WB and RAW

[Emilymarie]

This is my biggest problem. I know RAW overrides WB so it's generally set to auto. Well I open my files in PS RAW and the WB is ALWAYS off so I adjust each image, but my eyes must be off too because I can't get it right! All the images look either too warm or cool. It there a way to make the WB accurate without assuming it looks ok? I can't give a client 15 different images with totally different WB.

TIA

 

[Big Mike]

You could use a white card or grey card. Just take a shot with the card where the subject is. Then when you open that image, use that spot to set your WB, then apply that same WB to all the other images. What I usually do, is move the WB eye dropper around and find a spot that is WB neutral (all three BGB numbers are the same or very close to it).

You could also use a card to set a custom WB while you are shooting.

I usually don't worry too much about the WB being accurate, I adjust it so that it looks good to me, but when I'm delivering multiple photos from a shoot, I do think it's important to keep the WB consistent (unless some are deliberately changed for an effect).

 

[KmH]

This is my biggest problem. I know RAW overrides WB so it's generally set to auto. Well I open my files in PS RAW and the WB is ALWAYS off so I adjust each image, but my eyes must be off too because I can't get it right! All the images look either too warm or cool. It there a way to make the WB accurate without assuming it looks ok? I can't give a client 15 different images with totally different WB.

TIA

Yes, good photography is quite a bit more involved than just point and shoot.

Have you seen this: Understanding White Balance

Raw does not 'override' WB. Raw records the light as it really is. When an image is opened in ACR is opens 'As shot' with whichever WB you had set on your camera. With the camera set on Auto WB, it will change along with the major light source in each scene you shoot.

Unless you use a target that has a known color (like a quality gray card), your eyes will always fool you.

Our brains alter reality so that many of our expectations about color are met.

Another issue is mixed lighting. If you have two or more different colors of lighting in an image, only one light source can be fully accounted for with a WB adjustment.

Sunlight is not white, it's yellow.
Tungsten light is not white, it is orange.
Flouescent light is not white, it is green.

But, as I mentioned above, our brains automatically make adjustments in each of those lighting environments so red or white or any optjher color looks like we expect it to look.

Cameras can not do that. they have to be told what kind of light is illuminating the scene.

 

[flyingember]

Sunlight is not white, it's yellow.
Tungsten light is not white, it is orange.
Flouescent light is not white, it is green.
.

major over simplification and wrong at that

sunlight varies from red to light yellow depending on the distance to the source, amount of dust, etc. go outside during a sunset and tell me the subjects are lit with yellow

tungsten varies quite a bit in color depending on amount of electricity applied. it goes from deep red to bright yellow on a dimmer

flourescent these days varies from light yellow to deep blue (go look at CF bulbs in a store, there's three color temps available)

 

[KmH]

sunlight varies from red to light yellow depending on the distance to the source,

The distance to the source of sunlight is, for all earthly intent and purpose, constant since the source is in round numbers 93,000,000 miles away. The light the Sun produces makes is in general terms, yellow. The makeup and amount of atmosphere that that yellow sunlight has to shine through once it reaches earth's atmosphere varies by the Sun's postion in the sky relative to the camera location and the direction, the camera is pointing.

tungsten varies quite a bit in color depending on amount of electricity applied. it goes from deep red to bright yellow on a dimmer

Service voltage is 120v, but yes if the voltage to a tungsten light source is changed, the light temperature changes.

flourescent these days varies from light yellow to deep blue (go look at CF bulbs in a store, there's three color temps available)

Flourescent light actually changes 60 times a second (60 hz, AC voltage frequency), in addition to being influenced by the coatings on the inside of the tube.

But all of that is advanced info that didn't seem necessary to convey to the OP at this time.

Specifically each color of light is, for photographic purposes, described by it's color temperature which is expressed in degrees relative to the Kelvin temperature scale where zero degrees is where Brownian motion stops, also known as absolute zero.

Most digital SLR cameras allow the WB to be set to a specific Kelvin temperature.