White balance is not nearly as complicated as it used to be, but for that reason, White Balance is a customizing feature that rarely gets accessed – though in some situations it will benefit the overall image tone.
The image to the left shows four White Balance settings; Auto, Daylight, Shade (cloudy), and Tungsten. As you can see the overall color tone of the image changes. What the camera is doing in these settings is using its in-camera calculations to identify what “white” would look like under each of these different lighting scenarios. The camera know – just as we know – that different sources of light make colors (and white) appear to have a different hue. For example, your light yellow shirt will look different to you stinging in direct sunlight, as opposed to in the share, or in the office.
For most digital cameras, the camera’s prediction of “white” using the Auto White Balance (AWB) setting is very good. But sometimes we may want to adjust the White Balance setting to create a different “feel” of the image; e.g. incorporating a warmer feel by adding yellows or creating a cooler tone by adding blues. This can be accomplished through adjusting the white balance setting. Below is a simple chart that show the setting, color temperature (how color tone is measured), and the resulting general impact on the image.
NOTE: CUSTOM WHITE BALANCE. If you are having troubles getting good representations of color, check out your camera’s Custom White Balance options. For most cameras, its a very simple process (only takes a couple minutes) yielding favorable results in tricky lighting situations such as deep shade, gymnasiums, or when you’re just not happy with the results.
