Loudbri Loc: Philadelphia

Hi gang I shot my nephews bday party in raw as a first test.
first difference I noticed after importing to LR4 was that the white balance was different for each frame sometimes over 1000deg difference. I used AWB for everything (canon5dm2). Previously using jpg's the wht bal was always in the middle and didn't show the numerical temp. My main question is does the camera "act "differently because the images are recorded in raw.. My understanding is that It doesn't.... I was told to shoot the same way I have in the past..

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

Automatic White Balance will give you different temps whenever the light changes for different exposures no matter what format you shoot. The difference is that in JPEGs the WB is now fixed in camera but with RAW it is not. The view of a RAW file you get in LR is with the WB as noted in the camera, but is still completely adjustable, hence the full temperature scale. With JPEGs, you have a limited ability to make adjustments up or down from what was fixed in camera, hence the centered indicator (the fixed value) and the ability only to adjust that value up or down to a small degree.

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

Did the light change between shots?
Did you move from room to room or even move from one corner of a room to another?
Was there a difference of even a hour between the images you are comparing?

With auto white balance all these factors plus more play into why the white balance is different. When using jpeg your camera is applying an auto white balance setting, when using raw your camera is recording the raw data not applying any pre calculated formula that it thinks is correct.

Sorry really basic explanation of why your white balance might be different from image to image when using awb and raw.

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

AWB makes no difference for raw capture. "Raw" means completely unaltered, no tweaks. Adjust WB affects JPGs only, which are already tweaked.

I shoot raw + JPG fine. I upload both to my PC. I review the JPGs to select the raw images that I want to post process. If I like the "white balance" of my JPG, I can try to match it, or use it instead of the raw image.

Mixed lighting, such as incandescent light bulbs, fluorescent tubes, and/or speedlight, would already be difficult to balance. What was you illumination?

Loudbri Loc: Philadelphia

thanks guys that kinda what I thought now 2nd question
I see on many tutorials after guys adjust their strobes etc and are happy with the look they are getting from the back of the camera they shoot 1 frame with the model holding a grey card or a black wht and gry card yet they claim they're using AWB.... Is this to correct the image later with the eye drop feature. my understanding is that you are recording "this" is what white looks like under "these" conditions

thank you for your response

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

You are correct, I always start my session with my client holding a color sample card, each time we switch locations I use it again. Raw does not apply any pre-set white balance to your images, the are, well raw. So the color checker card allows me to set a custom white balance in LR by using the color dropper tool. Quick and easy.

rpavich Loc: West Virginia

And remember; in LR4 you can correct one photo and then "sync" all those corrections to the other photos taken under the same conditions...it's a real time saver.

Loudbri Loc: Philadelphia

Just to be sure before I implement this in my process......you shoot the color card after you believe the pic is correct..then in post you grab the eye dropper and the program recognizes the color or the wht and sets the balance.

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

Yes after I am happy with my lighting and all the other details, I take a picture of my client holding the color sampler. Then continue with my session as normal.

Yes use sync in LR (LR3 also has the sync feature).

birdpix Loc: South East Pennsylvania

You shoot the gray card after the lighting is set up. As we've said, it doesn't matter what you have the camera's WB set on when shooting RAW, it can be adjusted in LR using the eyedropper tool on the gray card in the photo. You don't use the color checker with the WB eyedropper tool.

Annie_Girl Loc: It's none of your business

color samples have 18% grey square, so yes you can use them with the eye dropped tool in lightroom.

Loudbri Loc: Philadelphia

thanks everyone this is very valuable to me as I try to become more and more pro..

drjuice

In general what everybody has said.

I think it's a little difficult for newbies (at least for my students, anyway) to wrap their heads around the fact that what all RAW images are is that each image is captured EXACTLY with the properties that are present in the picture without doing any kind of processing.

If you think about what happens in a PnS camera, a lot of processing happens between the point where the image is captured (effectively identical with a RAW image, but we never have access to that RAW image) and what you see on your viewing screen or in prints or projected. What we get with our Nikons, Canons, Olympuses, Lumixes, Sonys, DSLRs is our choice of RAW (which I require my students to submit along with the images they have processed to make gorgeousness) or JPEG or both.

While I still capture JPEG, it's mainly because I use that to make sure that I have framed the picture correctly because sometimes, if I make that decision based on the RAW, it's a little on the dark side so I can't see the edges. Using the JPEG, it may be overexposed, but at least I can see the edges of the pictures to be sure I've got what I intended.

Hope this helps.

virginia

Loudbri Loc: Philadelphia

I've posed this question to a few pros....would you agree that it is saker to error on the side of under exposed knowing you may be able to recover detail because of shooting in raw???

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

A raw image capture a much wider exposure latitude than is present in a JPG image. Therefore, an under-exposed raw image is more forgiving than an under-exposed JPG. Over-exposing either one can block-up highlight detail, but again, raw is more forgiving.