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JCBrookins
JCBrookins
Participant
July 29, 2020
Question

Changing white balance causes different results on nearly identical images

  • July 29, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 334 views

I shoot long exposure time lapses of the night sky, never encountered this problem before.  Shot with a Canon 6D all settings in manual, including white balance.

 

After importing a batch of RAW images I adjusted the color temp from 3000 to 4500 and synched to apply the change to all photos.  Most of the images look correct, however random images throughout the batch have a totally different color to the sky, almost turquoise instead of blue.

 

Can't wrap my head around what is happening... the images are essentially identical in every way.  Why am I getting such different results?

 

thanks in advance for any help.

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1 reply

TheDigitalDog
TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
July 29, 2020

Be useful to have access to download one of each to examine. 

Author “Color Management for Photographers" & "Photoshop CC Color Management/pluralsight"
JCBrookins
JCBrookinsAuthor
Participant
July 29, 2020

Sure thing:

 

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/mwi1zr31t1n3twr/AAAN0wEd1U_ynS6Yteaweo2ya?dl=0

 

After playing around a bit I noticed the color differences really become apperent when I raise the exposure, drop the blacks, and apply a little dehaze.  But if I don't change the color temp, I can change all other perameters without getting the unusual color differences.  Also realized these were shot on a Canon M6, not a 6D, if that matters.

 

thanks again!

TheDigitalDog
TheDigitalDog
Inspiring
July 29, 2020

Tough image to WB due to the lack of anything that's not very light but not a specular highlight. But I did zoom in to 11:1 (massive enlargement) and tried WB on one of the stars for each. I got the same results. 

Try picking exactly the same spot, with a big zoom ratio otherwise the WB tool may be sampling differing areas and producing differing results. Anyway:

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