Hello all,
In my Nikon cameras I have a choice to work with white balance in one of three ways. Various auto options, set the white balance based on the current shooting conditions, i.e. cloudy, etc., or manually set the temperature in degrees kelvin. Nowhere to my knowledge does the camera record a Tint value (green/magenta spectrum), at least that is visible to the user. However, when a photo is imported into Lightroom Classic an "As Shot" Tint value is rendered.
While I shoot raw and can adjust the Tint value to my aesthetic choice, I would like the ability to understand how Tint is established in Lightroom Classic. Is my Nikon camera capturing a Tint value in some sort of automatic way? Is Tint not a value in camera, but something Adobe assigns to a photo?
There are times in the field, especially for landscape work, where I like to view the scene and then manually adjust white balance to accurately render color to what I see in the moment. Since Tint has a huge impact, this can mess the process up. Inevitably, when I'm back on my computer I can't really remember the color I saw in the field.
Your thoughts are appreciated.
Tom
As I understand it and if you are shooting raw, then what your white balance is set to in camera is just the default view in Light Room.
With the assumption above, I too try to get the WB pretty close in camera to help me understood what I was seeing when the photo was taken. Granted I may ditch that view and go in another way - it is nice to know what I saw originally.
From there you can do whatever you want with the raw image regardless of the WB setting in camera.
I could be wrong and if so I really hope someone corrects my statement above as I too worry about the tint setting with a lot of the landsapes and woodland sceens I take.
First, to put it simply - but I bet you know that -, WB and/or colour profiles have strictly no effect on raw image data content.
Choosing in camera color render is just setting some numbers in the EXIFs data which are included in the container file (NEF files for Nikon raws) and, depending on manufacturer and settings, embedding a preview and/or thumbnail in the file with this choosen render. RAW image data is untouched.
Starting at that point, the "reaction" of raw processing software can vary, from manufacturer to manufacturer, and even from camera to camera.
Most raw processing softwares try at least to match and use the WB information from the EXIFs for the initial render (unless some settings change that).
What is certain is that only Nikon raw processing software can render your image to the nearest "look" you've chosen and set in camera. Other softwares are only adjusting Nikon's Exifs information with the way they show and graduate colors, also probably having some specifications from Nikon (or any manufacturer that is kind enough to give them those information :D).
So, I'd say, your best bet to get close on computer to the colors you see in the field might be to set your WB in camera to your liking (or nearest to it) as your reference setting and, if you want to ensure precisely what tint you've set there, open your file with Nikon NX Studio and make your software's render match the render the nearest way if it does not already work well in your raw processing software.
Still, they're should be some color shift and differences between your camera's screen's render and your computer's screen's, especially knowing cameras screens can't be calibrated precisely. Though, Nikon's in camera colors are usually not bad.
I can't tell about other raw processing softwares, I don't use them anymore, but most of the time, for instance, Capture One is really near what Nikon's settings intend and a good starting point for further adjustements.
Though, if you look at numbers, the way each software presents them may just mislead ;) .
From Nikon NX Studio :
From Capture One (as you can see, graduation and numbers are different, I guess it could be the same in your software... or not, who knows ?) :
....
To tell the truth, I've simply given up the will to match what I see in the field, exactly for those reasons :
- my thinking/liking may vary from when I'm in the field to when I'm processing the file
- I may see colors in the scene that are not present in OOC renders and/or visible on camera/computer's screen, whatever the settings
- most of the time, raw files give me enough lattitude to make something to my taste without the need of a precise initial reference
- a photograph is not the real scene and will always and only be an interpretation of it
So the only way for me is taking the time to do the work the way I like it and, most important, having a well calibrated screen to work on.
At least, that's what I think.
... but someone may have a better way of fixing all this.
To add one additional point to the items mentioned above - on Nikon cameras, when you are in the white balance menu, each of the WB presets allows you to click to the right to fine-tune that preset, and allows you to adjust both the temperature AND tint axis. If shooting in RAW, this is oftentimes not needed, but it is there and comes in handy for certain things.