Is selecting a proper white balance still important when shooting in RAW?

[Tom]

Originally Posted by texpic

I've shot in some gyms that have terrible lights. Nasty lights. They are probably changing 1000 degrees in temp every second. Auto white is a must in these situations ... post processing stinks.

I try to avoid these situations but every now and then have no choice.

I have yet to shoot in any place like that. If it is that bad, why not show early and strobe it?

And outside the occasional shoot like that, why add more work to your work flow by using AWB when in a place that ISNT changing constantly. In the grand scheme of photography, horrible HS and MS gyms are certainly the minority, not the standard.

For everything else, I truly believe it is ineptitude or laziness or a combination of both not to get it right in camera. "I'll just fix it in LR" is about the stupidest thing you can do if you can get it right the first time. I swear, it really isn't hard to get right. I didn't go to a workshop or anything to learn the color of light. I think teaching WB is a ton easier than teaching exposure... but then again, we have so many people that don't really care about getting that right in camera either. Just get it close and fix it in LR.

[hue-e]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

You probably don't take as many pictures as I do every year. Multiply that 2sec by hundreds of thousands and it adds up very quickly.

Lets say I take 200,000 pics a year. 2 secs to change the WB on each pic. That's 400,000 seconds. 6,666:67 minutes. 111 HOURS in a year just changing the WB.

That's 111 hours correcting white balance that could have EASILY been done correctly in camera. 111 hours away from my wife. 111 hours I didn't spend getting better. 111 hours I didn't spend marketing myself.

It may only take 2 seconds, but lots of 2 second changes add up very quickly.

I'm not sure how many pictures I take per year, but it wouldn't surprise me at all if I top 200k. And I have to edit other people's pics on top of my own.

Even if you aren't shooting that many images every year, each 2 seconds will add up, and that is time not spent doing other things to help your business or building relationships. Just because you didn't know how or didn't take the quick time to set your WB manually. That's just crazy to me. It isn't that difficult.

I never said I didn't set my WB... just said that don't always get it exactly right... natural human error.

but damn, if you're shooting that many images, than yeah... you better make every second count dude. it would be a shame to see you waste your entire life correcting WB.