Is Proper In-Camera White Balance REALLY all that important?

[PropilotBW]

I've always tried to set White Balance correctly prior to shooting...

However, I always find myself adjusting it anyways in Lightroom or PS, which makes me think, does it really matter all that much?

Please add your knowledge and understanding.

 

[SCraig]

Personally I use AutoWB probably 90% of the time. I always shoot in RAW which makes it easy to adjust when and if necessary.

 

[manicmike]

+1 to shooting in raw. Balancing different color temperatures on the other hand, is something to get right the first time.

 

[Overread17 5]

Depends what you need from shot itself.

If you're taking photos primarily for artistic purposes then chances are leaving the white balance in auto and correcting in editing (when shooting RAW) to suit the photo is going to be more than enough.

If you're taking photos where colour accuracy is a very important part of the process then setting the white balance for each different lighting situation you're shooting in will be key since you can't just "fix" it in editing so easily whilst retaining the accuracy.

If you're taking photos and need constancy in them white balance wise from shot to shot then setting a fixed white balance will be a great help over having to fiddle with values later. This may include times where you've also control over the lighting very directly and thus you shouldn't expect to see much variation anyway, but setting a fixed value helps ensure it.



I would suspect that the vast majority of hobby photographers are doing it for the art so colour accuracy isn't going to be a core requirement and since auto tends to do generally well under most conditions its just not a needed step. Studio photographers will likely make use of it more to ensure consistency in their production and to help ensure a streamlined and smooth workflow later.

 

[Trever1t]

+1 to shooting in raw. Balancing different color temperatures on the other hand, is something to get right the first time.

Even that can be done in post if you understand what you are doing. I also shoot 90% (?) of the time in AWB even though I use a grey card in the studio for S&G.

 

[Josh66]

I always leave the WB on Daylight. (Unless it's something where it is critical that the WB be exactly right, or when I know it definitely will be wrong. Actually, I do still use Daylight in those situations, I just shoot a WhiBal card first.) For me, Daylight is usually right anyway. The vast majority of photos where Daylight doesn't need any correction more than offset the few times when it does.

 

[Benco]

As others have said: in raw it's not much of an issue, if AWB messes up it's easy to correc, even if you've got entirely the wrong WB set you can correct it, if you shoot in JPG then you have to get it right in camera which makes it a bit harder. As for pros who need colour consistency...well...they're pros, so they know how to achieve that. QED.

 

[runnah]

I always shoot at 5000k. Why? Just cuz.

 

[PropilotBW]

I shot some birds on a really rainy-overcast day. I thought O.K., WB Cloudy...well, it came out really warm and I ended up cooling it off. I have yet to try Cloudy WB for a sunset landscape.
I'll have to double check my camera, but I don't believe I can activate AutoWB while in A,M,S,P modes. Is that a Con feature of an entry-level DSLR?

 

[SCraig]

I shot some birds on a really rainy-overcast day. I thought O.K., WB Cloudy...well, it came out really warm and I ended up cooling it off. I have yet to try Cloudy WB for a sunset landscape.
I'll have to double check my camera, but I don't believe I can activate AutoWB while in A,M,S,P modes. Is that a Con feature of an entry-level DSLR?

Yes, you can activate Auto WB in any of the modes on a D5100. I don't know what a "Con Feature" is though.

 

[Josh66]

I don't know what a "Con Feature" is though.

I'm assuming con as in con-artist. As in, camera manufacturers enabling features in the hardware, but disabling them in the software. (In order to make the more expensive cameras more attractive.)

 

[Pallycow]

I always use AWB unless I am in the studio.

In the studio you control, or should be controlling, all aspects of the lighting.

When on location, the sun moves, clouds come, chit happens. So you would be spending all day re-adjusting white balance...so it's just a waste of time.

 

[KmH]

Generally speaking, the pro grade cameras do Auto WB better than entry-level cameras.

While white balance can be adjusted post process, how accurately it can be adjusted depends on the file type, with JPEG offering the least adjustment latitude.

With Nikon cameras I often used the PRE setting (see page 81-87 of your D5100 user's manual)

Many times for outdoor portraits I would gel a flash with a full cut of CTO to light a subject and set the camera WB for tungsten/incandescent. That makes the light on the subject = to sunlight but gives the ambient light a cool, light blue color cast.

 

[bratkinson]

These days, I've gotten to the point I've largely given up on getting WB right in the camera. So I simply leave it on auto WB. For the minimal amount of shooting I do outdoors, AWB works quite well and for most of my indoor work, it's adequate, too.

The problem is that when shooting at church, where most of my work is done, there are at least 5, if not more distinct lighting areas I'm shooting in with everything from spotlights mixed with incandescents, long tube style florescents of mixed temperature variety, mixed bag ceiling cannister/florescent, and nobody-knows-what-it-is gymnasium lighting with or without incandescents and/or spotlights thrown in. Oh, and don't forget sunlight streaming through the windows...depending on where one is in the room.

So, in my years (sadly) not knowing a thing about white balance, I played with color sliders in the free-version Photoshop that came with my first digital camera, a Canon G3. After a major problem with WB about a bit more than a year ago, I finally read something on this web site and the light bulb clicked on. First I tried an ExpoDisk. Worked great with single lighting, single room shooting at a small party. At church, a flop. So then, on to a WhiBal card. That's where I learned about all the screwy lighting at church. Even with a speaker at the front of the room, the WB shifts as he moves 10-15 feet each direction. So, next I tried the X-rite Color Checker. Same problems with different lighting 10' from where the color checker was photographed.

So now, auto-WB works quite well...especially on my 5D3. But I've learned to shoot JPG+RAW. For my personal shots, I just use the JPG and make minor touchups in post. For everything else, it's RAW. I simply find something white in one of the pictures and set WB to that in Lightroom. Then I make a minor adjustment, if needed, to the WB, then synchronize all the shots in that 'group' of 2-10 or so to that setting, making minor WB tweaks as needed in each picture.

So, does 'getting wb right in the camera' matter? Definitely yes if shooting in JPG, and AWB works 'good enough' for most pictures. Shooting in RAW, in-camera WB is meaningless. Except I use the JPGs to make a 'first pass' cull through the shots eliminating the losers and make corresponding deletions in the RAW folder before importing to Lightroom.

 

[cptkid]

I only don't shoot in AWB if i'm shooting panos or HDRs, only because its saves time adjusting them all to the same WB in post.

But AWB for 95% of all my shooting.

If you are shooting in RAW (which you should be doing) there really is no reason to no use AWB unless you are doing panos/hdr or you are in the studio.