White balance at night question

[c_pass]

I was wondering what your white balance should be set to when shooting at night when using the presets?

I shot some tonight with the white balance set to cloudy and this is what it looks like...
There is a street lamp to the left giving off some light..
Just wondering if I should have used something else..

Thanks for any help!

Nikon D5100

 

[tyler_h]

Are you shooting in raw or jpeg? As I shoot in raw I tend to adjust my WB in post and have rarely taken it out of Auto.

In the first shot you have I would set my WB off the "white" line on the road. From there I would look at warming it back up a little bit until I get a decent balance between the areas lit by sodium lamps and those by natural or more neutral light. I'll typically leave a sky more purple in favour of a more "correct" ground colour (assuming ground is mainly lit by sodium lamps). The second shot is similar, but a slightly cooler WB. I'd pick a point on the sign (white part) as a start point there.

WB can be used as a creative tool though so play around with it in post and see what looks good, even if it might not be a purely natural appearance, it might add to the mood.

If you find you are clipping your highlights but only for the red channel, then select a WB with the coolest offset to counter this. This would just be to try and capture as much information as possible to use in post, and as such wouldn't work well for jpeg.

 

[Dao]

2 non related questions:

- Did you have filter on your lens when the photos were taken? (Lens flares)
- Were you taking the photo in the middle of a freeway/highway?

 

[480sparky]

'Cloudy' means you're setting the camera for a variation of natural light, but you're shooting under artificial light. You'll need to set the WB to one of the HID-type lighting settings. In this case, it's under the Fluorescent listings, and called Sodium.

 

[pixilstudio]

since there is not threat of your subject running away why dont you try them all and tell us what you think it should be

 

[c_pass]

Are you shooting in raw or jpeg? As I shoot in raw I tend to adjust my WB in post and have rarely taken it out of Auto.

I shot these jpeg... I really need to start shooting in raw....Thanks for the tips

 

[c_pass]

2 non related questions:

- Did you have filter on your lens when the photos were taken? (Lens flares)
- Were you taking the photo in the middle of a freeway/highway?

1) I just have a UV filter on my lens..
2)Yes I was in the middle of the highway... They shut it down due to flooding in my area courtesy of Hurricane Irene, so it was totally empty

 

[c_pass]

'Cloudy' means you're setting the camera for a variation of natural light, but you're shooting under artificial light. You'll need to set the WB to one of the HID-type lighting settings. In this case, it's under the Fluorescent listings, and called Sodium.

Thanks

 

[2WheelPhoto]

Set it to Auto WB and shoot RAW