NEWSLETTER
INSPIRATION
DIGITAL SCRAPBOOKINGFocus on Photos – White Balance
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Hello again everyone! It’s Beckie here today :) I’m super excited with today’s topic, as it’s the first thing in a long time that has made a truly dramatic improvement in the quality of my photos! And I know it can help you, too :) So….let’s get started!
Let’s start with a very basic discussion of white balance. White balance is the adjustment applied to remove color casts from your photos. Every different lighting situation we face presents a different lighting color. Candle light and light bulbs are warm (yellow-ish), cloud coverage and shade are cool (blue-ish). Our own eyes have a fantastic ability to see beyond the color casts present in light; that is, we don’t usually perceive the color differences from one light situation to another. Your camera, however, needs a little help! Your photos will look their best when your camera is set to compensate for the color cast of the lighting situation. We do this with the white balance setting on the camera.
Nearly all cameras, including basic point-and-shoot cameras, have several white balance settings to choose from. These typically include “Auto”, “Cloudy”, “Daylight”, “Fluorescent”, and “Tungsten”. Chances are, your camera is set to “Auto” (sometimes written as “AWB” for Auto White Balance). This is a setting that effectively puts the responsibility for detecting and removing color cast to your camera. The camera does an OK job, but typically only gets white balance accurate in relatively “neutral” lighting – flash and daylight. But in all other conditions, your camera most likely doesn’t do a great job – leaving a color cast to your images.
One other drawback to using AWB on your camera is this: your camera will re-evaluate the lighting with every shot taken. This means it will potentially apply diffferent corrective adjustments to every photo you take. Consider this: the presence of white/gray/neutral content in your photo increases the chance of your camera making an accurate assessment in AWB mode. So what if one shot is of a neighbor in a white shirt in the shade, but the very next shot is of a small child wearing purple (also in the shade)? It’s likely that your camera will assess the two situations differently. Neither shot is likely to be really great, but the image of the person in the white shirt will likely have truer color than that of the child in purple. Later, when you upload the images to your computer and you want to edit your photos, each image will need it’s own custom color adjustments! The same adjustment that warmed up the purple shirt photo and made it “just right” is likely to be too warm for the white shirt, which likely had a warmer value to start with. In essence, using AWB makes batch editing photos nearly impossible. I recommend using the RIGHT white balance modes for each situation for two reasons:
- more accurate representation of color for all situations if set properly
- bulk editing photos (through PS, Adobe Camera Raw, Lightroom, etc) is possible – dramatically reducing your photo editing time
Now…for those of you who have dSLRs – you have even MORE options. At least one more, to be specific – and it’s called Kelvin.
I’m going to be straight up here and say that I don’t understand the details, nor do I care, about the physics and science behind Kelvin, but it’s basically a scale that measures the warmth of light. The good news? You’ll get CRAZY good photos if you take advantage of what your camera has to offer here. Here’s a reference of how common lighting situations translate to their corresponding Kelvin values:
So – all you have to do is set your white balance to “K” for Kelvin (see your user’s manual for instructions on how to do this). Once you do this, you’ll see a number pop up. The default value is typically in the daylight range above (5000-6500) and varies by manufacturer. The default value doesn’t really matter anyway, as you should set it to the value that is correct for the current conditions in which you’re shooting. 5800 is a great place to start for normal daylight, just to get a starting point. Some photographers prefer “warmer” images and shoot at around 6200 in normal lighting conditions. Think of the number as the amount of light you’re adding to the photo - that’s the easiest way for me to remember that low Kelvin numbers are already warm and don’t need much warmth added (like candle light). Shade, on the other hand, is cooler and needs more warmth added – so the number will be bigger.
I took my camera out one evening and practiced setting/changing values. It just takes a few clicks on my Canon 7d to change the K value – it’s super easy! I set the value, then take a test shot, and view it through the screen. If it looks “true to life” to me, I leave it, otherwise I adjust up or down accordingly (remember, making the number bigger adds more warmth to the image). After just one evening of shooting with Kelvin, I’ll never use any other white balance mode again. Seriously. My white balance modes have always been consistently cooler than what is “true to life”, something I’ve heard photographers with Nikon cameras say as well. By using Kelvin, you spend a few extra seconds setting the value to exactly what you need for true to life images. Just remember that as lighting changes, you’ll want to adjust your Kelvin values accordingly. I typically increase the K value by a few clicks at a time throughout the evening, just as reference :)
I find that now I rarely adjust the white balance of my photos, and if I do have to make edits, it’s a VERY minor adjustment. Refer to this post for tips on how to edit white balance and exposure :) If you shoot RAW, you can either use the color sliders in ACR or LR, or you can change to a different WB mode (like daylight, cloudy, etc) after the fact. If you use JPG, you will have to use the yellow/blue color slider to adjust WB accordingly in your editing program.
This photo is nothing special…except that it was one of the very first images I shot using Kelvin white balance. It is completely SOOC (straight out of camera) except for a small amount of cropping. I immediately noticed a HUGE improvement in the color!! I had it set to around 9000 as it was late in the afternoon and the whole front yard was in shade. Don’t be afraid to increase the value! Skin should be warm, not cool and “pasty”!
Getting the white balance right “in camera” (as the photo is taken) produces more accurate representations of color than anything I achieve using other WB modes. I’m just not an expert at photo processing/editing – nor do I want to be. So I am so thrilled I spent an evening learning to shoot Kelvin to produce better, more accurate colors than what I’ve had before. :)
I hope you’ve enjoyed today’s detour into White Balance! I’d love to hear about your experiences below in the comments section :) I also feel the need to remind everyone that I’m NOT a pro, just a mom with a camera…on a mission to capture great photos :)
Thanks for stopping by the blog today! We’ll be back tomorrow with some COLOR inspiration!
Apr 11, 2012 @ 20:25:37
I Love this Tip! I have 2 cannon SLR cameras and had no clue about this option. it’s something I always had a problem with, colors look orange-or too cool. I love that I can adjust everything <3 Thank you very much for posting this, I am going to use it on my daughters next photo shoot lol
xoxo !!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 21:12:42
beckie, you are so inspiring, what a fantastic tutorial, yeah i knew a bit about Kelvin, but mostly because i did a Black and White photography course, darkroom techniques and developing back in 2000 (before digital became common) using film..I never imagined that I would like digital the thought of not having tangible photos urked me, but the ability to shoot heaps of photos and not pay to develop the mistakes is a huge bonus, plus with all the technology with digital wow! So I have to admit I tend to forget the white balance and alter in photoshop if i want to, but it makes more sense to adjust the kelvin scale in camera..think i will have to try figure this one out and get used to my digital camera more instead of being lazy and rlying on automatic settings (weird) when had a Canon AE1 before my digital EOS 400D! as I used manual settingas mostly, digital has definately made me lazy in photography, so thanks for the kick up the..derier!
Nov 17, 2011 @ 11:42:50
Thanks Joanne!! You’re SO right – digital cameras make it easy to be a lazy photographer. But as I’ve been getting better at taking great SOOC shots, I realize that I am truly saving time on the editing/processing side! I hope you love Kelvin in the digital world as much as you did with film!
(I can’t IMAGING having to deal with film, worrying about every shutter click, etc! wow!)
Nov 17, 2011 @ 20:54:01
Yeah film was a challenge, right lighting, exposure, apperture, film speed etc etc etc…but you know what it kept your skills alive!!!! I do miss that, I can’t believe that i have only had my digital camera since 2008..and I forgot how to use simple things like white balance!!!!, going onto fully automated focus, and programmes was so simple, but so lazy!!! I think we end up relying on it..time to sharpen my skills again..thanks for prompting me to take ‘proper’ photos!!! and not rely on Automatic settings!!! youare an inspiration Beckie!!!!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 16:13:00
Well in my eyes Beckie, you are a true professional!! Great post. I don’t have a DSLR camera, just an old point-and-shoot so I am saving up all of your tutorials (and my money) for the day when I do get one!!! Going to try and figure out how to adjust the WB on my point-and-shoot now. I think it automatically changes when I set the shooting mode (beach, sunset, party, sport etc).. If not, I’ll try your tips on processing in Photoshop. Thanks so much :)
Nov 16, 2011 @ 16:16:01
Oh I just found the WB setting on my camera – awesome!! Thanks Beckie.. can’t wait to try it out..
Nov 16, 2011 @ 16:00:14
:) I liked this post— I only use K when shooting with these Giant soft boxes that generally cast a blue tinge—- but good call on the daylight etc. :) very pretty.
Nov 16, 2011 @ 19:14:08
lighting intimidates me :) I stick to the sun and places where I can use it, LOL! glad to hear it works for you, too. Kelvin has definitely changed the way I shoot and process!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 12:15:17
Beckie I won the 7D and don’t use it to it’s potential. Do you shoot in RAW all the time or RAW+JPG, or just JPG? And, do you shoot in manual all the time or do you use other settings? I’d love to learn a few things from you. This is a geat tutoria..
Nov 16, 2011 @ 13:09:12
Great question about shooting RAW. Here’s the deal…
RAW images look pretty crappy compared to their JPG counterparts. As your computer creates a JPG file, it actually compacts down the data and applies enhancements to the imgae. So viewing a RAW file straight from the camera and a JPG straight from the camera would eave ANYOEN asking – why in the world would you shoot RAW? these look like CRAP! LOL.
Because of this – you have to edit ALL of your photos if you decide to shoot RAW. So for this reason, I actually stopped shooting RAW for most of this year. I just couldn’t keep up! I take insane amounts of pictures, and I couldn’t get them all edited and converted to jpg so that they could be shared with other people in a timely manner.
Then I took a class on how to use lightroom (LR101 class at http://www.clickinmoms.com). In this class, I learned how to use LR to efficiently manage the work of shooting RAW and still having jpgs to share online and with friends and family. So I converted BACK to RAW :)
RAW + JPG might be a good compromise, but you have to be good about deleting the RAW files if you feel you don’t need them. Photographers always keep RAW adn delete JPG, but for us “moms” just trying to take great pictures, a good jpg is usually good enough for me. I only keep the RAW version if I think the photo has potential to be printed larger, like on a canvas or something. THen I keep those RAW files :)
hope that helps!!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 12:12:06
THANKS SO MUCH Beckie! Don’t know if I’ve said this before, but just recently I was looking back at some of your older photo posts. Now that I have a DSLR and understand a little more, I can try more of your tips out. I am definitely thankful for them!! I have tried the RAW editor and love it. Now I am off to try the Kelvin setting…. fun!!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 13:12:12
I’d love to hear if anything is working for you! I can’t say enough- practice, practice, practice.
And get a fixed focal length lens if you haven’t already; the 50mm 1.8 is a relatively inexpensive lens that’s pretty good – but for crop sensor cameras like ours, the 50mm lens will be tight indoors. That is, you won’t be able to get far enough away from your subject to have the full portion of the event you want in the frame. For this reason, I think anyone who can swing the cash should get the sigma 30mm 1.4 as their first prime lens. It’s amazing quality and it’s a wider lens and even works well indoors. It’s still one of my favorite lenses of all time! (I’ve been shooting with it all week, in fact!)
Nov 16, 2011 @ 10:56:45
WAY TO GO BECKIE!!! Thanks for this very informative post! I’m off to check out my camera and see if I can figure out what to do with these awesome tips!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 13:12:30
ty!! let me know if it works! I would love to see a Kelvin photo example!!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 08:35:18
Wow! Is all I can say… I’m going to go find out how to set Kelvin on my camera!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 13:13:10
YAY! i hope you love it as much as I do!!
Nov 16, 2011 @ 08:35:02
This is a wonderful tut. I can’t wait to try it out! I’ve honestly never worked with this before, THANK you!!