White Balance 'Magic Wand' Needed!

[Dave_W]

Both jpegs and RAW have their benefits, and each person needs to decide which format works best for a specific situation.

While I agree that each person should decide for themselves, I don't see any benefit that JPEG has that RAW does not also share since all JPEG files start their life off as RAW files before being converted to a JPEG. My biggest issue with letting your camera do the JPEG conversion is that you're at the whim of some electrical engineers opinion of what your images should look like. And I've paid way too much for my camera to give up my control at the most critical link in the chain. But then again, not many people are as obsessive/compulsive as I am so I understand that having complete control may not be everyone's "cup of tea"

 

[Rexer John]

RAW sounds cooler..

Is this a joke? I've seen people with T'shirts that say "I shoot RAW" or something like that.

Raw is like a tool, it's a great tool, but if I call a plumber I care more about the finished job than the tool he uses to do that job.
Same with a photographer.

If the plumber said he used a particular tool, "because it sounds cooler", instead of "because it worked better" he'd be off down the road with a boot up his ^%$£.

But I digress, you were joking, right?

 

[Patrick M]

RAW files capture everything. You then have the ability through software to make many adjustments and to save the resulting photo in any format you choose.
As said, a JPEG is a RAW file that's been adjusted already...so it's quite a bit smaller for one. BUT if you create a JPEG from RAW you can still go back to the RAW and edit again if needs. If you start with a JPEG, that's it.
So what you do is decide what you need, then go for it. There's no value, IMHO, in discussing the merits of one over the other ... I'd argue JPEG is a subset of RAW.



Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

I'm trying to stay away from the RAW / JPG debate which we have beat to death so may times in this forum and getting back to the original question.

If you want to set your white balance pick up an 18% gray card.....and if you do decide to shot RAW you can still set your white balance off of it in Lightroom or Photoshop.

If your not going to use post processing on your photos, then you are going to be at the mercy of your camera.

I like to think I'm smarter than my camera and I use tools like gray cards and hand held light meters, I don't trust the camera.

For all of you who know me, I just picked up a handheld light meter and I liking the results better than in camera light meter.

 

[Eye-level]

Amen Rick

 

[hark]

I have a question for those who are suggesting an 18% gray card and/or a handheld light meter. I know using either of these will render the whites 'white' and the blacks 'black'. But in the OP's post, he says: Sunshine WB setting is great when the sun is out. Cloudy WB setting creates colours that are too vivid when the sun appears. Auto WB just seems too washed out.

So my question is this: how does a gray card/light meter affect the shading of colors when his WB setting is for sunshine but the sun goes behind clouds and changes things? Personally I prefer the golden color shift of using the cloudy WB outside on sunny days, but when the subject involves people, I have to switch my Picture Control settings from Vivid to Standard so the facial coloring isn't too overdone. Using a light meter/gray card will render whites/blacks correctly, but the various WB styles will still shift the colors, yes?

Or are you suggesting he use a light meter/gray card in addition to shooting RAW?

 

[AxeMan - Rick S.]

Or are you suggesting he use a light meter/gray card in addition to shooting RAW?

HE DOES NOT need to use a light meter, I did not mean to recommend that, it something I just started doing recently and have had a lot of luck with getting to the perfect exposure in "manual mode". Your camera can do the same thing, but just like white balance the camera can be easily fooled, so I use gray cards, and a light meter for a "second opinion"

For best results:

Use a gray card to set your white balance (very help full if your going to post process)

Shoot in RAW (This is going to give you more room for adjustments during post processing, but your going to have to adjust all your other setting too)

For fair results:

Use auto white balance and shoot JPG

You can still adjust in post processing but because of the nature of a JPG you are going to be limited on how much you can adjust..

With out turning this into a RAW / JPG debate that is as simple as I can put it, and why

 

[Eye-level]

I am giving up on light meters...I shall bracket from now on until I know the settings by eye and heart instantly.

 

[fotojack]

Sorry i disagree With this one, as an event photographer I have found it far better to shoot jpeg in the past to get a fast turnaround, you can do a lot of tweaking to Jpegs in lightroom I admit not as much as RAW but enough. I do now tend to shoot RAW as I have the power of PC to handle them and the experience to edit them quickly but I do not and never will think that shooting in Jpeg if you want too as wrong.

For fine photography or art photography depending on circumstance it may be necessary but it isn't the only way to shoot and certainly isn't only for those that care about their photos.

I totally agree with this. There's a reason for the RAW/jpeg choice built into the camera.......it's a choice, not a necessity! Use what best suits you. If it's RAW, so be it. If it's jpeg, go for it. I don't buy into the elitist attitude that everyone HAS to shoot or SHOULD shoot raw. That's just nonsense.

 

[fotojack]

RAW sounds cooler..

Yeah, and you know what?....that's about the only reason! Some people think it makes them sound more "pro" and more knowledgeable than the guy who just shoots jpeg. Well horse cookies! Shoot what you want to shoot! It's your camera, your photos, and nobody's business HOW you shoot!

 

[Mfrankfort]

haha. Yes, I was kidding. I shoot both, depending on what I'm going to do with the pictures. If I'm just taking casual pictures of friends/family at an outing to put on Facebook, I'm going to shoot in jpeg. If it's something I know I'm going to need to edit because of light, or something that people are going to want printed, I will shoot RAW so I can edit it to mine/their liking. But shoot RAW because it sounds cool was a joke. But hey, it does sound cooler, doesn't it?

 

[nikonpup]

can you post a few pictures here preprocessing? It helps knowing the settings when the pictures where taken.