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Author Topic: Understanding what White Balance does  (Read 1521 times)

fdisilvestro

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    • Frank Disilvestro
Understanding what White Balance does
« on: May 12, 2016, 08:21:40 am »

Hi,

Learnig some video editing applications, I found a tool called "parade", which splits the image into the RGB channels. I thought it that might be useful to show what the white balance controls do, specifically the "Temperature" and "Tint" sliders.

I have created two animated gif files attached to this message.

The first animation shows the effect of the "Temperature" slider. This could be called also red/blue gain, note how the green channel is unnafected.

The next one shows the effect of the "Tint" slider. Again, this could be called green gain.

I wonder if the choice of names "Temperature" and "Tint" are really the best for the application.

smthopr

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    • Bruce Alan Greene Cinematography
Re: Understanding what White Balance does
« Reply #1 on: May 12, 2016, 11:34:12 am »

temperature makes sense as that is exactly what should happen when adjusting for color temperature.

Tint, less so.  "Tint" on a tv or display rotates the hues of the image (around the color wheel) while keeping all neutrals unchanged.  Try "hue" in photoshop. It works like the TV/monitor function.  It is also sometimes called "phase".

In your demo, "Tint" seems to be doing exactly what you say it does.  So it's not a true "Tint"/"hue"/"phase" control.  "Tint" in this case might be better labeled "Green/Magenta".

In any case, individually adjusting the R, G, or B gain controls will accomplish the same effect as Temperature and Tint in your software.  It's whatever control the user prefers for ease of use.
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digitaldog

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Re: Understanding what White Balance does
« Reply #2 on: May 12, 2016, 04:31:55 pm »

"Tint" in this case might be better labeled "Green/Magenta".
That would be more intuitive certainly. Lightroom/ACR use the same terminology (temp/tint) but yes, Tint affects the other axis or "Green/Magenta".
In other products, for example SpectraView, they use x/y for that which again, might not be as intuitive but correct:

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