White Balance Correction

The WB correction in-camera does not affect RAW files. That's why they're RAW.

Does lightroom have some kind of batch processing capability, that allows you to apply the same correction to a group of files (I don't use lightroom)?

- Leigh

The trick is to check the WB in each location while you're there, by shooting a white balance target each time the lighting changes. You then use those to set the WB in Lightroom, then sync that WB setting to all the shots taken under those conditions.

The WB correction in-camera does not affect RAW files.

The WB correction in-camera is used as a starting point by the RAW converter, so it does affect the RAW file as viewed. This is essential, every RAW converter has to put something in the WB field, and, because it makes sense, it reads the metadata and puts in its own best guess. With Lightroom, the default for WB is "as shot" which is information it gets from the metadata.

Does lightroom have some kind of batch processing capability, that allows you to apply the same correction to a group of files

Since he said the lighting varied widely, why would that work?


If you do change the WB at each location rather than use the auto setting while shooting, you may get a more accurate conversion in LR, although it is likely that you would get better results using Canon's RAW converter.
So one option is to use Canon's software, which you should have. The primary workflow option in LR is to work by group based on the specific lighting. Use the eyedropper to get the right balance for one, use Copy and pick WB, then select the others with the same lighting as a group and click Sync. That will set them all to the same WB as the first one. Do each group separately. You won't be able to do it for all of them at once. It may be faster to use the Canon software...

I shoot in RAW as well, so that I can adjust my white balance later. The quickest way that I've found is to use the eyedropper tool in the white balance pane (it's designed for you to click an 18% gray tone in the image, I've yet to find one that didn't have a very close hue), and then to adjust each slider if I notice the image looks a little green, blue, etc. Once you get used to it, white balance takes only a handful of seconds.

Auto WB will not necessarily give you a reasonable starting point when you render the raw file, as you are finding. Here's what I do:

If I know I am going to be using something very different from daylight, say, tunsten or flash, I sometimes set the camera WB to that. It has no permanent effect on the raw file, but it makes the initial thumbnails a little easier to evaluate.

Whenever the lighting is tricky, I carry a small whiBal neutral gray card. (It's small, and you can hang it around your neck.) If the lighting is consistent, I take one shot with it. If the lighting varies a lot, I try to get one shot of the whiBal in every lighting condition. Then can set the WB in one of those using the eyedropper and copy the settings to all the other photos that need that same white balance. If they are in a sequence, you can sync the settings, which is even faster. You can do this, by the way, with any settings in lightroom, not just WB.

This is not always enough to get things just right, but it will usually get it very close. For example, in indoor situations with mixed tungsten and flash, the lighting is often inconsistent, and I frequently end up with some images that are a little too yellow. But then you can adjust to taste any that are off.

When I found a new 'tool' in my recently arrived Paint Shop Pro X4 which told me to click on something which should be white, or grey or black and it then corrected for that, the thought struck me that I should include in photos a white reference card to enable this tool to work for me. I imagine this tool is not unique to PSP so I offer the idea ... though I doubt if it would work for mixed lighting situations unless the light was a blend of the mixed sources? What do people think?

found a new 'tool' in my recently arrived Paint Shop Pro X4 which told me to click on something which should be white, or grey or black

that is what Ariel was referencing. It's not new. There is an eyedropper tool for that in LR, for example. That's how you use the neutral gray card that I mentioned in my post. The problem with selecting something that 'should be white' is that 'white' comes in all sorts of tones, ranging from yellowish to blue-ish. That's why paper makes a lousy neutral surface for this purpose. A neutral gray or neutral white card is designed for this and really is neutral in color balance.

When I first went digital, before I realized that shooing raw, among other advantages, is much easier than fussing with custom white balance, I tried to set custom white balance using white typing paper, on a white tile table. I quickly realized that I got a very different result from the two surfaces.

Thanks everyone for the response!
I knew that by shooting raw I should be able to override any WB errors, but as I understand the initial WB selection gives a good starting point for displaying the image.
After reading about the reference cards in couple of responses above, I had to go research about that specifically (hate to ask everything here with out researching myself). Find it to be nice way to customize the WB at every light scenario.
now, that we are talking about the neutral grey/white card for reference, the next question arises what mode do you use to snap that reference card! And I would presume the settings would differ if you used different WB styles to reference the card. Or am I thinking too much ?!!
Dan,
When I first went digital, before I realized that shooing raw, among other advantages, is much easier than fussing with custom white balance, I tried to set custom white balance using white typing paper, on a white tile table. I quickly realized that I got a very different result from the two surfaces.
even I experience that a lot, different shades of white and different results in LR.

now, that we are talking about the neutral grey/white card for reference, the next question arises what mode do you use to snap that reference card! And I would presume the settings would differ if you used different WB styles to reference the card. Or am I thinking too much ?!!

You're overthinking it. Keep shooting in Auto if you want, or fix it on Daylight or Tungsten or whatever you want. It doesn't matter.

Once you get your files into Lightroom, select the first WB card shot, press W, click the eyedropper on the card, then select the other files shot in the same light and sync the WB to them. Repeat for each set.