Auto White Balance (AWB) Changing in Same Scene

[TomWindeknecht]

This may sound like a silly question, but if I am shooting Auto White Balance (AWB) in a room where all the lighting is the same, shouldn't the white balance remain consistent? 

I was shooting an indoor event over the weekend. For some reason, in a couple of areas, my pictures came out really warm. I couldn't figure out what was causing the drastic color change. As far as I could tell, there were no colorful objects that could've messed with the temperature.

I was shooting with my #Alpha 7 III (a7III) and a #FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM .

[davidmclain]

Hi Tom, this is definitely not a silly question. It happens in certain circumstances. The color temperature of light changes more than you would think as you move around. There are lots of reasons for this. You could be near a window or other light sources that have a different color temp than the primary source. Even a room you think is completely consistent could have newer lightbulbs in one area that would cause a color shift. Here are three ways to solve for it.

1. Just fix it in Lightroom or photoshop after the fact. 

2. Pick a preset color temp in your white balance setting before the shoot. You can choose one (indoor fluorescent, indoor incandescent, etc), take a picture, see which looks the best, and go with that one for the entire shoot.

3. Create a custom white balance before the shoot and use that setting.

video shows you how.

Good luck,

David

[monicasigmon]

No question is ever silly! And what David said is absolutely correct!

[tonygale]

Hi Tom, as David said, not a silly question! To add to David's comments, because camera is assigning the white balance based on what is in the frame, it can change when what is in the frame changes, even though the light itself has been consistent. As David said, if you capture in RAW you can correct later and give everything the same white balance. If you are in jpg or capturing video, a custom white balance is the way to go

[CarolineJensen]

Auto white balance used to make me cry when I edited. 😂 It used to be so random.  The new AI sensor in the A7R5 is going to change that though! 

[MattK]

Hi Tom. Looks like you got some great answers already so I won't just repeat. But years ago when I was first learning photography, I had similar questions about what my eyes see and what the camera sees. When some one shared that our eyes don't work at all like the camera. So while we move from dark rooms to bright rooms, our eyes adapt (good computers in a camera tries to adapt as well). Same goes for white balance. While our eyes adapt and automatically adjust for varying white balances, our cameras do not do as good a job. Especially when there are multiple colors happening in a room. Our eyes will figure it out and we may not even see a difference - as you found out, your camera does. Good luck!

[LensBrew]

I cannot add anymore to what already have been said. I can tell you the scientific reason behind it, but it's too long and might be too boring to many. But the gist is: if one pixel reads a different color, the AI calculation for WB changes. You have at least 24 million pixels, and they all contribute to the final result (not equally, but still have an impact).

I'll throw in another

, by Glyn Dewis, that is up-to-date for efficient WB "and colors" workflow.

[TomWindeknecht]

Hi Tom, this is definitely not a silly question. It happens in certain circumstances. The color temperature of light changes more than you would think as you move around. There are lots of reasons for this. You could be near a window or other light sources that have a different color temp than the primary source. Even a room you think is completely consistent could have newer lightbulbs in one area that would cause a color shift. Here are three ways to solve for it.

1. Just fix it in Lightroom or photoshop after the fact. 

2. Pick a preset color temp in your white balance setting before the shoot. You can choose one (indoor fluorescent, indoor incandescent, etc), take a picture, see which looks the best, and go with that one for the entire shoot.

3. Create a custom white balance before the shoot and use that setting.

video shows you how.

Good luck,

David

Hi David, thank you for this informative and helpful answer! I am definitely going to experiment with this more.

-Tom

[TomWindeknecht]

Hi Tom, as David said, not a silly question! To add to David's comments, because camera is assigning the white balance based on what is in the frame, it can change when what is in the frame changes, even though the light itself has been consistent. As David said, if you capture in RAW you can correct later and give everything the same white balance. If you are in jpg or capturing video, a custom white balance is the way to go

Thank you, Tony. That makes more sense now. Good advice!

[TomWindeknecht]

Auto white balance used to make me cry when I edited. 😂 It used to be so random.  The new AI sensor in the A7R5 is going to change that though! 

Haha, I definitely can relate to the randomness now. Interesting about the A7R5...I can't wait to try it!

[TomWindeknecht]

No question is ever silly! And what David said is absolutely correct!

Thank you, Monica! 🙂

[TomWindeknecht]

Hi Tom. Looks like you got some great answers already so I won't just repeat. But years ago when I was first learning photography, I had similar questions about what my eyes see and what the camera sees. When some one shared that our eyes don't work at all like the camera. So while we move from dark rooms to bright rooms, our eyes adapt (good computers in a camera tries to adapt as well). Same goes for white balance. While our eyes adapt and automatically adjust for varying white balances, our cameras do not do as good a job. Especially when there are multiple colors happening in a room. Our eyes will figure it out and we may not even see a difference - as you found out, your camera does. Good luck!

Thank you, Matt! That's a good explanation and makes sense. By the way, I follow your channel on YouTube. Great work! 🙂

[TomWindeknecht]

I cannot add anymore to what already have been said. I can tell you the scientific reason behind it, but it's too long and might be too boring to many. But the gist is: if one pixel reads a different color, the AI calculation for WB changes. You have at least 24 million pixels, and they all contribute to the final result (not equally, but still have an impact).

I'll throw in another

, by Glyn Dewis, that is up-to-date for efficient WB "and colors" workflow.

Good explanation and it makes my understanding clearer now. Thank you!

[DonSmith]

Tom - gas in florescent pulses - so it can change but I agree with David - shoot in RAW and batch set the color temp in post.