The Importance of White
Balance in Digital
Photography
Woodlands Photography Club
June 2010
Don Rueter
White Balance
• Critical to “look” of the photograph
• Instructs camera computer how to
interpret colors it sees
• Set based on temperature (degrees
Kelvin) of the primary light source
• Incorrect White Balance can cause colors
that are too warm (red) or too cool (blue)
White Balance Goal
• Achieve a neutral colorcast in your photo
• Get whites to look white
• Get colors to look like what you saw when
you took the photo
White Balance Importance
• JPEG vs. RAW
• When true color rendition is critical
– Weddings
– Portraits
– Product Photos
Setting White Balance
• Before shooting
– Auto
– Camera Menu choices (e.g., direct sunlight,
cloudy, shade, flash, fluorescent (7 choices),
incandescent, set color temp)
– Manual Preset
• Gray card photo
• Expodisc
• Neutral color photo
Adjusting White Balance
• After shooting
– JPEG – not directly adjustable
– RAW – fully adjustable in most processing
software
• Menu choices
• Gray card photo
• White point/Gray point tools
Examples
Hi Temp Merc Vapor (7200K)
Sodium Vapor (2700K)
Examples
AUTO WB
Cool White Fluorescent (4200K)
Examples
Incandescent (3000K)
Set Gray Point on Cheerleader’s
Arm
Examples
AUTO WB
Set Gray Point on Cheerleader’s
Arm