auto white balance

Decided to check out the auto white balance on my K10 today, to see if it got it right or not. Nice sunny day, so took similar shots at : Auto, Daylight, Shade and Cloudy.
Expected Auto and Daylight pics to be same, but NO !! On checking with PhotoME I get this for Daylight shot :

White Balance : Auto (White Fluorescent)

Why so wrong !? Have I upset it somehow ?

Just checked yesterdays shoot of 22 pics. 3 White Fluorescent, rest are Daylight.

Went out yesterday to coast (Cromer) and set camera to Daylight. It was overcast but still bright. On returning, imported photos and BLUE ! very blue !! I know the sea and sky cause a blue tint, but not this much surely ???

If you are really concerned about the white balance shoot something white and then use that to correct your WB at the RAW conversion stage (or in camera at the shooting stage if you are using jpeg).

I have found that auto white balance gives different values when shooting exactly the same scene but using different lenses at the same focal length.

Best wishes, Kris.

It would be good to be able to see at least one of your shots to comment on...
Matt

Tsk what is white? If you're really concerned buy a grey card and use that as your reference point. I did and keep forgetting to use it but in certain circumstances it is very helpful when I do use such as in a marquee.

Mike

Very true Mike but I don't often cart grey cards around with me, e.g. on the cliffs of Cornwall last weekend where the blue of the sky/sea was messing up the white balance and the howling gale would have whipped the cards out of my hands in a flash... For photographing artefacts I use a grey card both for white balance and determining exposure.

K.

You need a solid plastic card like wot I bought, even has a hole for string so it can't blow away

Mike

Here u go Matt

WB set to Daylight. On reflection I think Cloudy would have been better, but even so, should it be this blue !?

Do you shoot RAW? If so you could adjust the WB/temperature at conversion. Personally I always leave it on auto and it usually works out OK or a small adjustment in the conversion from RAW does the trick.

JPEG I have no idea !

Mike

That was shot raw (+jpg) and yes it can be adjusted, but 20+ of these ALL blue is a bit much ! Just surprised the Daylight setting was so wrong on this occasion Trying to be good and setting the WB myself instead of relying upon Auto. Didn't work on this occasion, did it !?

Why bother with WB settings which I think is very hard for us to assess as our eyes will adapt quickly. Stick it on auto and then adjust as and when required.

Now I await Matt to educate me as to why this isn't a good plan

Mike

He should be along shortly !

I use the daylight setting, or cloudy in certain circumstances, because I want to capture the quality of the ambient light.

If I see a wonderful warm sunset I don't want AWB trying to correct it.

That's why I chose Daylight rather than AWB ! Not good this time though

In this case i would see what effect using Photo Filters in CS2 had. An 81 filter would be the logical warming one to use.

On the other hand, this might have been the natural colour of the light, so there are choices to be made.

The final choice if the colour doesn't appeal could be Sepia (or other) toning or black and white.