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 (SEL2470GM) .

[davidmclain · Accepted solution]

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. This video shows you how.

Good luck,

David

[TomWindeknecht]

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

-Tom

[monicasigmon]

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

[TomWindeknecht]

Thank you, Monica! 🙂