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What is white balance?
White balance in Photography adjusts the color balance of an image to make colors appear more natural. Different light sources emit light of varying color temperatures, and the human eye naturally compensates for these differences, but cameras require manual adjustment or automatic settings to do so.
Hein, J (2023) What is White Balance in Photography? URL
Numerical values on the Kelvin scale measure a light source's colour characteristics, ranging from warm to cool colours.
Higher Kelvin values represent cooler tones like blue, while lower values indicate warmer tones like yellow.
Examples of WB changes
Daylight: Shooting under natural sunlight typically requires a white balance setting around 5000-5500K.
Shade: Shade areas have a cooler (blue) tint, so a higher white balance setting (e.g., 7000K) is used to warm the image.
Incandescent/Tungsten Light: These lights emit a warm (yellow/orange) light, requiring a lower white balance setting (e.g., 3000K) to cool down the image.
Fluorescent Light: Fluorescent lights can emit a greenish light, so specific white balance settings (e.g., 4000K) are used to correct this.
What does this look like?
Normally, we adjust white balance based on the location. However, to get an understanding of white balance, you can take photos using each of the different white balance settings in the same place, as demonstrated below.
Walton, S (2023) Mastering White Balance: Your Key to Vibrant Photo Colours, URL
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