Setting White Balance

Today I grabbed my camera and took it for another spin in manual mode intending to experiment with shutter speed and exposure. Everything was going quite well until I took the camera indoors for a few shots and tried to adjust my white balance. I was amazed at how tricky it can sometimes be to get white balance just right in your photos! Finally, after a lot of trial and error, a few grumbles and hitting the notes again, I was able to problem solve my way out of a few issues I had encountered. I thought it would be a good idea to share a few of these tips with you.






Wait a minute! What is white balance again?
It's a setting that cameras use to make white objects appear white in photos. Have you ever taken a picture indoors that had an awful orange/yellow or blue tint? I have...lots of times! Well, white balance is your answer! It fixes the color temperature of your shots making sure that the colors are correctly represented. Take a look at the two toy trains I shot this morning. It's obvious that the camera setting for white balance on the first photo is terribly incorrect, although some people might like the effect! The bottom photo has the white balance setting that gets the color just right.

What's next?
I guess now you're sitting on the edge of your seat wondering how to solve this problem (yeah right!).
Here are a few tips I found that work:

The first thing I noticed was that I was forgetting to set the white balance feature on the camera before shooting! Duh! This is exactly why getting out there and making a few mistakes is the best teacher. Those bumps in the road today were helpful because now I remember about 50% of the time to make the adjustment...I'd say that's quite an improvement over 0%! I guess I said all that to say, make sure to adjust your camera's white balance at all times because it can greatly affect the look and mood of your photos. If you do happen to hit the same bumps that I did and have a few photos you forgot to adjust for white balance, make use of some of the free photo editing software that are out there. Many of them have features that allow you to correct your photo's white balance as well as a host of other things. Follow this link for a list of free software and descriptions about their capabilities: http://www.lightstalking.com/free-photography-software.


                           Image corrected using Picasa 3 - Google's free photo editing software

Original photo showing incorrect white balance

Auto corrected for white balance using Picasa 3...yum!

White Balance Modes

Let's take a look at how today's DSLR cameras make life easy. Another great feature they offer are automatic, preset and custom modes to correct that pesky white balance problem we sometimes run into. Here's a little bit of information on each one. 

White Balance Modes

1. Auto    2. Sunny   3. Shade      4. Cloudy     5. Tungsten      6. Florescent     7. Flash      8. Custom

In the auto white balance mode, sit back and relax...the camera does all the work here! Nikon does a pretty good job of getting the white balance correct in this setting but as with all automatic modes, there isn't a 100% guarantee that the camera will get it exactly right each time.

The other preset modes are pretty self explanatory as to when they should be used, remember the photo they generate is an approximation of white balance and is not fool proof. Camera manufacturers have designed the preset modes to range in color temperature from low to high (orange/yellow to blue hues ) or high to low color temperatures (blue to orange/yellow hues). Starting with the automatic mode, on my Nikon D40x, the color temperature is high (blue). As I move down the scale to sunny, etc. the color temperature becomes lower (orange/yellow) This is better explained with the photographs below. The setting for the photos was an overcast day.

Auto mode

Tungsten light

Florescent light

Flash

Cloudy

Shade

Even though my setting was a cloudy day, tungsten light was-although not perfect, a better approximation of white balance for the scene...say what? Surprising huh? The setting that should have worked here was cloudy, but the color temperature for that shot was way off! With that in mind, here's a neat tip I learned: If you are using the right preset for the situation, and notice that the white balance is more blue (or orange/yellow) in color, try all of the presets until you arrive at the closest approximation of white balance for the scene. When all else fails...there's nothing wrong with going on auto (pilot) mode for a while!

Custom white balance sounds like it's going to be a lot of work, but it's really not! Today's digital cameras feature a mode that allows you to set the white balance from a photo on the camera that has the correct white balance setting. Here's where you say hello to your manual to assist you in this area because the steps vary from camera to camera.

White balance can also be set using materials available in the home. Don't you just love tips like these? I do! Where was I? Oh! yes...you can decide to use a white napkin or white piece of paper to get the job done as well. Take a picture of the item so that it completely fills the frame of the camera and use this to set your white balance: again you will follow the steps provided in your manual for the camera you are using.

If you are planning to get into professional photography, there are many tools of the trade that you can purchase. I'll start with the more inexpensive tools first: 18% gray card, white card and color checker are at the top of the list in terms of affordability. The gray card for example can start as low as $4.00! Sweet! Both white and gray cards calibrate white balance giving your photo a more accurate color. The gray card however, is a better bet because the camera's sensor views the gray as the perfect neutral color to produce the perfect exposure. The gray card can be created on your computer using a program like Photoshop or GIMP (free software). Simply open a new document 8.5"x11" document, add a new layer and fill with black. Next you will need to reduce the opacity to 50% and hit the print button. You could also download a gray card app for your android phone, I-pad, I-touch or I-pod which will generate the same effects! COOL!
The color checker is also used to ensure that your photo's colors are more accurate and is also very affordable.

18% gray card

Color checker
Both photos courtesy of Wikipedia

Now to the other end of the spectrum we have the ExpoDisc, a circular white balance filter that is mounted or held to the front of the lens and does essentially the same job as the gray card. Something that works just as well as the ExpoDisc is a Pringles cap. Yeah you heard me. Take a Pringles cap and cut a piece of copy paper to fit inside the cap. Place the cap in front of the camera's lens and in the direction of your subject. First take your test shot and then set up your custom white balance settings.

Now it's your turn, go have some fun with these tips and let me know how it turns out!