When editing white balance on a computer, should I tweak tint or temperature first?

Question

Changing the value of one affects the appearance of the other, hence it makes a difference whether you change the tint value first and then move on to the temperature, or the other way around.

Asked by the.midget

Answer

They are independent, the temperature slider affects the color temperature, which is effectively blue-yellow, while the tint affects the green-magenta axis.

In Adobe Camera Raw, the temperature slider is before the tint slider, probably for a reason, so I think the best strategy is to adjust them top to bottom, and this is the advice given in many books on the subject.

Answered by MikeW

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Will I lose image quality by adjusting white balance in post processing?

Question

I understand that if I shoot in RAW, post processing software like Lightroom are capable of adjusting colour temperature and tint to my desire.

Will I lose any image quality in process? Or is it as good as shooting with correct Kelvin value?

A common example I've encountered: say I shoot with an old flash gun that doesn't communicate with my DSLR, and it is really up to me to adjust White Balance manually. Am I good if I shoot bunch of inbalanced colour photos (most of the cases, blue) and fix them through post processing? Or should I spend time getting the colour right (or close) on the spot and be conscious about changing light so I don't need to re-adjust white balance later?

Answer

No. If you shoot in RAW, there is nothing lost.

In fact, in RAW, the white balance you set in-camera is nothing but advisory information to the post-processing software. A different multiplier is applied differently to the red, green, and blue channels during RAW conversion depending on the setting, and if you're doing that conversion from a RAW file, you can always choose to do it differently unless you destroy the original.

The only exception is when the lighting is so strongly colored that it affects the metering oddly. If you have the white balance set in camera, it will apply to the displayed histogram. Some people really are concerned out about this, and have invented the idea of "uniwb", a custom white balance designed to balance the three color channels evenly. If you are very meticulous, and if you are trying to make the most of extreme scenes, you may be interested in seeing if that helps. (You probably also want to reduce the default contrast settings, for the same reason.)

If you shoot in JPEG only, the application of the white balance multipliers is destructive, and difficult to compensate for if you change your mind. But I don't think that's what you're asking.

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How do I simply adjust the color temperature In Photoshop Elements?

Question

How do I simply adjust the temperature of an image in Photoshop Elements?

Answer

There is a walkthrough of the camera raw white balance feature on the adobe web site.

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What is color temperature and how does it affect my photography?

Question

I have seen color temperature mentioned with regard to white balance, mixing different sources of light, etc., but I haven't come across a clear explanation of what it means to talk about the 'temperature' of light.

How does the color temperature of my light sources effect the images I capture? Are some color temperatures inherently better than others?

Answer

Color-temperature is a way to describe the color of light along a spectrum that goes from warm colors (measured as having a lower temperature) to cool colors (measures as having a higher temperature).

Color-temperature is measured in Kelvin degrees and corresponds to the temperature at which a certain metal must be heated to emit light of that color. That is why lower temperatures (say 3000K) give off warm (yellow-organge) light and that high temperatures (9000K) give off color (blueish) light.

White-balance is the process of canceling the effect color-temperature in a photograph. This is because our brain corrects what our eyes see to let us see white as white, although it may be tinted by the color-temperature of light.

If the color-temperature of light is known, then its effect can be mostly canceled. Automatic white-balance guesses at that temperature (see this question). Preset white-balance use mostly fixed known temperatures (6500K for daylight, 9500k for cloudy, 3000k for tungsten, etc - actual values vary between cameras).

For custom white-balance the camera uses a sample that is known to be white and deduces the color-temperature of light from that. Some cameras actually report the measured color-temperatures when using custom white-balance.

Note that for light sources that are mixed or simply way off from typical lighting conditions (sodium vapor lights, some fluorescents) it is not possible to cancel the effect because some parts of the visible spectrum are missing.

Since colors affect the mood of a photograph and how we perceive images, so does color-temperature. It is known that warmer colors (lower temperatures) are generally perceived as more pleasant and some photographers purposefully set the white-balance wrong to convey a certain mood. Cool colors (higher temperatures) are associated with night and mystery. Neither is better, it must simply fit the photo and how you intend viewers to perceive it.

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What is the easiest way to alter white balance in Gimp?

Question

Let's say I've accidentally shot my pictures on "sunny" white balace when I should have used "shade". What is the easiest way to warm the pictures up a bit in Gimp? The "Colors/Color balance" tool does not really cut it, as I don't want to mess with three sliders for three brightness levels.

Answer

The quickest GIMP tool I'm aware of is the color levels tool. Near the bottom of the tool is 4 buttons: Auto, black point, gray point, and white point. You can use the auto (iffy, but it may get it right or close for minor adjustment) or use the white point button to select the white point in the image.

It is, by the way, the same technique I suggested for Photoshop in the first link @mattdm supplied.

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How do I adjust the color Balance on a Nikon D300?

Question

First of all let me clarify here. I am aware of the color balance feature on the Nikon D300 and I generally use Auto, so this isn't about that aspect of color balance.

My camera has a tendency to shoot a little magenta and I am wondering if there is a way to modify that in the control panel. If not, I can accept a no, but it would be nice to not have to continually adjust all my photos.

Thanks.

Answer

Since you shoot RAW. Color-balance has no effect on your photos. If they come out the wrong color, blame the RAW processor or its operator ;)

To adjust color-balance of the preview along the Green-Magenta axis go to the camera menu and find the WB Fine-Tuning screen.

To adjust it along the Amber-Blue axis, hold the WB button and turn the sub-command dial (usually the front control-dial but they can be swapped).

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Why are my photos slightly yellower than they should be on iPad 1st gen?

Question

I just transferred some photos from my Macbook to my iPod Touch and my iPad 1st gen. I found that photos on my iPad are a tad warmer than they are on my Macbook and my iPod Touch. Has anyone experienced this before?

Answer

Different displays ship with manufacturing tolerances which will give each unit fractionally differing colour output; in addition to this, manufacturers may choose to ship with factory default colour settings. To complicate matters further, the capacitive covering over the iPad screen may introduce a colour cast of its own.

The only way to get reliable colour reproduction is to use a colourimeter to calibrate the screen, although this obviously won't be possible for the iPad half of your situation.

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