Churchyard at DuskColor Balance corrected

One of the more frustrating things when you fly on "automatic" is color balance. Most of the time the camera does a good job, but there are times when it just muffs it. Dawn and dusk are one of those times. I was helping my son to move to graduate school - a thousand mile drive - and we stopped in Staunton Virginia for a break. Walking at dusk, to find a place to eat, we strolled by this church and the light was just right.

However, that's not what the camera saw. It saw something far more blue and grey. Down right ugly.

Churchyard at DuskColor Balance uncorrected

The uncorrected image is too flat.

The same effect is seen with a street scene.

Staunton Street sceneColor Balance corrected

The effect isn't quite as bad with this image, but it's not what I saw or envisaged.

Stanton street scene at duskColor Balance uncorrected

Again, uncorrected is just too blue and flat.

The right solution, of course, is to set the color balance in the camera. Almost as good is to use Darktable and correct the color temperature.