"as shot" white balance from raw files

[willdoak]

I'm using a Nikon D90 and shooting raw. Last night I took photos of a benefit concert unprofessionally lit (well, not lit much at all) by incandescent lights above the stage. I was shooting at 1600 ISO and using the kit lens.

When I imported my raw files into LR4 as DNGs, LR set the "as shot" color balance to 2800 for all shots of the stage. When I switched to using flash, the "as shot" temperatures increased to 5350 to 5600, depending on the subject matter. (I realize that flash light is higher in Kelvin temps. than incandescent lighting.)

a) How does LR arrive at an appropriate white balance?

b) What's the best way to set white balance in all the images to make the white balance look consistent?

Thanks for any advice on this.

Cheers,

Will

 

[willdoak]

Here's what I did. Any suggestions for a better workflow welcomed.

I did a "compare view" in the Library between the stage shots without flash and those with. I manually adjusted the white balance in the flash shot to match the one without flash, then created a preset for that white balance and applied it to all the flash shots. Seemed to work OK.

Cheers,

Will

 

[Denis de Gannes]

AFAIK LR will use the white balance setting set by the camera. I suspect you had your camera WB set to Auto or the setting for the different lighting conditions i.e. Incandescent and Flash.
a.You can try and find a area that should be white (not over exposed) and use the wb dropper to click on it. Make adjustments to one image under the incandescent lighting until you are satisfied with the look and copy the wb setting over to the others under the same lighting. Do the same for the ones taken with the flash. (these may look closer to reality).

I guess if you wish to retain the ambient light mood then the approach you have in your second post should get you there. Its all about what looks best for you.