Home

Please support mflenses.com if you need any graphic related work order it from us, click on above banner to order!
SearchSearch MemberlistMemberlist RegisterRegister ProfileProfile Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages Log inLog in

The "right" white balance
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Techniques
View previous topic :: View next topic  


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 3:49 pm    Post subject: The "right" white balance Reply with quote
Yesterday I saw this advertisement by the government, and I found it quite disturbing (even frightening), so I decided to photograph it.
This is the original version from the camera (M9), that did obviously a bad AWB work:



I then adjusted the white balance in Lightroom, but the picture with WB correct seems to have lost some of the "disturbing quality" in favor of a sweetness that does not really belong to the subject:



What do you think?
I think that the unbalanced version looks worse, but works better.

-


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:18 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Fully agree with your assessment.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Intersting ...

I shoot with awb, then i have the same problem you show in this rather scary image. Then adjusting tonality in photoscape and it's done most of times.

I noticed that the better wb is done in interior shots, like churches, though you still have to process afterwards, which is meh.

5D power nonetheless Cool


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
How about these small credit card-sized cards for setting WB if you want to be accurate.


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:43 pm    Post subject: Re: The "right" white balance Reply with quote
Orio wrote:
What do you think?
I think that the unbalanced version looks worse, but works better.

Yes. I think the reason why the first one works better are the blue eyes and partially the cold skin tone. It causes that the woman looks not only like an alien, but like an undead zombie alien... Very Happy


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 8:33 pm    Post subject: Re: The "right" white balance Reply with quote
no-X wrote:
Orio wrote:
What do you think?
I think that the unbalanced version looks worse, but works better.

Yes. I think the reason why the first one works better are the blue eyes and partially the cold skin tone. It causes that the woman looks not only like an alien, but like an undead zombie alien... Very Happy


I agree, the cold tones are working much better for the disturbing impression. The color corrected image is too warm, sunny, friendly Smile


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
Orio, is that greenish tonality of Leica M9 naturally coming out of these pictures ? or is it only WB balance which needs to be adjusted in LightRoom..

You pointed it out in your previous posts in oversized gallery..

I am just curious .. thanks

tf


PostPosted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 11:54 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
trifox wrote:
Orio, is that greenish tonality of Leica M9 naturally coming out of these pictures ? or is it only WB balance which needs to be adjusted in LightRoom..
You pointed it out in your previous posts in oversized gallery..
I am just curious .. thanks
tf


The M9 has a bad AWB - plus, the greens and yellows are overly bright, at least to my eyes. But that is a different problem.
For the first problem, I hope that a firmware update might help, but I'm skeptical.
For the second problem, the culprit is the lack of a proper image profile for M9 images. Leica does not have proprietary RAW software. With M8 the bundled software was Capture One. It should also have been so for M9, but with a last minute change, they switched over to Lightroom. But currently in Lightroom there is no Leica M9 profile. A third party profile was posted somewhere, I got it, but it does not really fix the problem, it only makes the green bluer - but the problem was not the hue of green, is the luminance and (partially) the saturation.
Since the green is complementary of red, and since M9 features a new anti-infrared filter, differently from M8 which forced users to apply a filter to the rear of the lenses, my guess (totally wild) is that this green luminance excess is due to the new anti IR filter not being 100% perfect.
It is nothing that is not fixable in software, yet, it is a bit annoying problem in such an expensive camera. Much better, however, than having to deal with infrared rear glass filters any time you change a lens on the M8...


PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2010 8:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote
wow .. but wow with worries..

such a expensive unit should not have issues you mentioned above..

If you compare developing process, do you think that using EOS system is more versatile or free of any issues like Leica M9 has?

tf

Last edited by trifox on Sat May 01, 2010 2:26 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2010 1:48 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
I think the spooky part is emphasized by the fact the the white areas of the eyeball are rather blueish. This is disturbing to us.

Last edited by LucisPictor on Sat May 01, 2010 3:42 pm; edited 1 time in total


PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2010 2:02 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
LucisPictor wrote:
I think the spooks part is emphasized by the fact the the white areas of the eyeball are rather blueish. This is disturbing to us.

That was exactly my thought too Carsten. I wonder what it would look like if you masked out the eyes and leave them as they are when changing the WB.


PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2010 3:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
trifox wrote:
wow .. but wow with worries..
such a expensive unit should not have issues you mentioned above..
If you compare developing process, do you think that using EOS system is more versatile or free of any issues like Leica M9 has?
tf


They are not really comparable.

Firstly because they are different types of instruments, with different purposes.

Secondly, Canon EOS of the 5 series are consumer cameras. They offer excellent image quality, but they are not build to last. Unless one uses them sparingly, they are supposed to be replaced every 5-6 years. Also, they are industrial cameras, for most parts assembled mechanically with cheap materials.

Leica Ms are still craftsman camera. They still are assembled manually. The electronic parts like the sensor, are outsourced. The mechanical parts are, like with all Leica cameras, supposed to last a lifetime. It's enough to hold a M9 in the hands to understand it's solidity compared to a Canon 5 series EOS.

You also have to consider that this is the very first digital full frame rangefinder camera ever produced. Some infancy problems have to be expected.
But the problems are nothing that proper software can not handle. Until a good M9 profile will be available for Lightroom, some manual editing on the DNG files is needed. A bit more than with Canon RAWs, but in any case, I do always fine tune all my Canon images in Lightroom, even if just to adjust a 1/3rd stop exposure. So my work routine with the images does not change that much.
If I'll find the time, and if Leica does not come up with a profile before, I might even dig in Lightroom's help to learn and make my own M9 profile. I know it's possible.


PostPosted: Sat May 01, 2010 3:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote
that's good...

I think that pictures from Leica look differently from SLR world ..

I mean the quality of images there have different character - let's say 'better' .. or they have some extra value - unlikely get it from SLR pics.

It would be nice to see some Biogon 21 on your M9! It must be 'wow' result Smile

I believe in solid and superb quality of Leica body although no unit has come into my hands Smile

tf
Post new topic   Reply to topic
Home   Techniques
Page 1 of 1