The White balance is used when you are removing a color cast from your photos. Adjusting the white balance changes how yellow/warm or how blue/cool your photos look.
Not all light is created equal. Some light sources such as candles and sunsets give off a warm yellow color while others like fluorescent lights give off a cooler blue color.
When you are adjusting the white balance on your camera, you are telling it to either add blue or yellow to the photo so anything white in the photo will look white. When you are in sunny conditions, and you set your white balance to Daylight/Sunlight, you are telling the camera to add Blue to the photo to counter act the yellow sunlight. If you are shooting in shade, and you still have the white balance set to Daylight/Sunlight. The photo will look extra blue because the white balance is still adding additional a Blue color to the already blue scene. Set your white balance to shade instead. Now the camera white balance will add yellow to the shady scene to make everything white look white. Post processing is much easier when you have accurate colors to begin with.
White balance is something that is often overlooked but it can dramatically change the feel of your photograph. You can use the color balance to give the viewer a feeling of being warm or cold. Hollywood movies will use white balance to make you feel like you are freezing in Antarctica or on that warm tropical beach.
The term “White Balance” is often used interchangeably with the term “Color Temperature.” They both deal with the color of light, but they are different. Color Temperature is the color of light that is emitted from the light source. Color Temperature is measured in Kelvin. The temperature of the surface of the light source dictates the color of the light. The Hotter the light source, the cooler/more blue the light is. The cooler the surface temperature, the more yellow the light source. White Balance is the setting in your camera that makes your whites look accurate and not too yellow or too blue.
A good camera will allow you to manually set the white balance. Cameras typically can be set somewhere between 2,000 Kelvin and 10,000 Kelvin. Some cameras may differ and allow you to go even lower or higher.
Choosing a White Balance
Modern cameras have common presets for setting the white balance to accommodate your current lighting conditions. If you are photographing your kids blow out their birthday candles, set for the candle preset. Or you are shooting you kids basketball game in the school gym. Set your white balance for fluorescent.
Auto White Balance – With Auto White Balance, you are allowing the camera to decide on the proper white balance. This may sound like a good idea, but sometimes the camera gets confused and will set the white balance either too warm or too cold. The white balance can also shift from photo to photo and make all of them look different. You don’t want to have some photos from a portrait session to look warm, and have others look cool. When all your photos look different, it requires a lot of more work to make them all look the same. Even if you choose the wrong white balance preset, at least they will all be the same and require the same edit to make them look correct. While other times, Auto white balance is just fine as long as your photos are not part of a series and do not have to look the same.
Daylight/Sunny – This is the setting you will use when shooting in direct sunlight. Since sunlight is yellow, the daylight setting will make sure your photos do not look too yellow.
Shade – The shade setting is for when you are photographing a subject that happens to be in a shady location. Objects in the shade will look more blue than objects in direct sunlight.
Cloudy – On a cloudy day, the light will be much more blue and cooler.
Tungsten Light – This is the common household 75 watt lightbulb. Use this setting when you
are inside your home.
White Fluorescent Light – This is for the new energy saver lightbulbs. they give off a slightly cooler color. Use this setting inside your home when you have energy saver light bulbs.
Flash – Use this setting when using the popup flash or an external flash.
Custom White Balance – Sometimes the white balance presets just don’t look right. You may want to create your own custom white balance setting. First you need to take a photograph of something either White or Gray. You can use a Gray card if you have one. Next set your camera to Custom White Balance, and select the photo you just shot. The camera will analyze that photo for any color casts and remove them from your photos. Now your white balance will be perfect until the lighting changes.
Color Temp – This is where you dial In the exact degree in Kelvin you want to set the camera to. My camera allows me to adjust the color temperature between 2,500-10,000 kelvin. When using the Color temp setting, you have complete control over what temperature your white balance is set to.
Things to Remember
Stay out of Auto White Balance if you need all your photos look look alike. Its a lot harder to get them to all look alike if they all start someplace different.
As long as you are shooting your photos in RAW, you can always go back and adjust your White Balance during post processing. You have less control over the white balance when shooting Jpeg. Jpeg does not allow you to adjust the white balance to the degree that RAW does.
Pick a white balance with the thought of what you want your viewer to feel. What emotions you want them to evoke.
Keep a Grey card in your camera bad so you can set a custom white balance anywhere. Grey Card on Amazon
Break the rules. Photography is art. nowhere does it say you must have perfect colors. As long as it looks good to you, that is all that matters. But understanding what white balance is, and how it works can never hurt.