# Using the eye dropper for white balance



## SuzImages (Nov 6, 2018)

I only found an old thread dated 2012, so I need to ask here.  I am editing a certain picture that has NO white in it, and also has no grey, other than the sky and eye dropper said it was improper to use that.  How do I use the eye dropper to set the correct white balance?


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## Hal P Anderson (Nov 6, 2018)

You need to use the eye-dropper on a part of the image that is supposed to be white or grey, but has a colour cast due to the way the scene is lit. If no part of the image is a white or grey thing, then you won't be able to use the eye-dropper, and you'll have to manually correct the white balance by moving sliders until the image looks "right".


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## GaryP (Dec 25, 2018)

Hal P Anderson said:


> You need to use the eye-dropper on a part of the image that is supposed to be white or grey, but has a colour cast due to the way the scene is lit. If no part of the image is a white or grey thing, then you won't be able to use the eye-dropper, and you'll have to manually correct the white balance by moving sliders until the image looks "right".


thanks a lot!


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## Jimmsp (Dec 26, 2018)

It sounds like you were outside - there is a sky in the shot.
I often start with LR's "Sunny", then look at "Cloudy". The actual is probably somewhere in between. I then follow what Hal suggested - tweak until it looks right.


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## antsyl (Jan 15, 2019)

Susimages, Maybe you already figured it out but also, anything in there that is black will work fine also.


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## LRList001 (Jan 15, 2019)

antsyl said:


> Susimages, Maybe you already figured it out but also, anything in there that is black will work fine also.



Be careful using very dark parts of the image to set white balance.  White balance is set from the dropper by changing the RGB values to be the same.
So, choosing a part of the image that should be grey is the first step, agreed.
Lets suppose it is nearly black and the RGB values are 4,5,4.  That 5 is 25% more than the two fours, so makes quite a big change (proportionately) to the WB.
Suppose there is a part of the image that is around a mid-tone (118 say) and the RGB values are 118,119,118.  That 1 difference is under 1% different and is this a much more accurate WB setting.  As the brightness climbs up towards 255 (maximum) a similar problem arises at the other end, hence the advice to use mid(ish) greys.
Also, because the dark areas are much more subject to random noise, the accuracy of those RGB values is a bit iffy anyway.


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