Testing and editing white balance.
Let me start by saying I shoot strictly in RAW format. Shooting photos with AWB (Auto White Balance) can give a color temperature that I’m not satisfied with.
When shooting in RAW format, one has much more flexibility in choosing White Balance later, utilizing the Eye Drop tool for a custom WB. To those that don’t understand the differences between JPG and RAW, I always relate them to CD format or MP3 format. A CD format has all the information when the album was produced. The MP3 format is compressed to reduce file size. MP3s have most of the digital information, but a fine ear will hear the differences. JPEG files are compressed and like MP3s, will degrade if edited.
During sunrise or sunset hours, I have found that using “Shade” White Balance gives a much softer tone than with shooting AWB. I have included a few examples of my experience shooting the Vishnu Statue at Angkor Wat. This simple change saves me loads of time editing photos, (something that I really don’t like doing). As stated before, you can always customize the WB later in Lightroom if you are shooting in RAW format.
Using Auto WB vs Shade settings.
For more information on editing photos in Lightroom, or if you are interested in discovering the wonderful Kingdom of Cambodia, please contact me for further details.