outdoor multicam white balance advice (early evening)

F

firehawk

Veteran
I wanted to see what some of you veterans suggested in this scenario:
Outdoor wedding late afternoon as the sun is starting to set and thus the color temperature is changing a lot during the event.
The trick is that one camera is on a stationary tall stand locked down because I use it for a safety wide shot but also for a sort of time lapse effect. So once it's atop the stand I cannot move it nor perform a manual white balance because it will ruin my time lapse effect.

The other cameras can be manually WB just before the event, but not the stand camera.
So last time I set the stand camera to preset 5600K and manually WB the other which ended up causing them not to match (as expected). I figured I'd adjust the stand cam in post to match the manual WB on the other cam. After syncing up the footage I wish I'd just set everything to 5600 preset like I often do, but knowing the sun would be changing didn't this time.
What do you guys recommend?
 
Either white balance all of them often as the sun sets, or lock white balance in and correct in post. One correction can be used for all the cameras, usually.
 
Pick a preset and stick with it and use the same correction in the edit. Unless all cameras can fill the frame with the same card in one position there's no point, because at this time of day, cards even a few feet apart may well be a different colour due to reflections and the low angle, and even cloud movement.
 
Oh lord... don't get me started on cloud movement.
I'm elbows deep in post right now on a project that "features" lots of shots that have changing light due to cloud movement.
I honestly got nothin'... Do what Paul has said and pick a preset and stick to it.
The only other option is to stop and re-balance as often as possible - but that's a method that is going to cause just as many problems as it solves.
Sticking with one preset at least gives you a uniform reference point between the cameras and over the course of the shoot.
 
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