I find most people shoot on Auto White Balance (AWB). In this setting the camera has to guess what white is and does not always get it right. Camera models have different locations where you can adjust white balance, but you may have noticed several icons on your camera- light-bulb, sun, clouds and a few others. These represent different light sources and will tell your camera what white is, so you get proper colors. Some cameras have a K setting, which allows you to fine tune your white balance. Each of these represent the color temperature that the light source emits.
I keep mine set at K, and will adjust as needed. |
White Balance is measured in Kelvins - color temperature in light sources.
1000-2000K - Candlelight
2500-3500K - Tungsten Bulb (reg light bulb)
4000-5000K - Fluorescent Lamp
5000-5500K- Flash
5000-6000K- Sunny
6500-7500K - Cloudy/Overcast
8000-9000K - Shade/ Heavy Overcast
Adjustment scale in Lightroom |
The lower temperature is the blue/cooler side of the scale and the higher temperatures are on the yellow/warmer side.
Taking a few moments to adjust your white balance will result in proper coloring of your image with more vividness and saturation. You are also able to get a little more creative with your photography by adding a little more warmth or coolness to your images.
The images below are all the same, but they were shot in RAW format rather than jpg, so I was able to adjust in Adobe Lightroom easily to demonstrate how color temperature can effect your photos.
Being sunset, the camera cannot detect white. If I had the camera set to AWB, it would have more than likely turned out looking like this - looking very blue without warmth. |
With a little adjusting in Adobe Lightroom, we added some warmth. After taking this photo, I remembered to adjust my white balance to ~ 7500K so they all would have the warm glow from the sun setting.
To learn more about white balance and other ways to improve your photography check out Terri Cage Photography's mentoring and lessons
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