Click white balance... PLEASE

DJPadre wrote on 8/15/2007, 8:25 PM
ok, well, i was doing up some CR2 (thats canon RAW image files) in DPP.. which is a dedicated app for digital processing of stills.
Now the good thing abotu shooting raw is that you can mess with scene files and tweak to yoru hearts content without ruining the orignal.. much like an NLE...

One thing that gets to me though, is that with Preiere, with Edius... they each have a "click white balance" function. Which basically gives u a dropper which u place on the preview and click the are which is "supposed" to be white.
From there, the plugin corrects the entire frame using the shift required without you havin to think about it.

My question is, despite my yers using this program and despite the copiuos amounts of tutorials and threads ive read, getting PROPER white balance after the fact is still a tedious job.
So, the question..

How owuld one attain a clean WB with using only CC or secondary CC? I kn whte auto correction plugin works a treat, the issue however is tht there is no lock feature
So if anyone can help in attaining a clean WB with next to no thinking, that would be greatly appreciated

Comments

randy-stewart wrote on 8/15/2007, 8:59 PM
DJPadre,
You've probably already done this but I do it this way:
1. drop color corrector on event
2. On right wheel, click left eye dropper, then click/drag on white in preview
3. On middle wheel, click left eye dropper, click/drag on flesh or neutral color in preview
4. On left wheel, click left eye dropper, click/drag on black in preview
5, Make sure keyframes are at beginning of event (delete first one, move new one over to left.
If you have good light on event, you can use auto levels for quick fix (an FX)
You can use levels FX before you use CC also.
Hope this hellps.
Randy
Grazie wrote on 8/15/2007, 10:57 PM
Nicely explained Randy.

Might I just add one tip, ensure the sync cursor is set/clicked OFF. I've often caught myself out by this one, and end up with spurious/unwanted changes happening during the Event playing.

Grazie
busterkeaton wrote on 8/15/2007, 11:56 PM
You can often skip the middle wheel once you have black and white set. This is especially true if your image doesn't have fleshtones to select.
Serena wrote on 8/16/2007, 4:18 PM
Maybe selecting flesh tones with the middle wheel works well with Scandinavian skins, but selecting white is a more useful option. White balance affects all tones and colours equally, so one wouldn't expect correction to be going in different directions and magnitudes at low, mid, and high tones. You can correct for white and apply the same to the other wheels.
DGates wrote on 8/16/2007, 5:18 PM
"...1. drop color corrector on event

And that's what Padre is talking about. One click, not some extended workaround.
farss wrote on 8/16/2007, 5:32 PM
That was the first thing I tried in that other program on some DB footage, certainly was a bit of a 'wow' experience. Of course if the crew who shot it had spent more time watching what they were doing than discussing who they did the night before that wouldn't have been necessary.

Bob.
ushere wrote on 8/16/2007, 5:55 PM
oh bob, when will you learn:

a. who did what with whom IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT

b. they can fix EVERYTHING in post

;-P

leslie
DJPadre wrote on 8/16/2007, 7:22 PM
by choosing a skintone (if there is one on the shot) after choosing teh white in the highlights (right wheel) u usually end up with a colder image, in turn, I usually try ot use a central grey (if there is grey in the picture)

as for the single click, thats PRECISELY what im looking for, as once WB is corrected, there shoudl be no need to offset teh balance of any other colour. In turn, it seems either the Vegas CC cant differential between colour tones within a variety of luminance levels or its jstu a purely manual execuation, which isious to say the least.

The biggest issue with this, is that even though one might have the same camera, each cameras luminance intake will be different, so WB shift within the camera cannot be helped. Stage shows and weddings, where youve got long end teles' also affect lumainace, in trun affecting colour saturation and of course shift. So the need to correct the 2 cameras (even though theyre calibrated to each other) is impertiive for clean continuity
GlennChan wrote on 8/16/2007, 8:38 PM
Use the highlights eyedropped (negative sign / complementary) on a highlight that is supposed to be white. Click-drag the eyedropper over an area... this averages out noise.

Then do the midtones on something that is grey (supposed to be grey).

If the highlights look funky, drop on the secondary CC. Limit the range to highlights, and de-saturate. I think it is the knee circuits on cameras that make you have to do this.
Coursedesign wrote on 8/16/2007, 11:13 PM
I think it is the knee circuits on cameras that make you have to do this.

Right, except on Sony's recent broadcast cameras which correct this problem with extra DSP code.