Which shot looks better? (White Balancing Act)

Ferret Lady

Ferret Lady

Well-known member
Ok, we did some filming a few weeks ago and I'm just looking at the footage now. I remember that 15 minutes into filming, my camera guy realized he had forgotten to white balance. The thing is, I think the footage looks way better BEFORE he white balanced! after he made the change, it looks dark and yellowy to me.

What do you guys think?

BEFORE WHITE BALANCE

before.png


AFTER WHITE BALANCE

after.png
 
also, the client is picking up the tape of the raw footage today to see how it looks and what else we need to get filmed.. any advice on how to explain the difference between the first 15 minutes of the tape and the last 30 minutes?
 
What did he white balance to? Looks way too warm in the second one. I kinda like the slightly cool tones of the first one anyways. Maybe he went from Tungsten preset to Daylight preset? Would make sense if those flos in the ceiling are 4000k or thereabouts...
 
Tell him your cameraman changed settings and he's being beaten for it but its nothing that cant be fixed in post (for free of course). Then start trying to match the two :)
 
i loved the footage in the first 15 minutes..

but i guess i'll see what the client thinks. just wanted to know if i'm missing something here, you know? to my eyes, the second shot looks like crap.
 
thanks for your input Jeff.

So, is it safe to say then, that one should not white balance just for the SAKE of white balancing? We should always go with what looks best to our eyes, right?
 
Neither looks truly balanced at all, as far as that goes. I've white balanced and regretted it before, so what I usually try to do is find what looks good for the set-up or location and leave it there, regardless of whether it's balanced or not. But yeah, first shot looks better.
 
herminiocordido said:
Good!, now that you are happy that people agrees with you, use that energy and go out and reshoot.
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well, i dont WANNA re shoot! heh.

i gave the client the tape tonight, and warned them of the difference they'd see about 15 minutes into it. but i also assured them that this was easily fixed in post.

i messed around with it very briefly in fcp with the colour corrector, and just pushing the yellows to blue makes a huge difference and a pretty close match to the first clip, altho not perfect. I'm not yet at the editing phase of the project but I think it will be okay. but if the client is worried, then i'll re-shoot for free. however it was an event of sorts so we cant really recreate it exaclty.. but whatever, it'll be fine.. gotta think positive!!!

I really just want to get this sorted out to avoid future problems... I'm gonna have my camera guy come over and do some testing and comparison shots with the camera.. cuz i know he LIKES the warm look and i think we disagree on what looks good so we need to sort that out...

thanks everybody, again, your input is awesome and i really appreciate it!
 
Justin Kuhn said:
Neither looks truly balanced at all, as far as that goes. I've white balanced and regretted it before, so what I usually try to do is find what looks good for the set-up or location and leave it there, regardless of whether it's balanced or not. But yeah, first shot looks better.
Click to expand...

thank you. very good feedback.

i need to learn more about white balancing.. i'm more of the producer / editor, but i'm always trying to learn the ins and outs of camera work cuz it makes me better at my job. there's just something about white balancing that has always left me.. uninterested? heh. its like that subject in high school that just bores you to death and you fall asleep in class. but obviously, it's the one i'm gonna regret not paying attention to afterwards...

*off to google video tutorials on white balance*
 
to be honest, the second one looks more like a movie scene or something. Depends what its for and what kind of situation it is.
 
its a promo dvd for a clothing line/store, that will be combined with footage from a concert they sponsored and a fashion show.

even it was a movie scene tho, i would think it's better to have it look like the first shot and then use some filters and color grading to achieve whatever mood i wanna set ....
 
White balance is for help you keep a constant look.
that said, in a normal environment not only every light source is influenciating the "reading" but also every body where the light bounces of.
some Tips to make a "correct" white balancing:
-Look at your light sources, if they are the same color temp you can make the reading anywhere where the light hits the white.
-If they are different, there will be a "sweat spot" (place on the set) where the combination of the light hitting the white will give you the color rendition you are looking for.
At the end is as you said "you white balance for the look on the moment" but learning how to white balance will help mantain a constant look.
Hope it helps.

www.herminiocordido.com
Vancouver
 
slightly more balanced

balancedlz8.jpg


original

before.png


as previously stated, the biggest issue here is the lighting, or lack of. This image is very 2 dimensional without much depth.
 
Neither shot was properly white balanced. I don't think your cameraman knows the correct way to do it. Looks like he just switched from daylight preset to tungsten preset. I think both look OK, just two different looks. I like things warm myself, but the warm one is a bit dark.

Always best to have accurate white balance for consistency, and then go from there in post.
 
Papa - Looks great! i would guess you just lowered the blacks a little and raised the whites or something? regardless, you chose the first clip to edit which tells me a lot.

My camera guy definitely likes the 'warm' look. He likes it so much in fact, that when I showed him the two shots, he told me that the SECOND one was better. He says that in the second one, altho it appears a little darker, it is actually 'correct' as far as white balancing goes, and that's the way you're supposed to do it. I am tempted to show him this thread.

He went to film school tho, and I did not. So basically what I've said is that if that's the way he likes it for his own projects, that's cool, but for mine, I prefer the way it looks in the first shot.
 
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