Author Topic: Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.  (Read 8827 times)

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Offline Mrtambourineman

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Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.
« on: June 02, 2014, 06:49:06 PM »
Hey there.  I took a whole whack of shots of some kite boarders on Saturday with my camera set on flourescent white balance which made the photos turn blueish.  I have Gimp as my digital darkroom software.  I shot in JPeg only - no Raw.  Can someone please tell me how to go about fixing this. 
I've been doing this how long?

Offline omega lambda

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Re: Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.
« Reply #1 on: June 03, 2014, 05:00:25 PM »
I don't know gimp, but in PhotoShop there are several ways to temper it. I'll tell you what I would do and maybe you know the equivalent in gimp.

First I would try the curves function which allows you to set a black, white or middle gray point using the eye dropper tool. Using the eye dropper, you select an area of the photograph that should be true white or true middle gray. I usually prefer the middle gray result, but sometimes the white point is better. Very often this is all you need to do.

Another option is to use a selective color adjustment. In PS, there is a dialog box that allows you to select the color you want to modify (white, red, bye, green, etc). I would select white, then adjust the cyan slider until white looks white. There are other sliders, so I would adjust until it looks right.

If either of these didn't work, my last resort would be to use a red color overlay at some reduced opacity (25%?) to counteract the green.

I hope this will at least give you an idea of what you can try. Good luck!

I once saw engagement photos done by a well known and very expensive So Cal photographer in which about 75 of the proofs were shot with tungsten white balance and the photos were all outdoors. Everything was a lovely shade of blue!

Offline Mrtambourineman

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Re: Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.
« Reply #2 on: June 03, 2014, 05:52:00 PM »
I don't know gimp, but in PhotoShop there are several ways to temper it. I'll tell you what I would do and maybe you know the equivalent in gimp.

First I would try the curves function which allows you to set a black, white or middle gray point using the eye dropper tool. Using the eye dropper, you select an area of the photograph that should be true white or true middle gray. I usually prefer the middle gray result, but sometimes the white point is better. Very often this is all you need to do.

Another option is to use a selective color adjustment. In PS, there is a dialog box that allows you to select the color you want to modify (white, red, bye, green, etc). I would select white, then adjust the cyan slider until white looks white. There are other sliders, so I would adjust until it looks right.

If either of these didn't work, my last resort would be to use a red color overlay at some reduced opacity (25%?) to counteract the green.

I hope this will at least give you an idea of what you can try. Good luck!

I once saw engagement photos done by a well known and very expensive So Cal photographer in which about 75 of the proofs were shot with tungsten white balance and the photos were all outdoors. Everything was a lovely shade of blue!

Thanks OL - It sounds like I did what your So Cal photographer did.  All of my kite surfing images are a lovely shade of blue as well.  I think using the white as my adjustment key may be my best choice because most of these photos are dominated by ocean and sky. 
I've been doing this how long?

Offline Mrtambourineman

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Re: Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2014, 11:24:31 AM »
Well I managed to work on two images last night.  The first was predominantly ocean and sky so I used the white dropper to work on it.  Its a lot better, but its still quite dark/blue in places.  I used the grey dropper on a shot that had more land and buildings in it and that worked much better.  Still looks a little off.  I may need to play around with it more.
I've been doing this how long?

Offline MoCo

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Re: Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.
« Reply #4 on: June 04, 2014, 01:41:09 PM »
I know it's not helpful for these pics, but can I ask why you're not shooting in RAW (or at least RAW + jpg)?
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Offline Mrtambourineman

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Re: Help. Post processing to fix white balance mistake.
« Reply #5 on: June 04, 2014, 01:53:31 PM »
I know it's not helpful for these pics, but can I ask why you're not shooting in RAW (or at least RAW + jpg)?

Simple answer is probably laziness and drive space.  I don't have the time to mess around with my photos much after I take them so JPEG pretty much works for me and I have limited space to store them.  Another factor is I tended to use a smallish card (4 Gig) with the old camera and I took a lot of action shots so I was worried about filling up my card.  I bought an 8 gig card with the new camera and I have a 4 gig back up card from my digital video camera that I can use in a pinch now so in camera storeage isn't as big a deal. 
I've been doing this how long?

Offline GeekMaster

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Offline Mrtambourineman

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I've been doing this how long?

 

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