I have this raw problem, I shoot raw sometimes, from what i know shooting in raw format is free from any camera preset whitebalance right? That you can assing your white balance later in you rimage editing software like Canon DPP or Aperture or lightroom. I noticed in some of my shoot, that I have some bluish color cast on the plate, but sometime I don't. I recently experimented on the pictures below:

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/191/502906259_afdb021f77_o.jpg

The top photo was RAW with custom white balance. The one at the bottom, was RAW with AWB. If shooting RAW means no white balance setting is applied to the image, HOW COME I HAVE THE ABOVE COLOR DIFFERENCE?

I didn't change the setting of my set up. No change in shutter speed, aperture etc. Just the custom white balance and AWB. Can someone please help me figure this out? Thanks so much! :)

There's no WB applied to the RAW file in camera but when you open a RAW file with a software like PS, the software will apply a WB to the image. In your 2nd example, the software applied its WB based on its default auto setting. In your 1st example, the software also applied a custom WB based on a custom preset setting. In both case the software applied WB adjustment.

There will still be a recorded white balance, if you choose AWB, AWB will still be recorded on your RAW file, but you can change it using RAW editing software

My theory is your custom white balance is not exaclty the same as the auto white balance since most auto white balance configures your camera depending on the lighting condition of the subject :)

I didn't post process these, i just converted the RAW to tiff in Canon Digital Photo Professional. When i viewed these two images in my LCD after the shoot, the difference is can be seen already. I tried to shoot again earlier and I used the "K" and set the color temp to about 1200k (of course this will be bluish) and still I'm shooting RAW. The image captured is bluish, meaning in my camera even when shooting RAW, the image can still be affected by whitebalance setting. This is whats confusing me. :)

White balance is not set alright.... BUT the data about how you shot the image is included in the file. So then the image editor reads this, it applies the HOW YOU SHOT it preference. You get what I mean? Hope it's clear now. :)

Thanks everyone! Now I know.:) Thanks to Vince also for explaining to me on the phone. Problem solved. :) From now on I'll think 2x before believing in some other forum i googled and some blogs that are not really that accurate. :) No more confusion this time. :)

so what makes the 1st image differ from the 2nd? enlighten us please!

so what makes the 1st image differ from the 2nd? enlighten us please!

1st photo is a RAW image w/ "custom white balance", 2nd photo is RAW using "Auto white balance".

Once you open these files in the image editor... the software will read the info on "how you shot" the image, hence it will apply the WB that you used as a default.... BUT this is NOT PERMANENT, and you can change it! It's just a basis, hence most image editors(like photoshop) has an "as shot" dialog box when you open RAW images for editing.