Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="WayneF" data-source="post: 474972" data-attributes="member: 12496">My notions:First, anything you do for WB in the camera isn't going to be enough for raw images.  Camera WB is not in raw files.  Nikon raw software might handle it (dunno), but it is sort of proprietary, and Adobe raw gets close, but always misses it a little.  And of course, it's a poor goal just to match the crummy camera WB (it is the problem you want to fix), the real goal is to simply fix it right.  Adobe raw has its own better tools. Basically, in raw, we don't care about camera WB, because in raw, we are now setting WB for the first time, after we can see it.  The white card is a great tool to help do that.Auto WB:  a camera method, surely better than doing absolutely nothing, but far from fail safe.  Many of us apparently don't care.Setting Incandescent or Daylight or Cloudy or Shade, whatever, in the camera, as appropriate.   Good commendable try, but very far from precise.  Too many possibilities, too few solutions, and of course, we don't even actually know what we're trying to match.Custom WB in the camera, on a white or gray card, or through a coffee filter or expodisk  (Pringle lids were considered good at one time, but I think they changed the lid now to be more transparent).   It's pretty fiddlely diving into camera menus, and still an in-camera method.Placing a gray card in the scene, in a test shot, in the same light..  Works for raw, but 18% cards are not color controlled, and are too dark to be best for WB.   WhiBal brand cards are much better than 18% cards, a very light shade of gray, and pigments are supposedly checked for color neutrality (the small less-expensive one works fine).White card in the scene,  in a test shot in the same light..    A good plan, including for raw.  It is called White Balance, and make a known neutral white card actually be neutral white, and you've got it, the best it can be, no color tint.   Easy and fast, raw allows fixing many similar session shots with one click.   I like the $5 Porta Brace White Balance card, 5x7, washable, durable, accurate, cheap enough to own several.  It is just plastic, with no pigments to calibrate.In lieu of any of that, if unprepared with nothing, then when we have a serious WB problem, look for something actually white in the scene.  An envelope or paper, a white plate or T-shirt or shirt collar, or a dot on the pajamas, or a sign, or something plastic, or a church steeple or picket fence, etc.  Indoor walls are usually off-white though.  Works best if it is actually intended to appear white, and the odds are that it will work far better than doing nothing.  Much closer then the first problem anyway. If somehow ever not, then cancel out, you're no worse off, but you'll normally be grateful you found it.If you have good WB tools (like in raw editors), with both Temperature and Tint sliders, just slide them back and forth individually, and watch for the right value to pop out.</blockquote>

Verification