How do I use the white balance picker?

[KipV]

In the help files it talks about this feature saying that you can click on the photo to modify the adjustment but nothing is working for me. All the adjustments I have been doing thus far has been with the level sliders in order to color correct.

[MEB]

Hi KipV,

You have to click the Picker button on the bottom left of the White Balance adjustment dialog. Then click (or drag) on the photo to set the white point for the image.

[WeiPhotoArts]

I also found it difficult to find the "Picker button," even though it was right in front of me.

 

However, I recommend "highlighting it" (maybe with a much lighter gray) when it is selected, and then reverting to its original gray color once the user clicks on the photo to set the white point.

 

Or perhaps a more advanced option to continually select points, until the user feels their white point is really "right." (Of course, you'd have to somehow figure out how to select that really "right" white point, perhaps by clicking the Picker button, again. There must be a better way...

[KipV]

I just figured out that both of you were in the Photo Persona. I was in the Develop Persona when I asked the question (I suppose I should have pointed that out.) It looks like the picker hasn't been added to the develop persona yet? It's pretty neat how the white balance live updates as you drag over the photo, that is a big improvement over Lightroom.

[gdwsr]

There is a White Balance tool in the tool bar (at the bottom) but when I used it on a warm image it made the image way too blue.  I picked on a white paper towel.  Aperture did it correctly.

[JDW]

This thread is related to the new topic I just created here:

 

https://forum.affinity.serif.com/index.php?/topic/10589-set-white-point-photoshop-style/

 

If that "picker" inside the Affinity Photo White Balance dialog is all there is, then it would seem there is indeed no equivalent to the "Sample in image to set white point" dropper icon tool residing in the Curves dialog of Photoshop.  One click with that tool and boom!, you're done.  Plus, if I press the option key, I can see the dark points that I may then wish to click with the dropper and lighten.

[KipV]

Yes affinity has a white balance tool in the develop persona. originally this tool was hard to find which is why I posted the question. Now I believe the tool is located in the toolbar on the left side of the screen.

[JDW]

Yes affinity has a white balance tool in the develop persona. originally this tool was hard to find which is why I posted the question. Now I believe the tool is located in the toolbar on the left side of the screen.

 

Thank you for pointing out the "White Balance Tool" within the "Develop Persona."  However, that White Balance tool is NOT the same as Photoshop's White Point dropper tool (inside the Curves dialog).  That Photoshop tool, when clicked on light areas of a photo, will make light gray areas brighten to become pure white.  A purely White BALANCE tool, in contrast, doesn't make changes to the light gray areas of the photo, but instead changes the color of light.  There is a difference.

 

If you have PS, just open a pic, then open Curves, then click on the rightmost dropper tool with the tooltip "Sample in image to set white point."  Click in a light gray area of your pic and watch as it changes to pure white and the overall brightness of the image increases too.  Then hold down the OPTION key to see areas that still are not pure white.

 

There are big differences between the two tools.  AP needs the functionality that the PS tool has.

[KipV]

I usually do white balance in LR and Camera Raw so I am not too familiar with the tool in PS. I actually haven't used AP too much either to know how well it's white balance tool works. Right now Adobe mostly works fine for me when it comes to photography but I'm keeping an eye on affinity.

[JDW]

The best way to think of Photoshop's White POINT tool (the one in the Curves dialog) is to consider what happens when you scan a mostly white paper document that has some black text on it.  Most often, you scan it, bring it into Photoshop, then notice that the white part isn't quite white.  It's a tad grayish.  To fix that, you open CURVES, then click the WHITE POINT dropper tool, then click on a whitish part of your document.  When you do that, it changes from being slightly gray to pure white.  It also shifts the White BALANCE too, although technically that would be a different feature.

[rikkarlo]

BTW now the white balance tool in Affinity (both develop and photo persona) is broken, now it only moves the temperature value and not the tint. They should move together to properly fix the white in any picture.

Looking at this old video it worked fine (if you look at the tint and temperature sliders on the right while he clicks with the white balance tool in the develop persona at 1:27 they both moves at the same time as it should be), it means they broke it in one of the last updates... I already reported the bug, let's hope they'll fix it fast because it's a pretty serious bug for people working with photos...

 

[Marier42]

On 3/21/2015 at 3:24 AM, KipV said:

In the help files it talks about this feature saying that you can click on the photo to modify the adjustment but nothing is working for me. All the adjustments I have been doing thus far has been with the level sliders in order to color correct.

There is a white balance tool in the toolbar (below), but when I apply it to a warm image, it makes the image too blue. I chose white paper towels. Aperture does it right.

[Rev]

So I get the click and drag function, but that's not setting the White point.  That's just creating a curve.  Is there a way to "one click" the white point? This seems like it should be a base level function.

[Max P]

It's to old solution

    A photo have now the divide mode. use it 

   Try this

1. Fill layer whith dominant color, use the color picker
2. mode divide
3. play with opacity

Okay ,

this solution uses the entire surface of the layer  It may be wise to select an specific area,

• use the Pen tools or an ellipse (no need for great precision) to select the area where you want to correct the color castand here fill with the dominant color. (adapt with gaussian  blur fx and with node )
•  for the  gray /white component                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      fill with a neutral grey gray divide  mode ( color mode  adjusting saturation ) 

The advantage of a vectorial object is that you can always adjust the color in situ.

adjust witn opacity  at each step 

 

 

 

 

[KipV]

I didn't expect this post from 7 years ago would still be relevant! Haven't they changed the white balance tool since 2015?

[NotMyFault]

Is there any need for change?
https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Adjustments/adjustment_whiteBalance.html

In Develop Persona, a dedicated White Point Tool is used instead of the Picker. It offers the same sampling functionality as the Picker.

 

 

[JDW]

2 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

Is there any need for change?
https://affinity.help/photo/English.lproj/pages/Adjustments/adjustment_whiteBalance.html

In Develop Persona, a dedicated White Point Tool is used instead of the Picker. It offers the same sampling functionality as the Picker.

LOL.  Yes, there is definitely "need for a change" and such is explained in detail in my similar thread here, which was started 7 years ago but which has been totally ignored by Serif (just like this thread).  (At the very least, read the first several posts of that thread to see why Affinity Photo does NOT have the desired functionality.)

 

 

[NotMyFault]

Well, both in this and in the linked thread you are arguing that Photo must 100% mirror PS functionality, and include WB in the curves adjustment.

It has been discussed lots of times that Photo is no PS clone for valid reasons, and cannot simply mirror the PS UI. I can’t see any new argument, and will step out of the discussion for good to avoid another heated discussion circling around forever. 

[JDW]

8 minutes ago, NotMyFault said:

you are arguing that Photo must 100% mirror PS functionality...

I've been debating folks like yourself on that very issue for the last 7 years.  I shall continue to advocate for Adobe users, who comprise, no doubt, the lion's share of switchovers to the Affinity Suite.  The more you can make something like an industry standard, the better, not simply to make the transition easier, but because that industry standard has some pretty darned good features that anyone would like to see -- even folks who have zero experience with the Adobe suite.

But take don't the debate personally.  I'm not trying to pick on you.  I'm picking on a piece of software for not being better.

Furthermore, I'm obviously on the losing end of the stick anyway, as per the fact these threads have existed so many years and yet continue to be ignored by Serif.  But just as I pounded away at Apple's butterfly keyboard until it died and was replaced, so shall I pound here on issues that are important to the masses.  If the status quo was paradise, I'd be silent.  But it isn't.  So I speak.

Best wishes!

[KipV]

I actually don't even remember the main points I was making when I brought this topic up all those years ago! I mainly do color correcting in Capture One Pro now.

[NotMyFault]

Actually, i have some sympathy for all points of view. Of course, it would be great to have it all at once:

• full Adobe compatibility, in file formats, user interface, every single functionality ….
• a fraction of the cost of Adobe products
• all those brilliant (compatibility breaking) improvements invented by Affinity, e.g. next to real time rendering (live effects, non-distructiveness, astrophotography, frequency separation, …)
• a fresh user interface
• Free of errors / bugs / issues

But then you may realize that everything in real live is a compromise.

From my point of view:

• I prioritize lower cost and innovation over compatibility
• My biggest concern is the ultra high number of unsolved bugs, and the far below my expectations time to resolve even critical bugs (leading to file corruption, crashes, corruption of assets and symbol libraries, and dealing with alpha channel).
• next comes availability of essential functionality available in almost every competing app / free app (mesh warp / perspective tools for vector layers)
• my last priority is to have Adobe UI compatibility. As long as i can achieve the same result using a different workflow, i love to learn that new workflow

I‘m ok with you and others having totally different priorities, putting Adobe UI to number 1. 

 

[KipV]

20 hours ago, NotMyFault said:

I prioritize lower cost and innovation over compatibility

With Capture One Pro you definitely get what you pay for. The pre-sale updates go for $150 and are taking care of the issues I've been asking for with Affinity and Lightroom for years.

[Horseflesh]

@JDW I am late to the party and found this thread when just now, I wished to fix the white balance on a scanned image. The white balance tool in the Develop persona doesn't seem to work at all... I opened a scanned page with an obvious pink cast, and sampling pink paper pixels dialed in a color temperature change of -1% which did not fix the problem... Not even close. If I drove the sliders by eye it seemed to need about -33%.

On the other hand, using the white point picker in Photoshop's Curves panel worked as expected, making the white paper in the image white instead of pink. 

I don't care where that magical click is in the Affinity workflow, but it seems like it should be in there somewhere. 

If I'm doing it wrong and someone wants to correct me, I would love to be wrong on the internet today.