What WB to use for the golden hours (sunrise and sunset)?

[mackguyver]

gbchriste, I don't want to wade into the argument but agree that each person should work however they want to work.

I have used the exact same technique as you and got bizarre readings at the edge of the light - things like 11,000k as I said in my prior post. Thinking back (it's been many years) I probably underexposed the reference shots, possibly skewing the results.

One other thought not discussed here is that nature shooters rarely have any reliable white balance references to use in post. You can't click on a door frame, wall, sign, etc. when your photos are of trees, water, or wildlife

Since upgrading to a wide gamut monitor, I've noticed that I am noticing white balance more and more in my shots and frequently shoot my EZBalance or ColorChecker Passport for later reference in post (not for calibration in camera). The Passport is handy because it's smaller and has 3 levels of Warm and 3 levels of Cool patches you can click on as well if you're not happy with the neutral gray.

 

[Bruce Photography]

My personal approach is to shoot raw with auto-wb and worry about the wb later

+1

+1 to the +1

 

[tolusina]

.... I have a moderate color vision deficiency .....
....... my perfect-color-vision wife......

Don't run yourself down about it, some degree of color blindness is more common among human males that females.
See.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness

If you test, you may find you have better night vision than your wife,

 

[gbchriste]

gbchriste, I don't want to wade into the argument but agree that each person should work however they want to work.

I have used the exact same technique as you and got bizarre readings at the edge of the light - things like 11,000k as I said in my prior post. Thinking back (it's been many years) I probably underexposed the reference shots, possibly skewing the results.

One other thought not discussed here is that nature shooters rarely have any reliable white balance references to use in post. You can't click on a door frame, wall, sign, etc. when your photos are of trees, water, or wildlife

Since upgrading to a wide gamut monitor, I've noticed that I am noticing white balance more and more in my shots and frequently shoot my EZBalance or ColorChecker Passport for later reference in post (not for calibration in camera). The Passport is handy because it's smaller and has 3 levels of Warm and 3 levels of Cool patches you can click on as well if you're not happy with the neutral gray.

I agree that the method I describe isn't practical for every situation. I've started doing more nature/scenic work lately and I don't bother with the WB reference card in those situations for exactly the reason you mention. In those cases I do use one of the camera presets and then adjust in PP.

But the difference that is most pertinent is most of my work is natural light portraits. In those cases, there is a certain expectation as to the range of acceptable colors that the skin tones can fall in to. Any thing too cool or too warm in the skin tones and it ruins the shot. So in using the EZBalance, I have the subject hold it right up to their face when I take my in-camera adjustment. That assures me I have the best possible capture of neutral skin tones, and then I can make the small adjustments I want from there.

In the case of a purely scenic/landscape shot, the range of colors that can be ascribed to the elements in the scene have a lot more flexibility. I can take a sky or mountain range from very cool to very warm, and every where in between and still render a scene that appears within the range of acceptable colors for human perception. But if I do that with a human face and turn them in to a Smurf or Ommpa Loompa, the image just doesn't work.

 

[gbchriste]

.... I have a moderate color vision deficiency .....
....... my perfect-color-vision wife......

Don't run yourself down about it, some degree of color blindness is more common among human males that females.
See.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color_blindness

If you test, you may find you have better night vision than your wife,

No self run down involved. I'm 56 so I've worked around this all my life. It's a running joke between me and her.