I am seeking advice regarding a white balance issue that has me perplexed.
I struggle to perceive colour casts so have historically followed the age old system of incorporating a white balance card in a sample image, then picking the WB from that.
This was however producing unsatisfactory results, so I invested in a Calibrite (formerly X-Rite) passport and commenced using color calibration in preference to white balance. However, this change seems to have made little difference, and it appears to me that Calibrite based skin tones have a pronounced red cast.
I attach the Calibrite RAW and a RAW of my grandson, who obligingly placed himself in the same position immediately afterwards. I also include (otherwise identical) JPGs, based upon CC’s WB assessment (35.6 hue, 13.1% chroma), and my modified version of this (24.6 hue, 29.7% chroma). My own assessment is potentially far from perfect, but the Calibrite version seems way off.
I also include a darktable screen grab from when I calibrated CC with the Calibrite.
We are in northern Britain, where Caucasian skin is pretty white at this time of year. CC’s area mapping is set at the defaults of 50/0/0. My camera is a Sony A7Riii, which may be an issue.
It is perfectly possible that I am doing something fundamentally wrong, or my eyes are even wonkier than I imagine, but all thoughts and opinions will be most welcome.
Calibrite calibration
DSD01166.ARW (82.0 MB)
DSD01166.ARW.xmp (10.8 KB)
Headshot
DSD01171.ARW (81.7 MB)
DSD01171.ARW.xmp (14.7 KB)
DSD01171_01.ARW.xmp (15.2 KB)
White balance of the above is calibrated from a Calibrite (X-Rite) passport via color balance.
White balance of the above is my eyeballed modification of the CC/Calibrite assessment.
Edit: These files are licensed Creative Commons, By-Attribution, Share-Alike