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DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> White balance and RAW
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09/20/2014 04:39:25 AM · #1
I always shoot RAW (unless it's MInimal!) and never set a white balance. I always tweak in post if it is 'off'.

Am I missing anything - do I compromise dynamic range in a colour channel for example?
09/20/2014 05:59:34 AM · #2
All you're doing is making work for yourself in post. How WB is set has nothing to do with what the camera will capture in the RAW file. Dynamic range is constant for the sensor, so what you can actually pull from the file is based on getting a proper exposure more than anything. The rest is tweakable.
09/20/2014 08:41:37 AM · #3
I don't much worry about WB. I use Lightroom, so it is easy to adjust one image in a shoot and apply that across all of them. If I were worried about precise color rendition of a scene, I'd shoot a WB card and set a custom balance. But I've not found that necessary.
09/20/2014 11:13:31 AM · #4
It's a very fast adjustment to set WB in RAW, so I just shoot in "auto" on the camera UNLESS I'm shooting things like sunsets/rises and want to get a feel for how they'll actually look when I process them, in which case I'll mess with it on the camera, but it's still tweakable in RAW even so :-)
09/20/2014 11:16:17 AM · #5
i leave my cameras white balance set to 'flash' 95% of the time. the other 5% is usually a custom setting. i find i rarely need to adjust it in post.

09/20/2014 12:11:49 PM · #6
Originally posted by Bear_Music:

...so I just shoot in "auto" on the camera UNLESS I'm shooting things like sunsets/rises and want to get a feel for how they'll actually look when I process them...


Excellent point. There are times when I will set a specific WB when I want the LCD to be a faithful representation of an unedited image, and/or when I am taking panos (keep exposure and WB constant at all times then). Otherwise, "Auto" for me.
On the topic of the representation on the LCD, I always keep the JPEG "Picture Style"set to "Neutral" or "Faithful." That way, the in-camera JPEG processing, which is reflected on the LCD display even though it does not affect the RAW data, does not mess with the colors I am seeing.
09/20/2014 01:56:58 PM · #7
Originally posted by Paul:



Am I missing anything - do I compromise dynamic range in a colour channel for example?


I never would have thought of that, but I doubt it using RAW.

I shoot mostly outdoors and set WB to Daylight - rarely do I change anything.
Indoors or when it's really dark outside I change to Auto WB, and then I do make adjustments accordingly.

When shooting for a "minimal edit" it's a different story, but you already said that.

09/20/2014 02:54:01 PM · #8
I'd have thought that shifting colour channel levels (which must happen when you tweak the white balance) would result in the entire channel histogram moving - you'd lose data at one end while not gaining any from the other. So although you might not lose any dynamic range from the viewable image, I'd have thought that you would lose it from the data set from which you make the image.

Is my logic flawed?
09/20/2014 03:25:42 PM · #9
i don't think it matters paul

//www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/u-raw-files.shtml
09/20/2014 05:36:13 PM · #10
Originally posted by Paul:

I'd have thought that shifting colour channel levels (which must happen when you tweak the white balance) would result in the entire channel histogram moving - you'd lose data at one end while not gaining any from the other. So although you might not lose any dynamic range from the viewable image, I'd have thought that you would lose it from the data set from which you make the image.

Is my logic flawed?

It's true in one sense, in that when you PROCESS the RAW image, the histograms for the different channels change as the WB is changed. It's not an issue otherwise, because all that changing the WB on the camera does is instruct the on-board processors in how to render the color from the RAW original the camera shot into a JPG.

The RAW file is what the camera sees, and it's totally malleable, basically.
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