Multiple WB Settings in One Picture

I recently discovered a technique in which digital photography finally surpasses analogue techniques: Have you ever wondered how you can take pictures with multiple, different light sources yet still obtain a reasonably "realistic" over-all white balance setting for the entire picture?

Well, you can't - that is, for analogue photography. I have found a way to do this in digital photography:

Hot Summer Night's Street Scen…

Look at this image? Is there anything wrong with it? I don't think there is, and yet this picture definitely looks different than what you would expect to come straight out of your camera.

This picture has two types of light sources: artificial (tungsten) light from the lamps mounted on the walls of the house, and "daylight" coming from the sky about 1/2 hour after sunset.

Now that you know this, does the picture still look normal? I presume it doesn't because all the surfaces facing away from the tungsten light sources ought to have a heavy blue tint. And they don't.

What you see is something we all subconsciously expect when we look at a scene with multiple, dissimilar light sources: Our brain performs an automatic white balance compensation - but unlike our cameras, our brain does this on a local (not a global) basis.

Try this out and shoot some pictures under difficult light conditions during the "blue hour" as RAW image files. But - instead of just developing the image using just one white balance setting, develop two versions - one with a "tungsten" wb, and one with a "daylight" wb. Stack them on top of each other in a layer-capable image editor such as Photoshop and mask out all image areas that have strange-looking colour tints using a layer mask.

You'll be amazed of the natural look you will get. Try it out - and show me your results in this blog!