Lightning Image Question

[BryanC]

A couple of nights ago I made my first attempts at lightning images. I know I have more to learn and will re-read up on things. A question I have that I haven't seen talked about before in what I have read about lightning pictures has to do with these 2 images from the other night.

Both have the exact same exif info:

30 sec exp.
F 4.0
75mm
ISO 125
0 EV




According to the exif, the first one was taken at 10:20:52 PM, and the second at 10:21:52, exactly a minute apart. My question is... why the color difference between each one? The only variables I can think of that might cause this are, first, I had the camera set to auto white balance. Was there something that caused the camera to make a different setting for each image? Second, they are both 30 second exposures, with the lightning only happening during a fraction of that time. Would it matter when during the 30 seconds the lightning happened, causing a different color tone? It's something I would like to learn about, because if it is something I can control, I tend to like the second image's color better.

Thanks in advance for any help on this.

[zona5101]

your auto white balance threw you this curve ball.

[Gonzo13]

If you shot them in raw you can turn the WB to the same setting and see if they look the same afterwards. If they don't look the same after that it might be, I kind of doubt it, when the lightning struck during the exposure.

[candleman]

Originally Posted by zona5101

your auto white balance threw you this curve ball.

yuppo.. thats exactly it.

if you like using presets, use "tungsten" at night for that cool blue effect.

i use the Kelvin scale, and set it to around 3000k-4000k depending on how blue i want it

[BryanC]

Originally Posted by zona5101

your auto white balance threw you this curve ball.

Originally Posted by Gonzo13

If you shot them in raw you can turn the WB to the same setting and see if they look the same afterwards. If they don't look the same after that it might be, I kind of doubt it, when the lightning struck during the exposure.

Originally Posted by candleman

yuppo.. thats exactly it.

if you like using presets, use "tungsten" at night for that cool blue effect.

i use the Kelvin scale, and set it to around 3000k-4000k depending on how blue i want it

Thanks for the help guys. After posting this I had one of those 'duh' moments. I went to the raw file and played with the white balance settings. Tungsten setting did make it more blue and experimenting further, using the slider on the Kelvin scale, was able to be more precise. It was something I didn't even think would be an issue, opening the shutter in near total darkness. But obviously something made the auto pick 2 settings like that. Another cheer for raw, though. I'll still use the auto setting like I do in other situations, and tweak in raw. My personal reason for that is that it's one less thing to worry about, having to keep changing under changing conditions. Can concentrate on the more important things that can't be changed afterward.

Thanks again guys for taking the time to comment and help.