Help Me With White Balance

[smoke665]

I have tried to establish a white balance on a series of shots till I'm to the point of pulling out my hair. This was shot inside a multipurpose room, with overhead fluorescent lighting, and large windows. To add to the problem there was a sea of pale purple (or lavender according to wife) and pink. I was using a speedlight with camera set to Auto WB. Out of the camera the WB was 5100. Using the card shot below, I'm getting different readings off each card using the LR sample tool, none of which really seem right. I looked at so many different combinations, now that it's all blurred together to the point that I'm drowning in a sea of multicolored purple and pink. HELP!

Here's a target shot,

and the color balance sampled off the white target.

and the color balance sampled off the gray target.

Another target shot from a different area of the room and the WB settings below, sampled off the white card.

 

[ronlane]

I pulled the target into PS and used camera raw to look at them. To my eye, the grey card is the one I would go with. It's not as warm as the white card and seemed to be a little more saturated with color.

The second image looks okay to me. Most people won't be able to tell the difference in a change of Kelvin of only a few hundred likes from 7250 to 6900 and from 6900 to 6500. It's your creative decision to find which you like and want to use.

To me the white seems to make the scene a little too warm for my tastes in general. I try to always use the 18% grey box on my colorchecker passport.

Hope that helps some.

 

[Braineack]

I imported that image in LR and sampled the tablecloth and got -8 temp and +6 tint. I'm much happier with that on my screen.

 

[smoke665]

I imported that image in LR and sampled the tablecloth and got -8 temp and +6 tint. I'm much happier with that on my screen.

Which table cloth, the purple from hell, or the second one?

 

[Braineack]

the last shot.

when I first glanced at the photo, I felt it was a little too warm and a little too green. My Dropper seemed to agree

 

[smoke665]

It's your creative decision to find which you like and want to use.

That's the problem. LOL They are started to run together. Actually this morning looking at the photos in general, I'm thinking 5900 and about -6 on tint is looking better for skin tones.

 

[smoke665]

I felt it was a little too warm and a little too green

Therein lies part of the problem I'm having. The targets told me one thing but the actual shots were telling me something else. I think between the fluorescent and purple everywhere, it was playing tricks on me. Adjusting down to 5900 and -7 on the tint seems to be a better combination. Here's one with all the colors including skin.

 

[zombiesniper]

With the cards laying that close to the purple haze table cloth, the white balance will only be perfect for someone that has their face almost against the table.
I would bet if you placed the grey/white card near the location where you expect the persons face to be you would A) get a different value and B) get e better white balance on the shot of the person.

 

[smoke665]

the white balance will only be perfect for someone that has their face almost against the table.

So you're saying the dropper tool is reading the reflection from the tablecloth and overcompensating to the warm side?

 

[zombiesniper]

In short yes.
It is a possibility that the tablecloth is casting a light purple on the card.. The dropper will make it's choice based on that.

 

[tecboy]

Why not get a larger target card like Lastolite? You can use gray or white to get the white balance correctly. You can compact by fold it and put in a little bag to carry around. It is just easlier than tiny little cards.

 

[tirediron]

...tried to establish a white balance on a series of shots... room, with overhead fluorescent lighting, and large windows....

You probably can't. Chances are, unless the venue maintainers are the most diligent and conscientious of people there are a half-dozen or more colour temperatures in the various tubes, which are changing in temperature constantly as they cycle, and if was at all overcast, the sunlight will be changing as well. As much of a PIA as it is, your best results will come from dealing with each image separately, and probably doing it by eye rather than by a WB target. You didn't actually have anything else to do today, did you?

 

[smoke665]

Why not get a larger target card like Lastolite? You can use gray or white to get the white balance correctly. You can compact by fold it and put in a little bag to carry around. It is just easlier than tiny little cards.

The White/gray/black are on a lanyard that generally stays around my neck, to remind me to use it. I have a large one that I use in studio, but it's not convenient to lug along in field, and I'm not sure that one as big as sheet of plywood would have read correctly here anyhow.

nd if was at all overcast

Good eye, forgot to mention that fact!!! I suspect there was enough blue in all that purple that it's throwing everything off including my eyes.

 

[tecboy]

I heard Whibal is very accurate. I have a small one with a lanyard, but I have hardly ever use it.

 

[adamhiram]

I often struggle with white balance issues, and asked a similar question earlier in the summer. I kept getting significantly different white balance settings depending on which gray card I used, which seemed counterintuitive. In the end, I splurged and picked up a pack of Hefty styrofoam plates as someone suggested, and it seemed to give the most consistent results.

Here is the link to that thread:
Setting white balance with a gray card

However on a calibrated display, I have found this method to be the quickest and most useful for identifying and fixing color casts:
This 3 step raw colour correction tip will fix your white balance woes