white balance issues

[nocojoe]

How is DxO Optics Pro Elite any different than photoshop when it comes to white balancing? The sample picture in this thread look like a 30 second job in Adobe Camera Raw.

 

[87vr6]

How is DxO Optics Pro Elite any different than photoshop when it comes to white balancing? The sample picture in this thread look like a 30 second job in Adobe Camera Raw.

I never said it was... The OP was talking about DPP and it's limitations. I use DxO, hence any examples I have to show are from DxO.. They're priced similarily, so use what you want.

 

[Loswr]

How is DxO Optics Pro Elite any different than photoshop when it comes to white balancing?

If you mean adjusting WB directly in Photoshop, there is a significant difference. DxO is performing the adjustment on the RAW file, meaning there's no loss of image quality when you alter the WB. Photoshop is adjusting a converted file, meaning changing the WB degrades IQ. But, if by 'photoshop' you actually mean Adobe Camera RAW, then it's probably no different - you have the same two adjustments, temperature and tint, and ACR is working on the RAW file.

Generically speaking, DxO is analogous to Adobe Camera RAW, not Photoshop. ACR converts RAW files into a format that either Photoshop or Lightroom can use for subsequent editing. DxO is not an image editor, it's a RAW converter. But IMO, it does a better job than ACR at RAW conversions, in part because the DxO corrections are generated from laboratory testing of specific camera+lens combinations. ACR now offers lens-based corrections as well, but they are not as accurate (they are estimates and apparently some are derived from user-submitted profiles). Also, ACR does a fair bit of 'black box' processing based on what Adobe engineers think make images look good, and those changes are automatic, invisible, and can't be turned off. DxO can has presets with the same goal, but you can choose to use them or not.

Personally, I really like DxO. I found that it certainly does a better job than DPP at RAW conversions (comparison HERE).

 

[kubelik]

neuro, in looking at that comparison, I couldn't help but notice that the DxO images all look like they have had significant noise reduction, sharpening, and contrast boost applied to them against the DPP images. is that something that can be turned off?

 

[Loswr]

neuro, in looking at that comparison, I couldn't help but notice that the DxO images all look like they have had significant noise reduction, sharpening, and contrast boost applied to them against the DPP images. is that something that can be turned off?

Certainly. For those, I just used the Default v2 preset and those are the pre-defined adjustments. But there are settings for each of the adjustments, and you can turn them off or adjust them as you like. You can also easily define your own preset, or different ones for different shooting situations, and process images through those. Or go through each image one by one and tweak as you want.

 

[privatebydesign]

but what i mean is:

the camera set ti 2500K was still yellow (warm) under those horrible lights

i know that under those lights i will likely never get a perfect white balance,

what i am asking is, how did the camera set an even colder than 2500K white balance using the custom white balance? and why is this ability not available manually? because if i could i would have set the white balance half way between the coldest i could (2500K) and whatever setting it did using the custom WB, as one was too blue and the other too yellow

In answer to your original question. It is quite possible that the "Auto WB" settings have a wider range than the manual WB options, just like flashes in manual mode can only go down to 1/128 (or 1/64) but in ETTL they can go lower, but I doubt it, just look at the EXIF to see what the camera actually set and I am sure you will see the true difference is probably the tint value.

If you are just using the ºK value in manual WB you are missing the key Tint element to the WB equation. The camera, in auto WB, will assign a temp and tint value, in manual ºK the WB will not have a tint value applied.

As Neuro points out the capabilities of WB adjustments in DxO and PS ACR are the same, but the key to the van shot is RAW, WB corrections do not work on jpegs. If you are shooting in such difficult scenes regularly i would suggest relooking at an efficient RAW workflow, it takes no more time because you have batch and action recording capabilities in ACR/PS, they are much more powerful than in camera jpeg processing.

 

[JPAZ]

I concur with what everyone is saying regarding shooting in RAW then using something like DxO or LR. But every once in a a while, the color balance/temperature just does not seem to be acceptable no matter how hard I try (I am my own worst critic). Just last night I was doing post on a night shot and the streetlight glow gave me unacceptable color. I struggled with that even trying to patch and clone in PS but that lost some of the details that I was trying to capture. Finally, I did what one must sometimes do............gave up on the color altogether.

If I am not happy with the outcome, there are occasions where I just might convert to B&W. Is that sacrilege?

 

[wsheldon]

I concur with what everyone is saying regarding shooting in RAW then using something like DxO or LR. But every once in a a while, the color balance/temperature just does not seem to be acceptable no matter how hard I try (I am my own worst critic). Just last night I was doing post on a night shot and the streetlight glow gave me unacceptable color. I struggled with that even trying to patch and clone in PS but that lost some of the details that I was trying to capture. Finally, I did what one must sometimes do............gave up on the color altogether.

If I am not happy with the outcome, there are occasions where I just might convert to B&W. Is that sacrilege?

I've been there too, usually due to mixed lighting in a theater or street shot. Nothing wrong with going B&W - it's only your photographic vision that matters.