WB Matters

[GregU]

On Sunday I saw this odd yellow orb in the sky here in Maryland, so I decided to take a short hike on a peninsula of the Chesapeake Bay outside of Annapolis, MD. After a dozen or so shots, I realized that I had previously set the WB on the E-PL1 to "incandescent". Since it was pretty bright and almost all of the photos were taken facing the sun I didn't notice that they were all "blue". Ugh, I learned the hard way to pay attention to the 1.5 million little settings of the camera.

The good news is that before Aperture crashed, I was able to rescue a few pictures, including the one I posted of my Subaru WRX in the "Cars" thread. Oh, and I did get one or two "keepers" from the rest of the photos I took that afternoon.

Just thought I'd share.

 

[bilzmale]

A classic case where shooting in RAW would have saved the day.

 

[jimr.pdx]

All jpg shooters have done it at some point, well 98% at least :smile:
I wish :43: would adapt some form of the Pentax system, where you can review the last shot, adjust WB and re-save, then shoot w/that setting. That option has saved me several times. Without that, be sure to 'chimp' the 1st shot every day or every new environment, just in case. I say that knowing I'll still mess up, of course

 

[Brianetta]

All jpg shooters have done it at some point, well 98% at least :smile:
I wish :43: would adapt some form of the Pentax system, where you can review the last shot, adjust WB and re-save, then shoot w/that setting. That option has saved me several times. Without that, be sure to 'chimp' the 1st shot every day or every new environment, just in case. I say that knowing I'll still mess up, of course

It almost does!
[ame=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m5rR-DAS_s]I filmed this specially (-:[/ame]
I shoot raw+JPEG and have the camera delete raw files first, because at heart I'm a JPEG shooter. I don't delete the raw files until I've taken time to review the images, though, in case I screwed up the white balance, the filters, whatever else. The Olympus' ability to re-process any raw file into a new JPEG is awesome, in the old-fashioned sense of the word.

 

[BBW]

GregU, as you're hearing... You are not alone! I have felt your pain! My first photographs with my E-P2 were the same...incandescent, I believe. I was so wet behind the ears that I didn't even realize that a digital camera had a white balance.

We all continue on the learning curve, eh? I think the alternative is something akin to not being alive anymore.

 

[Streetshooter]

WB, who cares...tell me about the orb.
I had family due and I think that orb may have been them...

 

[BBW]

OK, Don, you've got me. I do not know what you are talking about with "WB" and "the orb"....but I will be patient.

 

[GregU]

A classic case where shooting in RAW would have saved the day.

Odd, I use JPG+RAW, and the RAW files were blue, too. Now I'm confused.

 

[GregU]

WB, who cares...tell me about the orb.
I had family due and I think that orb may have been them...

My youngest, a future scientist with a far greater memory than I have, referred to it as "the sun".

 

[BBW]

Greg, I got your "orb", it's just Don's that I didn't quite follow...however, I do realize there are many orbs out there.

Hmm, RAW files blue, too. Perhaps you need to go through your settings and see what's what. I used to have an E-PL1 and don't recall that. If you get stuck, and no one comes to the rescue here, by all means please start a new thread!

 

[~tc~]

Odd, I use JPG+RAW, and the RAW files were blue, too. Now I'm confused.

It will apply the "as shot" white balance by default, but you can change it.

I have actually had good luck with "wrong" white balance settings - both times it has made the picture more interesting!

 

[GaryAyala]

Odd, I use JPG+RAW, and the RAW files were blue, too. Now I'm confused.

The WB in RAW files are easily manipulated in any RAW file converter program (i.e. Aperture, Adobe programs, et al). In Aperture you'll find the WB under "Adjustments". Pretty much self explanatory after that.

Gary

 

[Brianetta]

Odd, I use JPG+RAW, and the RAW files were blue, too. Now I'm confused.

The raw file includes the setting which was selected for white balance, and the camera will show the raw file with that saved setting applied. Using the raw edit feature, as shown in my video above, you can apply any white balance you want. The only limitation that I have found is, if you shoot with manual white balance, you can't apply a different manual white balance in-camera. I think it assumes that nothing has changed; that manual is manual.

You can change it to auto, though, or any of the presets. You can also change any automatically balanced raw file to your current manual white balance, and you can change the manual balance as often as you like and re-process that raw file.

Every time you use the raw edit, or the JPEG edit, the camera saves a new JPEG on the memory card, with the file count incremented (a good reason not to use that number as the shutter count, if you ask me (-: ).

 

[iliakoltsov]

i did have a similar problem check the settings ( things like Cloudy , or Night shooting ) WB can cause those weird colours. i personally do not trust AWB.

 

[GregU]

The WB in RAW files are easily manipulated in any RAW file converter program (i.e. Aperture, Adobe programs, et al). In Aperture you'll find the WB under "Adjustments". Pretty much self explanatory after that.

Gary

This was the first set of photos that I loaded to Aperture, and I guess I'm pretty happy I did. I followed your tip and I was able to correct the WB and end up with some reasonable photos. Thanks!