and light settings in CS2, they turn out fine.

bckane

Im still new to PS too....but have played around with the white balance. What I did is open Adobe Camera Raw and used the white balance tool and clicked on your shirt colar to apply the whilte balance. Hope you dont mine me posting my edited version...")

ShannonHeat

Don't mind at all, looks great! Thanks!

Shannon

bckane wrote:

Im still new to PS too....but have played around with the white balance. What I did is open Adobe Camera Raw and used the white balance tool and clicked on your shirt colar to apply the whilte balance. Hope you dont mine me posting my edited version...")

Phil_L

Two gadget solutions, one software
The WhiBal card:

http://www.rawworkflow.com/products/whibal/index.html

Cheap(ish). Have it, works well!

The Expodisc:

http://www.expodisc.com/products/products.php?catid=1&category=ExpoDisc

More expensive. Have it on order. Good reviews.

Photoshop tut on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se3htZz2noo

previously posted on the "Finishing School" board