White Balance Frustration - Need Help!

[Bgagnon127]

Hey All,
I usually shoot in studio so I'm a little perplexed at this white balance issue I'm running into on this outdoor shoot I recently did. This is just the quick snap with the color checker card to grab a white balance and I cannot figure out why the camera's auto white balance is so different from an eye dropper white balance in Lightroom 4. They were shot as RAW files. Does anyone have any detailed info they can share about color balancing in Lightroom 4 or Camera Raw when shooting outdoors to get a good WB that could help me here?


This is WB using the eye dropper


This is the D300s doing an auto WB


Thank you for your time!

 

[tirediron]

I'm guessing that for whatever reason, the camera was mainly sampling the area below the top of the wall in shade. Were you set to single-point AF?

 

[KmH]

What metering mode?

It's my understanding that the RGB metering sensor in Nikon is used to 'see' the white balance.
So Matrix and Center-weighted metering would give better Auto WB results than using Spot metering.

Also, the scene has mixed lighting - direct sunlight and shade - which requires 2 different WB settings.

Just like in the studio, mixed lighting seriously complicates white balance.

 

[Bgagnon127]

I'm guessing that for whatever reason, the camera was mainly sampling the area below the top of the wall in shade. Were you set to single-point AF?

Yes I was in single-point AF

 

[Bgagnon127]

What metering mode?

I was in matrix metering mode but shooting with manual settings

 

[Bgagnon127]

Here's my take at a custom WB based on what I subjectively think looks good. Also, is there something else I could have done to get a better WB in camera in this type of scenario? Any feedback is appreciated.

 

[tirediron]

The original WB based on the card looked right to me; your most recent post still looks too blue/cool. As I understand it, when in Single-point AF, all of the information (focus, exposure, WB is taken based on that point as the centre, so if you were shooting low in single-point, that would explain it. Are you on a calibrated monitor?

 

[Bgagnon127]

The original WB based on the card looked right to me; your most recent post still looks too blue/cool. As I understand it, when in Single-point AF, all of the information (focus, exposure, WB is taken based on that point as the centre, so if you were shooting low in single-point, that would explain it. Are you on a calibrated monitor?

I calibrate it fairly regularly but I may have been using the wrong white point setting. It was at 6000k so I just did an ambient light reading and used that instead. Here's a version with the re-calibration. To me it's a little too warm but maybe that's just what the scene needs for a WB because of the shade with sun coming through the trees. Also do you think the over all exposure is correct? It looks good on the histogram but I always tend to think things are under exposed when other people say it looks good.

 

[tirediron]

On my monitor (calibrated last week) that looks spot on for both WB and exposure.

 

[Bgagnon127]

On my monitor (calibrated last week) that looks spot on for both WB and exposure.

Thanks tirediron I appreciate all the help. This was a fairly tough shoot all around. They had to change the time of day so it was almost midday light instead of late day, the kids weren't really cooperating, etc... Poses are tough when they keep moving all around

 

[tirediron]

On my monitor (calibrated last week) that looks spot on for both WB and exposure.

Thanks tirediron I appreciate all the help. This was a fairly tough shoot all around. They had to change the time of day so it was almost midday light instead of late day, the kids weren't really cooperating, etc... Poses are tough when they keep moving all around

That's what coat-hangers, gaff-tape, and whiskey-fill sippy cups are for!

 

[Bgagnon127]

Ha, I'll have to keep that in mind!