topic Re: White Balance Help in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 5D Mark III Bad white balance when sun is low

mish757 — Sat, 05 Jul 2025 18:33:07 GMT

Late summer sports photography has proved to be a challange for me. When the sun is high enough in the sky, I'm ok. When the sun is down and the lights are on, I'm ok. My problem is when the sun is low - my photos pick up a noticable orange tint to them. I shoot strictly in JPEG. I have tried playing with the White Balance, but can't find a setting that looks right. Any suggestions would be appreciated. For post-processing I use Lightroom or Picasa. Thanks.

Re: White Balance Help

mish757 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 13:10:14 GMT

I should add - Canon 5D mk III. First pic, full sun - second pic, under the lights, last pic - low sun.

Re: White Balance Help

ScottyP — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 13:28:17 GMT

I actually like the natural warn golden hour sunlight. People try to fake that even.

If you want to kill it though, I'd just take the little white balance sample tool and take a WB off of one of those white helmets and/or a clean pair of those white pants that are in the sunlight. That should cool it out in a natural looking way.

Re: White Balance Help

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 13:43:20 GMT

When the sun is low at sunrise and sunset photographers call it the "golden hour" - you can see why.

If you are usimg Lightroom you can click the eyedropper tool on something that should be neutral or white (as long as it isn't a blown out white).

Then you can tweak the Temp and Tint sliders if necessary.

If you have Lightroom is there a reason you are shooting JPEG? Typically JPEG is used for folks who want quick images out of camera that can be shared without processing. LUsing LR to create a JPEG is very easy and you have much greater capability to correct items like white balance.

Re: White Balance Help

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 13:42:04 GMT

Turns out choosing the black uniform parts didn't work that well. Selecting the building door as a neutral surrogate seems to cool it down a little.

Re: White Balance Help

mish757 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 14:20:18 GMT

Thanks for the quick replies! So the gist of what I'm hearing is that it is only correctable in post-processing. I will play with lightroom to tweak those images. I appreciate the tips.

As to the question of why I shoot in JPEG - it's because I'm basically lazy. I'm still pretty much an amateur and haven't played with the RAW capabilites much, so I don't have the comfort level. Plus, I shoot many sports for the local high school and the sheer volume of photos becomes a daunting task when it comes to editing. I try to keep my post-processing needs to the lowest level I can. Plus, how perfect does the photo have to be if it's just gonna be on Instagram?

Re: White Balance Help

jrhoffman75 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 14:33:23 GMT

One thing you could try with a little bit of effort is go into your camera manual and create a Custom White Balance for "Sunset" shooting.

Then, when you are in those conditions choose that WB in camera.

Re: White Balance Help

mish757 — Sat, 12 Aug 2017 14:40:39 GMT

Awesome suggestion, Mr. Hoffman. I will play with that today.