Correct white balance lets the right colors be seen in photos.
Digital photographers work hard to achieve proper white balance in their photographs. The wrong white balance results in inappropriate color casts in photographs, while proper white balance adjustment removes the blue, green and orange color shades that ruin photographs. Improper white balance also makes portraits and stock photographs unusable. White balance problems can be avoided by learning about light and the different camera settings suitable for different lighting situations.
Instructions
1. Each color has a specific Kelvin temperature.
Learn the relationship between color and Kelvin temperature to avoid white balance problems. Proper white balance makes white objects appear white. To produce the correct shade of white, the camera must calculate the correct light temperature. Every color has a corresponding temperature measured in degrees Kelvin. Sunlight has a Kelvin temperature of about 6500 K. Twilight has a temperature of about 7500 K. Warm colors such as orange or red have relatively lower degrees Kelvin measurements. The cooler temperatures such as blue and gray have higher degrees Kelvin measurements.
2. Every category of light has a specific Kelvin temperature
Select the proper white balance setting in the camera. Digital cameras have similar settings that correspond to common Kelvin temperatures. Select the setting for the light illuminating the subject. The "auto" setting allows the camera to calculate the average white balance. Use "tungsten" for indoor lighting situations using bulbs. Set the camera to "fluorescent" where fluorescent light is the illumination source. Use "daylight" in brightly lit outdoor conditions with few clouds. Set the camera to "cloudy" on overcast days and to "shade" in areas where a leaf canopy shades the subject. "Flash" allows the camera to work with its built-in or other connected flash units.
3. Neutral color situations can throw off the cameras white balance program
Use a photographic gray card to manually adjust white balance when most colors are neutral, such as in fog, dull hazy days and situations when there are no colors that stand out. Acquire neutral gray cards from photographic suppliers. Neutral gray cards reflect the incident light to the camera, allowing the camera to measure the exact temperature of that particular light. Using a photographic gray card requires a manual adjustment. Every camera operates differently, so reference your manual.
4. Shoot very uniform images in raw to adjust later on the computer.
Shoot images in the "raw" file format. Raw files allow adjustment during post processing to any color temperature. Set your camera to "auto" white balance when shooting in raw. Raw requires software to process the files in the computer. Software to handle a particular camera's raw format comes with the camera's software package. Raw images are particularly useful when there is nothing pure white in the image. During post-processing, adjust the color temperature until it represents the colors in the natural image.
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