How To Set White Balance

Practically all our dslrs have white balance adjustment even those point and shoots. But do we really know how to use it? or just set it to auto and shoot? Most of us have this little option taken for granted. We always use it and sometimes we aren’t aware of its importance.

Purpose of White Balance
Ever wondered why your photo have this reddish or bluish and sometimes you dont get why its color is this or that? The purpose of having a white balance is to correct the over all color of your image and this is also called color temperature.

Colors are measured in temperatures which are in “K” or Kelvin, It’s not hot or cold we are talking about.

You can understand more here.
* Tungsten/Incandescent Light 2.500-3,000 K (Kelvin)
* Clear Day (Mid day outside) 5,000-6,500 K
* Shade or Heavily overcast day 9,000-10,000 K

When the camera shutter is pressed,, the camera looks for something white in the scene to use as a point of reference. Even if the other colors in the scene are dominating the white, the balance function will try to adjust that white in the scene to the same degree of white that we see it with our eyes. The remaining colors in the scene are then adjusted proportionate to the white. The result should be a pretty neutral tone image with all colors showing as they should.

Automatic white balance works pretty good the majority of time. However, there might be times when it might still produce an image with coloring that is off. An example would be a scene that lacks any white color so there is no point of reference.

Most cameras have white balance setings that can be changed to fit a particular scene. Try using your camera’s built in settings such as fluorescent, cloudy, daylight, or whatever might fit the scene you are about to shoot. These settings may vary from camera to camera, but hopefully you will find a setting that will work for you.

Some cameras will allow you to manually pre set your white balance to suit your needs. Take a look at the tutorial on my website about White Balance for a tip on using a white sheet of paper or neutral gray card to pre-set your white balance.

If your not into setting white balance manually, and if your DSLR can take raw pictures then you have control over your white balance however you want it.