i shot an event, raw, nikon d7100, using my somewhat old metz 44 af-1 @1/8 power. the 1st image was in one ballroom, the 2nd in another. i changed nothing other than focus from one room to the next. the attached images are direct export to jpg from my raw files, in lightroom 6, no postprocessing whatsoever. the 1st image i was able to clean up, mostly, except for purple tinges to the sconce lights. the pix from the 2nd room were easy to fix. anyone what any idea what the lighting might be in that 1st room? leds, maybe? and why the intense yellow in the 2nd one? i've shot other events in other venues, using exactly the same camera & flash, without either of these problems.

One of the things one runs into these days is a horrible combination of lighting in any formal location. I attended a reunion last weekend and was particularly aware of the various lighting used within the room, small fluorescent bulbs in the ceiling, incandescent bulbs along the walls, and LED fixtures on the floor to light the walls and ceiling. My only thought was I was glad I wasn't photographing anything that night.

One way to deal with that is to overpower the existing lights with a strobe. That will minimize the ambient lighting to some degree.

I took the liberty of trying to WB the images you posted. It was, to some extent, successful. There are some light tones that are just too overpowering to do anything with a minimum effort.
--Bob

Auto white balance is affected by what it perceives as neutral coloration of reflected light within the scene. Your examples have obvious differences in the majority of reflected color, the second has a lot of white reflection of your flash. That rendered your ambient lighting to incandescent yellow, as it should due to the color temp difference. The first tried to adjust for perceived neutral throwing your ambient light color accordingly.

When I shoot in events like this, I set the white balance to the ambient lighting and gel the flash to match the ambient color temp as closely as possible, unless I want a different look from subject to the background.

When I shoot in events like this, I set the white balance to the ambient lighting and gel the flash to match the ambient color temp as closely as possible, unless I want a different look from subject to the background.
I never use AWB because the white balance changes from photo to photo based on the scene. If I am in a static environment, I can do a quick custom white balance or a K setting, then change the WB to one of the standards if I move from that area to another differently lit area. Then change back if I return.

To me, much easier than dealing with adjusting color temp differences from flash and assorted ambient lighting in post.

i only have elements, with no adjustment choice under image. (i'm right now trying to decide whether to spend money of ps cc or dxo.)

with google i find a lot of people saying the filter isn't the problem, but those were written before cfl's & led room lighting.

i did find that because i had the f stop wide open, i invited more red & blue in onto the sensor. lesson learned! i don't use the flash very often, so i had opened the lens & cut down the flash power. should have gone the middle road there. (camera set to aperature priority.)

i shot an event, raw, nikon d7100, using my somewhat old metz 44 af-1 @1/8 power. the 1st image was in one ballroom, the 2nd in another. i changed nothing other than focus from one room to the next. the attached images are direct export to jpg from my raw files, in lightroom 6, no postprocessing whatsoever. the 1st image i was able to clean up, mostly, except for purple tinges to the sconce lights. the pix from the 2nd room were easy to fix. anyone what any idea what the lighting might be in that 1st room? leds, maybe? and why the intense yellow in the 2nd one? i've shot other events in other venues, using exactly the same camera & flash, without either of these problems.