Transfer grey card White Balance information from one image

[popcorn]

Hi,

I know that I should know how to do this, but unfortunately, it is probably one of the many bits of knowledge that seem to have have escaped with increasing age.

I was taking pictures of a beautiful blue iris in our garden. I want to get the colour  just right.
The light bounces off different coloured structures and is a bit tricky.
I used a grey card in a few of the images to get the white balance correct.
The card all intrude on the subject. I should have set a custom WB in my camera, but didn't.

The card covers about 50% of the iris image.
I would prefer to do it in ACR but elements does not have this ability.
I am using Elements 2018 with Elements+ add-on.

I have opened a levels adjustment layer and adjusted it using the grey colour picker.
In photoshop, there is apparently a drop down menu in the histogram window which includes "Save as preset". 
It can then be used used on other images in the batch.

Elements 2018 does not have this facility.
I have searched the web but have not found any info related to WB processing in Elements. 
I am looking for guidance please.
 

[stinson]

So why doesn't Elements + unlock this for you?

elementsplus.net/help/en/raw-corrections.htm

[Sepiana]

Jan 1, 2022 11:43:03 GMT popcorn said:

I am using Elements 2018 with Elements+ add-on.

Hi popcorn, Happy New Year!

As you mentioned having Elements+, I'm sending a PM to Andrei Doubrovski , the creator of this add-on, bringing this thread to his attention. Hang in there!

[Andrei Doubrovski]

Hi popcorn,
Since you use Elements+, please, try using "Curves" instead of "Levels".
The Curves dialog also has the "grey eyedropper" tool.
And it can save/load presets.

[Andrei Doubrovski]

Regarding the ACR plugin, it has the native White Balance tool.
And you can set WB for multiple images:

[michelb]

Hi Popcorn,

Here is my take on your flower color issue:

- Elements and Elements ACR can do the job easily

- Flowers colors for blue irises are probably outside of the sRGB color space.

- Since you are shooting raw, forget about setting the white balance in the camera and rather trust your grey card.

Just trust the color picker of the enhance > adjust color > remove color cast in the pixel editor called 'white balance (I)' in the ACR dialog and use your neutral grey card as your target.

With raw files in Elements, you choose indirectly the color space from the editor preference, there is no menu for that in the ACR dialog.

So, use the menu Edit > Color settings and choose to optimize for print; when you'll click 'Open' in the ACR dialog, you'll open an aRGB color space which is the widest you can choose in Elements.

In ACR, you can fine tune each iris photo in case there has been a temporary change in lighting (clouds...) or you can select a number of shots taken in the same conditions and use the same white balance tool setting. Instead of saving a preset, you can simply open an already correctly edited file, save it (Done) without change in color. Then you open the file or batch of files to which you want the same white balance. Select the icon to use 'previous settings'. In ACR 13 it's on the top right ... under the red eye tool.

Of course, if you have a calibrating device (spyder...) verify the calibration before your editing session.

[Chris]

Popcorn, if you open your RAW image in ACR that comes with PS Elements you can use the eyedropper to click on any neutral element in the photo. After you have done that, make a note of the temperature and the tint. Theen use these values for all photos taken under the same conditions.

helpx.adobe.com/uk/photoshop-elements/using/processing-camera-raw-image-files.html#:~:text=Open%20and%20process%20camera%20raw,image%20at%20the%20current%20settings.

Kind regards
Chris

[Sepiana]

Jan 1, 2022 15:06:18 GMT Andrei Doubrovski said:

Hi popcorn,
Since you use Elements+, please, try using "Curves" instead of "Levels".
The Curves dialog also has the "grey eyedropper" tool.
And it can save/load presets.

Jan 1, 2022 15:26:37 GMT Andrei Doubrovski said:

Regarding the ACR plugin, it has the native White Balance tool.
And you can set WB for multiple images:

Andrei, thanks for coming to the rescue! I really appreciate your prompt response to my PM bringing this thread to your attention. Kudos to you!

[popcorn]

Hi Sepiana,
Thank you for drawing attention to my problem. I am never comfortable with white Balance.
My latest photograph taken of a Cape Stick Insect on our bathroom vanity stone top includes the hand basin which is white.
It was taken using my Tamron 90mm f=2,8 Macro lens and a LED ring light under 3200 Kelvin downlighters.
In the original Raw image from the camera the white basin is a muddy brown. The best I can do is turn it into a 95 95 95 grey!
White Balance wins again!

Hi Andrei,
I have always used levels so curves is a bit of a mystery to me.
I will have to brush up, can you recommend any tutorials?
I will experiment with the Wb tool in the ACR plugin.
Thanks again for your help.

Hi Stinson,
Probably because I am not so hot at manuals. Thanks for the link

Hi Michel,
Thank you for your help.
You have probably solved another problem I have encountered.
When I print from Elements I always us "Let Elements handle colour"
I then do not have the option to change the colour space. Sometimes Elements selects sRGB and sometimes aRGB.
I want to work in aRGB.
Hopefully now that I have set my preference to "Optimize for printing" it will l always now import in aRGB.

I am a little confused by "Just trust the color picker of the enhance > adjust color > remove color cast in the pixel editor called 'white balance (I)' in the ACR dialog and use your neutral grey card as your target"
If I am using the colour picker from the editor, how do I useit in the ACR dialog?
Elements 2018 comes with ACR 10.1. Every time I check for updates it assures me that I have the latest version. I can't find any don't I don't see any "use previous settings in ACR 10.1.
Can I download ACR 13?

Hi Chris,
There are no "neutral elements" in the close-ups of the Blue Iris! Thanks for the link.

[fotofrank]

The quickest was to correct White Balance.



Add a Levels adjustment layer
Alt/Option click on Auto
Record your current setting
When the next menu appears select Find Dark and Light Colors, Snap Neutral Midtones, Save as default then click ok

Now click on Auto and it will automatically fix your white balance.

If you recorded the original setting, you can always reset them to the original.

[Andrei Doubrovski]

Jan 4, 2022 21:59:26 GMT popcorn said:

I have always used levels so curves is a bit of a mystery to me.
I will have to brush up, can you recommend any tutorials?

Hi popcorn,
Please watch this video explaining the Curves:
youtu.be/D2lY2V22N7E

[popcorn]

Hi All,

Hopefully you are still interested.

I did a test to see how consistent the various methods of Adjust WB are.

I took an image of a grey card in our garden.

In ACR
as shot 5050 +4
Colour adjusted with grey card and eyedropper 6200 -2
Auto corrected in ACR 5000 +5

I opened the image as shot in the editor and saved the psd ( Top left )
I opened the grey card corrected image and saved the psd (Top Right )
I opened the as shot image in the Editor and adjusted it with the grey card in Elements+ and saved the psd. ( Bottom Left )
I opened the as shot image in the Editor and adjusted using The ALT AUTO in levels method (0.1% 0.1% ) (Bottom Right )

I compared all four images in FastStone and took a screen image. See attached.
Result four very different adjustments.

To me it seems that the simplest method is that suggested by Chris above, do the correction with the eye dropper tool in ACR.
Then note the readings and apply to the other images taken under the same light conditions.
It seems to give an adjustment which will give an acceptable result.

I think the best average is that given by the adjustment in Elements+ Curves.
I will be using this.

ALT AUTO-in Levels seems to be the the biggest deviation.

I am no expert and there is most probably some basic error in my test procedure or in my conclusions.

Out of interest I opened the "corrected" psd image in ACR to see what the actual Temp and Tint readings were
It gave me readings of 0 and 0, not much help!!

[Sepiana]

Jan 4, 2022 21:59:26 GMT popcorn said:

Elements 2018 comes with ACR 10.1. Every time I check for updates it assures me that I have the latest version. I can't find any don't I don't see any "use previous settings in ACR 10.1.
Can I download ACR 13?

Hi popcorn,

I also have PSE 2018. When I go to Help>About Plug-In>Camera Raw, it shows ACR 10.3. According to Adobe, this is the latest ACR update compatible with PSE 2018.

Camera Raw-compatible Adobe applications

I'm afraid you cannot install a more recent ACR update in your version of Elements. In theory, you can but it won't work. When you open the Raw Converter, you will get an error message that the installed ACR update is not compatible with your version of Elements.

[popcorn]

Thanks Sepiana,

Pity, but I guess Adobe want you to update the elements version.

[popcorn]

Hi Sepiana,

When I try Help>About Plug-In>Camera Raw it closes the Editor!!!
I tried it with an active file in the Editor and with no file in the Editor.
Same result both times?

In one of the replies above Michel suggested that I use "Edit > Color settings and choose to optimize for print", I have done this and all my images saved since then have been in aRBG which is what I want for printing.
This was my previous setting but somehow it got changed to "Optimize for Screen" so all images saved during this setting are in sRGB.
I am now printing some of these and would like to do so in aRGB but I can find no way of converting them from sRGB.
Is this possible, or am I now limited to sRGB for these images.