Exercise 10: Colour cast and white balance Part 1 Review.

Sunny Day

The first set of photographs I took were on a sunny day at approximately 2pm, the four different white balance results are shown below :-

 

File temperature read 5650



File temperature read 5150










File temperature read 6750








File temperature read 5850

 

Out of interest I noted down the colour temperature readings on the RAW files and noted that the AWB value was very similar to the Cloudy.

I was surprised that although I can see there is a variation in the colour cast it was not more pronounced. The AWB I feel has represented the truer colours, the daylight setting has added a touch of blue which although makes the sky a lovely shade gives the grass an odd hue. The Shade WB setting is the least satisfactory giving the image a very orange appearance with the Cloudy setting not too bad a result but still a little on the yellow side.

Cloudy Day

The next set were taken on a cloudy day at approximately 3.30pm.

File temperature read 5550

File temperature read 5150



File temperature read 6750




File temperature read 6750



Once again I noted the colour temperatures and the AWB @ 5550 was closest to the Cloudy WB setting @ 5850.

I think that the variations were more noticable under the cloudy conditions. The AWB rendered the image quite well but the image seemed a little flat, while the daylight setting once more gave the image a cold blue cast. The Shade setting made the brickwork much warmer but gave the overall shot an orange/yellow hue, the Cloudy WB seems to have been the best option but is not that disimilar to the AWB.

Open Shade

This set of images were taken in open shade on a sunny day at about 2pm

File temperature read 4500



File temperature read 5150




File temperature read 6750




File temperature read 5850



Noting the file temperatures in RAW once more it was interesting to see just how far out the AWB reading was from the other settings on this occasion.

I felt that the variations were more striking with these shots. The AWB has left the image dark and with a blue cast as has the daylight setting. Once again the Shade setting has given a very warm orange cast with the cloudy also not giving a very true result, erring on the yellow/orange side. The daylight setting seems to have the closest colour representation if I was pushed to choose.

This was an interesting experiment to undertake. A lot of the time when shooting outside I rely quite heavily on the AWB setting due to the changing nature of the weather and therefore the light. From these results I conclude that the AWB setting on my camera performs quite well on most occasions, with the Shade setting giving a very unsatisfactory result even in the shade. This will help with my decision making when shooting outside as far as white balance settings are concerned. I have as yet to experiment with the custom function but I can't see me always carrying a white card about or not always having the time to use it in certain circumstances ;o)