Thanks for the help! Here's a few pics.

[Toybuddha]

I have an NEX 6 and the pics look great on the camera regarding white balance. When I import them to Lightroom the white balance looks as it did on camera, then one by one in the library or if I open one in the develop panel, it does some sort of process that turns it way more blue than it was shot. Looking at the white balance slider in develop mode shows it all the way maxed out.

Why is Lightroom automatically changing the wite balance. Any ideas?

[Hexadron]

I'm on a Mac, but this could be under 'File' if you are not. I go to Lightroom>Preferences then it opens up a window, click on the tab that says 'Presets' There may be some options checked. You can uncheck them all, or click 'Reset all default Develop Settings'

 

That may be the problem

[Toybuddha]

I have reset all the preferences and still no go. Thanks for the idea though.

[Hexadron]

Blast! Sorry man

 

Hopefully someone else can chime in.

[Mike Savage]

Are you shooting in RAW? If so then the initial image in LR is the embeded Jpg then when you click on the file LR shows the RAW image based on LightRoom's default settings for your camera.

[Christopher Marks]

Are you shooting in RAW? If so then the initial image in LR is the embeded Jpg then when you click on the file LR shows the RAW image based on LightRoom's default settings for your camera.

 

This is definitely what is happening. In your Lightroom preferences you can have the software display the JPG and RAW file side by side, instead of stacked like they are by default. Then you will be able to see how different the JPG is compared to the unprocessed RAW.

[Toybuddha]

Yes. Thank you. This is the problem.

Now, does this mean that I can't use raw files? I don't get how my camera can create a better photo with JPEG (white balance-wise) than I can with a raw file and Lightroom. The raw pic comes into Lightroom super blue. The WB slider is maxed out, so I cannot reduce the blue any further. What am I missing?

 

Thanks to everyone for the great help!

[Toybuddha]

I should note here that I've never developed raw files before. I've only had a camera capable of shooting raw for a little while now.

[Mike Savage]

You can use a custom white balance (in most cameras) and in the develop module of LR choose WB (white balance) "As Shot" or "Custom" to adjust to your liking.

[ninjamyst]

set your camera to capture JPG along with RAW and import both into Lightroom.

[seabass]

I don't get how my camera can create a better photo with JPEG (white balance-wise) than I can with a raw file and Lightroom.

JPEGs are already processed, so they will look better than unprocessed RAW images. We use RAW so we have control over the post processing. In theory, we should be able to process the photo better than a preset program (although today's cameras do a pretty decent job).

 

As for white balance, set the camera's custom white balance for proper JPEG pics. For RAW photos, use a gray card (take a picture of the card under the lighting that will be used), so Lightroom can make the proper adjustments.

[Toybuddha]

I'll have to get a gray card and give it a try.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[Toybuddha]

Here's a few pics I've taken recently. With the help of you guys I have set LR to display both RAW and JPEG side by side. These were JPEGs edited in LR.

 

DSC01739 by Toy Buddha, on Flickr

 

DSC01742 by Toy Buddha, on Flickr

 

DSC01846 by Toy Buddha, on Flickr

 

DSC01853 by Toy Buddha, on Flickr