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White balance "as shot" is wrong for a7iii profile

Forum|Forum|6 years ago
April 20, 2019
4 replies
8172 views

Hi,

I am having a hard time matching the white balance settings in camera raw to match the white balance used to make the shot with my a7iii (latest firmware).

Here are my original files (RAW + SOOC jpeg):

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nFpZ1FT5POgq0gBSF_ynPjiJvZXdOtla

Here are the colors that I get when opening the RAW in the Sony Edit RAW editor without touching any sliders (i.e. white balance as shot):

(this is the colors that I shot with and this is what I would like to keep)

Here is the same RAW file opened in the latest camera RAW (with the camera vivid profile):

It looks like the white balance white balance sliders are "saturated" (i.e. in the extremities) and cannot render the white balance properly.

I had set a custom white balance in camera, so I don't know if that was a probem...I hope not ?:

So, can anyone help me figure out to obtain the same white balance in camera raw as the white balance that I shot with ?

Thanks a lot for your help !

Philippe

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Correct answer D Fosse

There is no problem to fix. Varying numbers is normal and expected.

People treat these numbers as absolutes, but they are not. There is nothing in the camera that measures the quality of the light. Those numbers are the result of how much correction has been applied to achieve a "normal" result and reasonably balanced image.

Since the processing engines are totally different, a "normal" result may be achieved with different amounts of correction.

The As Shot setting in ACR prioritizes visual similarity, even if the numbers may differ. Inversely, identical numbers might produce visually different results, and people would object to that pretty quickly.

T

tl_thurston

Participant

Hey Philippe, I have this same exact issue. Noticed it a few months ago. When I shoot with a custom-set WB, Lightroom and ACR show the "as shot" differently. It's usually off by a few hundred K's. For example, today I shot at 6200K and when I imported into Lr or Ps, it showed "as shot" at 6000K. Did you find a true fix for this?

D Fosse

Correct answer

Community Expert

There is no problem to fix. Varying numbers is normal and expected.

People treat these numbers as absolutes, but they are not. There is nothing in the camera that measures the quality of the light. Those numbers are the result of how much correction has been applied to achieve a "normal" result and reasonably balanced image.

Since the processing engines are totally different, a "normal" result may be achieved with different amounts of correction.

The As Shot setting in ACR prioritizes visual similarity, even if the numbers may differ. Inversely, identical numbers might produce visually different results, and people would object to that pretty quickly.

TheDigitalDog

Inspiring

@D Fosse wrote:

There is no problem to fix. Varying numbers is normal and expected.

Exactly! A CCT (Kelvin) value defines a large range of possible colors. As seen below (for the OP). IOW, D50 is a specific, exacting color (based on actual measurements from Spectroradiometers all over the world). 5000K is a range of colors. All one has to do is examine the lines of correleated temperature (line e) seen below.

Here one can see the SAME raw file, but different CCT values reported by differing raw converters. And a value actually measured by the (more ideal) instrument to do so:

Bottom line; the numbers vary as will your mileage. The color appearance you desire, that's a bit more critical.

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"

elie_dinur

Participating Frequently

I think this is what I would do. I like Sony's "Deep" profile.

I also smoothed out a bit the exposures and color on the jacket with local adjustments.

philippe.cabotAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks Elie for your suggestion!

elie_dinur

Participating Frequently

Philippe -

The problem is indeed caused by the custom WB that you set in the camera. I had a look at the file's Exif/Maker Notes where the setting is listed and I have to say that it is really extreme and crazy. Because LR is set to As Shot it is trying to use that data to set a comparable WB but just couldn't manage it and ran off the scale.

A WB is expressed as multipliers for each color channel, although the green channel is usually left unchanged (multiplier = 1) because the sensor is most sensitive to green light, while the red and the blue are boosted to bring them up into balance with the green. For instance, according to your Exif, Sony's preset WB for Daylight is

2380/1024/1668, which means R X 2.4, G X 1, B X 1.7, and the preset for Tungsten is 1472/1024/2920, R X 1.5, G X 1, B X 3. But the Custom WB set in the camera was 2060/1024/596. Blue was set to be reduced to 60%, not boosted. The stage lighting must have been almost entirely blue. The camera tried to handle it in its jpg (a little too much in my opinion, too yellow) but the data fed to LR was beyond its ability to cope.

philippe.cabotAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi Elie,

Thanks a lot for your answer.

Your technical detailed explanation makes a lot of sense, and yes, the light was mostly blue in front of the stage.

So, I am coming to the conclusion that I have no choice but to use the Sony Edit Application to develop the picture if I want the closest proper skin color. Is that correct ?

Questions for you :

1. Which sliders would you modify in ACR to obtain the proper skin tone? From your explanation, ACR will not give me any warm colors due to the WB settings, so I will not get what I want I guess...

2. What would you have done differently to handle that situation ?

Should I have shot with auto WB and take a picture of a color chart under that blue light and then use the WB picker in ACR ?

Would that have helped ACR in finding the proper white balance ?

Thanks again for your insight on how I should handle this situation (I guess I am not the only one in that situation shooting under strong blue light)

Philippe

gary_sc

Community Expert

Hi Philippe,

Yes, saturated is a good word for what you're seeing.

If you look at your "Profile" for reasons that I have no idea why, you are using "Camera Vivid."

If you click on that 4 x 4 grid to the right of the words Camera Vivid, you see a slew of other Profiles (I decreased the size of the screenshot for ease sake):

The top group are favorites, I'll get back to that in a second. Then you have the Profiles for Adobe Raw which are followed by "Camera Matching." Here Adobe attempts to replicate the profiles used for your camera.

You'll not a star in the upper right corner of the tiles, these are set to be Favorites and will show up in the top group. If you mouse over each of these tiles you can see how the image will look with that profile. If you don't click, the profile will not stick.

If you open any JPGs, the Adobe raw and Camera Matching will not be there.

Please let us know if this helps you or not.

philippe.cabotAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi Gary,

Thanks for your answer, but I already tried using different profile (even the camera matching ones), and the colors does not change that much (i.e. the profile does not affect that much the end result).

My question is simple: in theory, I should be able to move some WB sliders in Camera Raw to obtain the same colors as the result obtained with the Sony Edit application since the RAW is unprocessed, and all the information is there to play with.

BUT, for some reasons, I tried changing the WB sliders and I am unable to match the colors of the WB that I used to shoot.

Any idea why ?

Thanks

Philippe

gary_sc

Community Expert

Hi Philippe,

Just out of curiosity, why is your Temperature at 50000 and your Tint at -150? In the Sony image they are at 6000 and 0 respectively. What does the ACR image look like when they are brought to their "neutral" settings?

Were you changing the profiles with the Temp/Tint at those settings.

As far as just moving those slides to get the same image type, please remember that the appearance of colors change in lighter or darker regions plus how you use Vibrance or Saturation.

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